Someone contacted me and asked for an update on my pawpaw transplants and suggested others might be interested also, so here it is: I dug up and relocated a total of 7 wild pawpaw trees (I did 3 more about a week after my last post above). All 7 lived about 6 weeks. Unfortunately, the 2 largest ones started to die after about 6-7 weeks, in spite of the fact that they actually put on new growth about a month after the transplant. I must admit that it was very dry here this summer and I didn't do a great job of keeping them watered, so it could be my fault or it could have been the cut tap root or other factors, but living 6-7 weeks makes me think more about the lack of water than tap root, but who knows. Now for the good news: The other 5 that I moved were (2) about 3 feet tall, and (3) about 2 feet tall and they are all 5 still alive and well. Two are in the ground and 3 are in 4 gallon pots ever since being moved. They are alive and seem fairly healthy, BUT they put on almost no new growth at all this whole summer. That doesn't mean they are unhealthy....they have the same amount of foliage as they did early on, and they actually still look pretty healthy...they just didn't grow any at all, which is unusual to me but may be common for slow growing pawpaws. The 2 three-foot wild transplants in the ground were in full sun, and the 3 wild transplants in the pots are mostly in the shade. As for my Petersons, I got 2 10 inch plants from edible landscaping-Susquehanna and Shenandoah. I made a shade for them and babied them more than my transplants since they were closer to my house (and water). In spite of this, one of them died and the other has only one sad leaf left on it and looks like it is dying for certain. I have read many places that pawpaws cannot be moved, but that just doesn't seem to be true based on my limited experience. Even if they should die this winter I will have a hard time blaming it on the move...surely 5-6 months of life after transplant is enough to overcome transplant shock and the fact that some are still alive and well (though not growing much) bodes well for the possibility of relocating wild pawpaws in my book, though I'm certainly a rookie! One last note: If you have watched my post you know I looked a long, long time before I found a pawpaw patch, and I was thrilled when I did. The most exciting news is that just this past weekend I returned to the patch for the first time all summer to see if any fruit set there. IT DID!!!! I counted a total of about 14 pawpaw fruits in the whole patch. They were about the size of a roll of quarters now and hard as a rock, but I was thrilled to see them. My fingers are crossed that at least one or two of them will survive to get ripe so I can finally taste pawpaw for the first time in my life! If so, I will be willing to share some seeds. Priority will be given to those people here who have been helpful to me and answered my fruit tree questions this year (you know who you are) and if they don't want them then I'll share with anyone else who asks. It will be way of giving something back to this forum which has been so good to me. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself....lets see if I actually get any wild fruit and if so, how good it is. Then we can see who wants seeds (if anyone). Thanks all.

This is a follow up. The original post was me, but I left for a while, and when I returned, it was with a different screen name. I did wind up buying 3 paw paw trees, from a local nursery. We finalized on the place in July, so that was when I bought them. Not wanting to wait until the next year. I planted carefully, and watered every week that first summer. I was surprised they survived, but they did. The varieties were Sunflower, NC-1, and Rebecca's Gold. I since read that RG is a bad choice due to being later, didn't know that then. At the end of the trees' 3rd fall now, NC-1 grew the best, now 5 feet tall, Sunflower a bit less, 4 feet tall. RG was eaten off twice by rabbits, but has grown to all of 18 inches tall now with a protective screen in place. This spring, NC-1 and Sunflower both bloomed, but neither fruited despite my playing the fly with a paintbrush. I still don't know if they will fruit at my place in Battleground WA, but it looks promising they survived. It was very foggy when I took the photo. It gives a general idea of the tree's growth compared to other species I planted the same year.

I thought I'd add a comment even though it's been three months since the last update. I don't usually look at the TN gardening forum, but I'm not that far away in the SW corner of VA and I visit Oak Ridge from time to time (grew up there). I've been growing several paw paw cultivars for a while now and I agree with everything Brandon says except one. There are people who really don't like the taste. The negative comments have been "tastes like overripe banana" or something to that effect (it doesn't taste anything like banana to me). I have no personal experience with Integration Acres but have seen others comment positively about paw paws bought from them. Otherwise the best bet is to find a paw paw fan and let him/her give you a "certified" good one. Farmer's markets may be hit or miss. I got some good ones many years ago at one after asking around if anyone knew where I could buy some. No one was selling them, but one woman brought me some the next week. I've seen some sold at the farmer's market in Abingdon, VA but they were small and black--ones I'd throw away. Even at the paw paw festival in Winston-Salem, NC last August, one of the vendors was selling way over ripe paw paws and they would be a bad representation of how a good paw paw tastes. By the way, the UT arboretum in Oak Ridge has some paw paw trees that I saw fruit on several years ago but couldn't know if they were any good since it was too early. Most of the wild paw paws I've encountered are small, seedy and are of mediocre flavor or have some bitter aftertaste, but here and there you will find keepers. I should note that most of the commercially available cultivars are selections from the wild or at most one or two generations removed.

I am looking for Fig cuttings to propagate indoors, now, in WV. The varieties I'm interested in are Chicago Hardy, Turkish Brown, and a sweet Italian. I am looking for larger diameter cuttings (not too slender). I'm also interested in Paw Paw seedlings to use as rootstock. I have access to native Paw Paw cuttings. I am a newbie so I'm not quite sure of when to take cuttings but I will take things at the proper time and prepare them correctly for sending. Also interested in Hazel nut seedlings, Sassafras seedlings and Elderberry and anything that will grow here in WV. I just planted some WV wild ramp bulbs and would love to plant more if I can find someone to exchange something I have for them. I have daffodil bulbs, and some Japanese anemone root divisions, Eastern Redbud seeds and cuttings, Burning bush, Beauty Berry (not American) hosta divisions, blue plumgago ground cover, pulmonaria and probably many other trees and plants that I can't think of right now but would be happy to take cuttings or divisions to send. I want to start a food forest in my little 1/2 acre woods. You can email me @ ceemathers@gmail.com or pm me on facebook.