@tomil @misoo83 @tonyOmahaz5 what is your soil mix for pots growing pawpaw seeds?
I used 50/50 composted horse manure mixed with garden soil. But I think normal garden soil should do…
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I use worms/normal compost and soil from wood 2/1 and its looks like its good combination 
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I took the easy way out by buying MiracleGro Moisture Control Potting Mix. The blue bag at Walmart.
Tony
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You guys have some interesting soil mixes! Thanks.
I’m doing my best to popularize pawpaws with my friends but they balk at the need to provide two years of partial shade. Would be great if we could find and save seed from that unique seedling that shows sun tolerance from year one. Maybe that kind of sun tolerance is just not genetically possible.
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I use the same mix I use for figs. 40% perlite and 60% potting soil. I put the seeds in this mix after I started them sprouting. I do that by putting them in a moist paper towel in a ziplock bag on top of my refrigerator. I now have 8 plants growing in my garage. The soil is loose enough that when it is time to plant them in ground the soil will not stick to the roots. I have found I can handle the plants without damage to the the smaller roots. I will keep you updated on the results after transplanting.
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This picture was taken yesterday. I counted a total of 30 pawpaw seedlings. Most are fully leaf out but at least 1-2 are just barely poked its head out of dirt! In general, they’re a bunch of late party comers!
Just wonder how everyone keep their seedlings in their first winter in zone 5? Bury in-ground with pots with wood chips cover or attached garage storage, those are my two options…?
Tom
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I planted 5 pawpaw in SE IA in 2013. Then we had the polar vortex of 2014… None of the seedlings were killed outright. Several were killed to the ground that winter, but came back from roots.
So I think you are OK putting them in the ground and covering with mulch (though mine weren’t).
For attached garage storage: Which way does your garage face? Mine temperature cycles a lot in later winter/early spring because of the S/SW aspect of it. So that might be something to consider. I would think temperature cycling could be bad. But pawpaws also break dormancy really late, so it might not be a problem.
Mine facing west. The garage door is just a sheet of aluminum so cold protection is minimal, only good as wind protection. But if polar vortex could not kill yours, I probably should bury them in-ground waiting out the winter before deciding to keep some for their permanent location.
If you bury them potted do you risk bad drainage, rotting?
I’ve read somewhere that pawpaw thrives close to dampness like ditches, river edges. My seedlings were submerged in their holding tray 1/4 full with rain water, sometimes weeks, without any issue (yet)… So I think they should be fine…
Or I’m going to find out the hard way comes next spring! 
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Tom,
I kept my pawpaw seedlings in my unheated storm shelter or garage and kept the soil moist the whole Winter and they did fine. This way they are safe from hungry animals for the first year.
Tony
That sounds true as the rabbits gnawed off the new woods from my apple espaliers rungs in the 2014 polar vortex and caused plenty of permanent damages. I may have to bury half and bring in the other half. It seemed to me that the buried one from last year woke up faster than the one in pot and sheltered though! Maybe I did something wrong…
Tom
Nice looking seedling collection!
I divided my first-year Pawpaw seedlings. I planted a few in the ground. I put some in the cold cellar. I put some in the unheated garage. The rest I buried in mulch.
A couple of the fall-planted-in-ground trees died, most survived and some thrived. One of the ones that survived is now my biggest and healthiest, so getting a few trees planted in their final homes would be a good idea, if you can.
The cold cellar trees all survived, and I was able to get them out of dormancy early, so they had a longer growing season, but they did not do as well once they went outside. This could be a result of me not hardening them properly or adequately.
The unheated garage trees mostly did not make it. It was a very cold winter. I think their roots froze too hard.
The best batch overall were simply buried in leaf and wood-chip mulch in the yard. They woke up a lot later than the cold cellared trees, but they did better once they did come out of dormancy. Pawpaws sleep a long winter’s sleep!
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I thought I would revive this old topic as I’m getting ready to start my own paw paw adventure. I’m in Maryland zone 7a which is pretty good country for native paw paws. I have seeds in the 'fridge (some native, some from named varieties) that have been there all winter. I had planned on germinating them and growing them in tree pots like nearly everyone on this thread described. However, I am really tempted to growth them directly in the ground I would like to establish a dozen or so trees. The native ones would be grafted in a year or two. So I was thinking of getting them germinating in a week or so with the idea they would be ready to plant in ground around the beginning of May around the time I plant tomatoes. Where I plan to put them I don’t think there will be much problem with squirrels or chipmunks. I will put some sort of shade cloth over each one once it emerges. It seems simple enough but if I lose a few I’ll fill them in next year. I like the idea of the taproot not being disturbed at all. Is there an advantage to starting them in pots that I am missing?
Pawpaw are photosensitive when young but produce the best in full sun. My solution was to grow them in root pruning pots for two seasons where I could control sun. I started planting them a few weeks ago. I’ve got a dozen in the ground already and I’ll be planting another dozen in the next week or so. I know some folks that direct seed them create artificial shade for the first couple years and then remove it. For me, the advantages are faster growth (I have poor soil) and easy control of sun exposure. Part of that faster growth comes form the root pruning containers but part simply comes from the fact they get good water and nutrients here at home in containers compared to the farm where I don’t provide any support for them.
Pawpaw germinate so slowly that if you start now, they may have top growth by May.
that’s what I’m doing as well: 2-4 seedlings per 6" deeppot, a bunch of them in milk crates, they did just fine last year tucked along the N side of the house with no additional shade, and with milk crates I can “bundle” and move like 9 deeppots at a time. That was last summer, this summer I will probably drag them through in the same pots and expect next spring they will be a good size for grafting.
At that point they will either be transplanted to their final homes first, then grafted, or else split to individual pots, grafted, and given another year before going out into the wild. But all my seedlings from last year, as well as a few I managed to graft, did just fine against the house on the north side. Its also where I’ve had the best luck in Year 1 with currant and grape cuttings, persimmons, etc., because they don’t get screaming hot (or dry) kept out of the sun, but their light requirements are still met from reflected light, diffuse light, etc.
My plan would be to surround them with a ring of fencing material about 2 ft high and 1 foot wide. Then I would put shade cloth over that and see how it goes.
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Don’t get me wrong, I assume that works very well. A lot of people use shade cloth. Just sticking it up against the side of the house was a whole lot easier though…
I have done this two videos last year how to germinate paw paw seeds (with english subtitles) 
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51WCCMViO0M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GbK3zirmqM
This year i put some seed on germination for test but its still cold and i wait a bit warmer days and nights to put all my seeds on germination.
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