Pawpaw Varieties

Sure; question will be if the acetylcholinegic activities of the pawpaw or your parkinsonian tremors are keeping them off…

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The 2017 Pawpaw Festival in Frederick, Maryland is coming. It is hosted by my friend, Michael Judd. Tickets are limited. Something worth doing at least once in your life, if you are located nearby. Tasting samples of the Peterson-bred varieties will be available. Several forum members went last year. It was a fun time.

Here is the invitation from Michael Judd:


Paw Paw Fans,

We are going for it! Last years Fest was such a magical time with paw paw tastings, music, wood fired pizza, food forest & strawbale home tours, ice cream, jam making, tons of kid fun… we cain’t resist doing it again.

The Fest is taking place at our woodland homestead in Yellow Springs, Frederick September 23rd 12-5pm. Heads up that tickets must be acquired and are going to be capped so please don’t wait long if you’re sure you are coming. Ticket link, info, and pics from last year are found here Paw Paw Fest

We are looking for volunteers for the day of the Fest and the Saturday before (16th) when we will get the site ready. Please email us about joining in.

See you soon!

The Judd’s

P.s. please share the invite with friends and post on FB etc… Link here for Facebook Event Post

P.p.s there will be select paw paw trees for sale along with other favorite uncommonly good plants

Michael Judd


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I wish that was closer to Michigan. I would really like to go. It looks like a great time, and I want to taste some Pawpaw! I hope you go and can do a follow up.

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Ohio has a big fest in September. https://www.ohiopawpawfest.com/

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I acquired my first pawpaws last Fall from the Corvallis NCGR site, which is known for pears and Hazelnuts but has a small but eclectic selection of other fruit trees, etc. I think there were about six trees and I maybe got fruit from four of them, picked up from the ground. All the fruit was excellent and the trees were all seedlings, but I think they were special seedlings from known good parents. I can’t say how the fruit compared to various cultivars.

This year I hope to take notes of what pears, Hazelnuts, pawpaws, etc., I got from which trees and if I go back as part of the scion-collecting team I can get seeds, scions, cuttings, whatever, from units that I found especially desirable. (I wrote down three names of pears last year and then lost the paper…grrr.)

I found no unpleasant aftertaste or effects from eating pawpaws but I did notice that they seemed ‘rich’ in that, though they weren’t large, I only wanted one per serving. Of ones that I’ve purchased, both seedlings have flourished and all three cultivars (Peterson’s) had graft failures, yet in time resprouted from the roots. That leads me to a question: since I’ve purchased the cultivars could I legally acquire and graft scions of the three failed units?

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Have any of you had good success planting pawpaws in the fall? I have not. A friend wants to plant a few and I’m telling her wait until Spring. Ideas?

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Friends don’t let friends plant smaller pawpaw plants in the fall. Transplant those in the spring.

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How much a pawpaw grow from spring to fall? My experience with one year pawpaw in ground was that the roots really took off deeply.

I moved my trees the next spring. Thought I dug deep but obviously not deep enough. I lost a chunk of tap roots and it set my trees back a year.

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I don’t know why you shouldn’t.

Dax

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I have planted 1-gallon sized paw paws in Aug and all of them survived.

Of course the ideal time to plant them is, as with most fruit trees, 10 years ago.

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Another Way to Use Pawpaws: My nephew’s wife found this for me on the internet:

Pawpaw Russian Shake

2 Cups of very cheap, plain vanilla ice cream — the idea here is that the ice cream will not be too flavorful so the pawpaw dominates.
1 Pawpaw
1 Cup of Vodka

Remove the ice cream from the freezer 30 minutes before use. Cut the pawpaw in half, scoop out the fruit, discarding the seeds and skin — there are about 10 seeds per fruit. Blend the ice cream to a creamy consistency, add the pawpaw and blend further until mixed, add the vodka and blend for an additional 30 seconds. Serve in a chilled glass.

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I’m keeping this…Sounds like a delicious drink after a hot day in the field and orchard!!

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I would think if the stem of the tree is 3/4 inch or greater, and the plant is well rooted in it’s container, there should be no problems with fall planting. (Or summer planting for that matter.) Little pots or tubes might heave up out of the ground from freezing and thawing action over the course of winter. (Balled and burlapped would be fine in late fall or early winter…if you can find any.)

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Container-grown… fall planting probably OK. Bare root… not.
My understanding, from plant physiologists… A.triloba is the sole surviving temperate-climate member of the (tropical) Annonaceae,… They are NOT like most of the fruit tree species we we deal with, which carry out significant root growth during fall/winter, at any time the soil is not frozen. Dormant-season root growth is virtually nonexistent for pawpaw - as opposed to what we encounter with most temperate deciduous trees - oaks, maples, pomefruit, etc.

Pawpaws are best transplanted - especially if bare-rooted - just immediately prior to bud-break in spring, or potentially, even in very late summer… though I certainly would opt for early spring, if at all possible.

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Pawpaws

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We don’t know how many are safe to eat and that’s a problem. I only eat fruit from the low acetogenin varieties and I don’t eat many of those…

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The low acet. varieties include Sunflower, Wabash, Potomac, Zimmerman and Wells. I’m going to guess that eating one a day for the month or so that they ripen is a low risk proposition.

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I also recently watched that video, which someone had posted on FB. The shaking was visible, but I didn’t realize it could have been related to eating pawpaws until I read this thread.

I have three pawpaw trees - Sunflower, PA Golden, and an unidentified rootstock that grew after the Mango scion died. I’ll taste them once they start producing, but may need to hold off on eating in any volume until more research has been done.

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I wouldn’t recommend other people eat them dried but I love them. Matter of fact I’ve heard of so many problems I recommend against it and have quit eating them dried out of fear others problems would become mine. I’ve not heard any negatives to freezing them so I did that instead.

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Hambone,

You probably read the same document I just did from Kentucky State U. http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/PDF/AcetoUpdate3.pdf.

Made me a bit nervous. Now I wonder why I planted two pawpaw trees!!!

Though it’s not like we were eating the deadly Pufferfish like some Japanese do but …

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