Any paw paw experts? - Transferred from QDMA forums
- Thread starter yoderjac
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yoderjac
5 year old buck +
I had good luck germinating and growing them in rootmakers. They are very slow and like warm soil. The seeds need to be cold stratified. KSU has some good instructions. I used heating pads under my 18s to warm the mix. I had very good germination rates and few losses while I had them in containers. I chose to use containers so I could control the sun exposure when they were young.
I hope Bill has better luck with unprotected pawpaws than I did. They don't seem to bother mature trees but hurt my young trees and many died. I'm not sure how much was transplant shock and how much deer stress contributed.
I'll be caging mine before fall.
Thanks,
Jack
I hope Bill has better luck with unprotected pawpaws than I did. They don't seem to bother mature trees but hurt my young trees and many died. I'm not sure how much was transplant shock and how much deer stress contributed.
I'll be caging mine before fall.
Thanks,
Jack
Hello, was wondering how your br pp seedlings took. I want to try them but have been told pp do not transplant well. Thanks
TreeDaddy
5 year old buck +
Charles Clear
5 year old buck +
I grew many from seed, but had very few survivors, they do not transplant well. I did break down and buy a Wells paw paw from Stark bros, I was disappointed with the little whip they sent me, but when I took it out of the pot I was blown away by the extensive root system.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
The first group I grew from seed in rootmakers and planted at the farm with no protection did not do well. As if this year I had only a few survivors and they have not grown much. I gave some of my late starters another year in rootmakers. Last spring I planted them at my retirement property but this time with protection. It also has lower deer densities there. Those trees all have survived and seem to be doing pretty well. They had an extra season in shade before I transplanted them to full sun. I'll know in another couple years how they end up doing in the long run. I will say that pawpaw have been some of the most difficult and slow growing trees I've worked with.
Thanks,
Jack
blueKYstream
5 year old buck +
I went to a pawpaw info session and taste testing at the local county coop several months ago. The taste was better than the one I had in the store. I don't know how to describe it. It's a slightly sweet, custard, banana-like taste. It has a slight aftertaste that is somewhat "off" though. It's not bad, but not great either. They made different food with it like jam, ice cream, and I forget what all.
I tried a whole bunch of different cultivars. The variances were very slight in my estimation. Some better than others. There seems to be quite a difference with cultivars in the size/number of fruit, size of tree perhaps, and that sort of thing. I retained a few seeds, cleaned them off, put them in a damp paper towel and have had them in the fridge for a couple months. I'm not sure how much luck I would have putting the seed in the ground or if I might try to grow them for a couple seasons. I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. For what it's worth, KSU did say that the deer generally don't bother the trees they have growing unless they rub them. It's mostly coons, possums, and of course the zebra swallowtail butterfly if my memory serves me correctly. I'm not sure if this adds anything to the discussion but someone might find it interesting anyways.
I tried a whole bunch of different cultivars. The variances were very slight in my estimation. Some better than others. There seems to be quite a difference with cultivars in the size/number of fruit, size of tree perhaps, and that sort of thing. I retained a few seeds, cleaned them off, put them in a damp paper towel and have had them in the fridge for a couple months. I'm not sure how much luck I would have putting the seed in the ground or if I might try to grow them for a couple seasons. I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. For what it's worth, KSU did say that the deer generally don't bother the trees they have growing unless they rub them. It's mostly coons, possums, and of course the zebra swallowtail butterfly if my memory serves me correctly. I'm not sure if this adds anything to the discussion but someone might find it interesting anyways.
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yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Great info! KSU is the go-to place for pawpaw info. I did a lot of reading of their material before I started. My experience deer don't seem to bother mature pawpaw trees. I worked a project where there was nothing under 6' because of severe browse line. There was one exception, pawpaw trees. I don't know if it was deer or something else that did mine in.
Thanks,
Jack
Thanks,
Jack
CoshoctonOH
Yearling... With promise
Today was a nice day so I decided to check on plantings. None of the 30 direct seeded pawpaws grew, this is the first time this has happened. Best guess is we had a really dry August. We had a really wet spring/early summer but we had that last year too. I did a mixture of fencing, tubes, and planting in fallen tree tops. I was hoping to see how they would grow in tubes, this was my first time trying pawpaws in tubes. There is always next year.
