I think you may be excessively concerned about freezing in winter. The feeder roots go where the action is and will always come up to the surface if the mulch isn't something like pine needles or fresh wood where they just cannot function. Go into the woods right now and push aside the leaves and see how many fine feeder roots various species are sending right to the surface. If you don't think there is enough root established below to make it through winter insulate them with some half rotted oak leaves or pine needles in the fall. Sounds to me like you should be very pleased by their growth. Paw paws tend to be quite sluggish for their first few years.

The Peterson varieties make much much better fruit than the huge majority of wild seedlings. Unless you know that their seed came from a great genetic background, the fruit will probably be mediocre. I don't have any problem with Nolin River as a nursery, but their trees are bare root. I know Brandon, henceforth known as the pawpaw whisperer, has not had trouble with bare root pawpaws, many people have. I bought two from Nolin, planted one on the ground and planted one in a pot for a year. After three years, the one in the ground has grown less than 6 inches, and has never looked very good. I've done everything I can to baby it along. The one that spent a year in a pot is now in the ground, and has done great, producing 6 fruit last year while putting on over 2 feet of growth. Anyhow, I would recommend getting the smaller plants, especially if they are potted. One Green World sells the Peterson varieties in small pots. Alex

The national repository for Paw Paws is in Corvallis, Oregon. I know it's a bit south but it is encouraging. Their collection of mature trees is very impressive and are fruiting prolifically. I live in southern Oregon and have 5 mature trees (about 8-10 foot tall) No fruit set this year, last year had a couple. Hoping for greatness next year!! Good Luck GP

Does anyone know of a location near Fayetteville, AR, that grows paw-paws commercially, or a nursery that might have different varieties, samples, etc.? I have a couple but am intrigued and can't find anything about them locally (Tulsa). A "research" trip to the Fayetteville area would be a wonderful way to spend a spring day.