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Fruit & Orchards

Pawpaw trees, did I plant them wrong?

7 years ago

I love in Omaha, Nebraska, Zone 5b. I'm very new to growing things, so any help would be most appreciated.

Last spring I planted two pawpaw trees in my back yard. These are the first trees I've ever tried to plant, so I did a lot of research and I thought I knew what I was doing. I read that they don't like grass, so I took out the grass in 2 1/2 ft diameter circles and lined the holes with black plastic lawn edging. The kind you stake down and bury. I mixed the existing soil in the holes with some tree soil I found at Lowes, and I put up a shade structure for them using 60% shade cloth. The trees seemed pretty happy their first year. My Shenandoah put on about 9 inches of new growth and my Susquehanna had about 6 inches.

Now I'm worried that my 2 1/2 ft diameter circles are too small for the trees. Especially since I lined it with the edging. Will the edging prevent the roots from being able to grow as much as they need? I would hate for the roots to start circling and end up girdling the trees. I was hoping the roots could just go under the edging, but I really don't know anything about how deep the lateral roots of pawpaw trees grow.

Should I try to remove the edging? I staked it down with metal stakes, so it'll be difficult to remove. I don't want to hurt the trees.

Also, I plan to remove the shade structure this year and allow them to grow in full sun. I ordered them from Edible Landscaping last year.

Thank you for your help!

Featured Answer

nyboy

7 years ago

LOL I did the same I planted 4 Paw Paw and have never tasted the fruit. Past fall a friend sent me some paw paw fruit from wild trees. Boy was it GOOD !!

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Comments (6)

Jason (Zone 10b, San Diego)
7 years ago
Yeah, that's sort of like growing them in a pot, at some point you'll have to repot and give them a bigger home. You probably do not have to remove the plastic, just dig from the outside and carefully shred it, the roots will grow through the holes. You'll just be left with a buried mess....

I wouldn't remove the shade structure all at once, but gradually so as to give the trees time to adjust to full sunlight. I've made that mistake before and burned my plants. I'd do it over the course of a couple of weeks.
licoricestick
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you for your advice, Jason. Looks like I've got some digging to do. Should I wait until the trees leaf out to start removing some of the shade cloth, or can I start now?
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Kevin Reilly
7 years ago
This landscape edging is what? A few inches deep? Roots can go under that easily. No need to do that for future trees though, it might restrict some surface feeder roots depending on type of tree. The plastic should be easy to remove, take a mattock and go around the outside of it and pull it up. It's only 2.5 ft as you say...
Tony
7 years ago
Hi there fellow Omahan. You don't have to worry about rootbound at all. Pawpaw has very deep tap root. I have been growing pawpaw here in Omaha for at least 15 years without any issue. I hardly use any shade cloth for a grafted tree. They like full sun and produce a lot more fruits than in shaded area. The only time that I used shade cloth was starting the seedlings for rootstocks to graft indoor like in December under growth lights and bringing them outside in may to harden them up then I had to use shade cloths for that whole summer so their leaves won't get burned.

Tony
licoricestick
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you all for your help! Tony, it's good to hear that you've had success with pawpaws in Omaha for the last 15 years! That gives me hope that mine will someday produce fruit for me. I've never actually tasted a pawpaw, but I seem to have caught the pawpaw fascination bug that makes one plant a fruit that they don't even know if they'll like yet. I've also decided to plant a Contender peach and some raspberries this spring. My peach tree will arrive sometime in the next day or so, and I'm terribly excited to get it planted. No doubt I'll be on this forum asking for more advice soon.

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