Something removed all but 2 of the flowers from one of my paw paw trees. Te tree have roughly 15 flowers on it and they're pretty much all gone now. I can't find them at the bottom of the (small) tree so I figure some animal removed/ate them. Any idea what it could be?? Not sure if it helps to mention, but I have two trees planted right next to each other and the other tree seems untouched.

I don't really know if it's all that necessary to have a lot of heat to ripen paw paws. Mine had no problems ripening in the summer of 2008, which was very cool, nor in the summer of 2009, which was record-setting cool here. I didn't notice any difference in flavor or sweetness in them in 2008 or 2009 versus other years. Here, they generally bloom in early to mid May, and the fruit ripens over about a 3 week period in very late Sept. into October. All of mine that are fruiting are seedlings. I did plant some grafted varieties in the past couple of seasons, but none of them are close to bearing size yet. RE: the second picture Frank posted, I would say that tree is more like 10 to 12 years old, IMO. It wouldn't be nearly that large nor that big of a trunk caliper at 5 years, at least, none of mine were. Oh, yeah, one more thing, while I'm thinking of it. File this tidbit of information away for future reference -- paw paws are fly pollinated. You will get FAR more fruit to set if you put something really foul-smelling and rotten in the trees a few days before the first blossoms open, and keep it there during the 7-10 days the trees are in bloom. I learned this a few years ago from an article in Michigan Gardener magazine -- there is a guy near Jackson, MI who grows and breeds paw paws, and he hangs either roadkill or dead carp in each of his trees. Too gruesome for me, I use the bait out of Ortho fly traps, I put it in a little plastic cup taped onto the trunk. Works like a charm. Makes me gag when I have to dump it out, but it's a small price to pay for all of the extra fruit.

You may be better off doing bark grafts with that size trunk. Do several all the way around the stump, and then select the strongest for the new top. The others will help the cut heal over. The stock will try to push lots of new growth, so you may want to rub the new shoots off to force all the new growth from the scion. Another option that may be less risky, would be to cut the top, then let new shoots grow up from below the cut, then chip bud to them later.

Just planted the wild Asimina Triloba in my yard. Two of them. Waiting on Penn. Golden in the fall. Sure hope these two survive! Have them in full sun and will monitor for sunburn. Taking a chance. Got them off of Hirts "dirt" cheap. Next mission is a persimmon. Diospyros Virginiana This post was edited by schiba on Thu, Aug 1, 13 at 9:53