The idea of pawpaw in general is very exciting to me! Although I’m in Florida I’m too far north to grow any of the anonnas without protection! I’m tired of protecting trees from hard freezes! The idea of a fruit in the anonna family that I can successfully grow unprotected gives me goosebumps!!! Lol! I love durian, cherimoya, mango and coconut more than pretty much any other fruit and the fact pawpaw can have all these flavors is just amazing! Thanks @TrilobaTracker for posting this. I’m interested in all things pawpaw! I’m anxiously awaiting @Blake to start selling them again hin June!
BTW if you actually have a durian flavored pawpaw you will probably become a rich man very soon!
Hahah yeah man!
I’m with you. Love all those tropicals too. It is indeed crazy that pawpaw can have touches of those flavors.
I agree that a durian pawpaw would be incredibly valuable.
Im likely not going to be that guy but maybe someone out there will!
Peaceful Heritage Nursery but they sell out fast (or used to). One Green World has been good for me.
Hidden Springs Nursery too but they ship bare root which I think is a recipe for disaster. Unless you drive up there and pick them up in containers.
It was 4-25, aka Piña Colada. This one apparently has amazing flavor but has not done well in field trials. it’s highly unlikely, according to KSU, that it will be named and released.
However, as I mentioned before I don’t think it would have been so popular (or nicknamed piña colada) if every fruit tasted like durian.
So, it may have been a total fluke.
OR maybe I should rethink this - millions of people love durian so maybe that IS why people loved it; they just had never eaten durian before to make the connection
Thanks for the info. I see you already mentioned 4-25 before in another thread.
Because of mentioned issues I guess it won’t be released but I’m looking forward to your seedling report.
‘Pina Colada’ pawpaw really is on a different level. I have it in our orchard. It grows slow and seems hard to establish. KSU initially really liked it, but due to it being difficult to propagate via grafting they have been hesitant to pursue it as an official release. I successfully grafted it and have 2-3 of them in our orchard. The fruit is MASSIVE.
On the durian note, being a fan of durian I have noticed before that high quality pawpaws can definitely have a very durian like texture and also a subtle hint of a durian like flavor.
Count me in on a durian flavored pawpaw. I have some cambodian coworkers and they’re always bringing in new and exotic fruits to try. I was hesitant to try it based on the smell, but once you get the taste the associated scent lessens…or at least it did with me.
I don’t think this was answered yet, but I might have missed it. Does the “unique smell” of durian piggyback with the taste on the pawpaws tasted by folks here? It seems to me that if the taste could be captured without the smell, it would be a really desirable achievement. I’ve not experienced durian myself yet.
I still think the smell is strong but i associate it with an amazing food, so it smells like burgers on a grill would smell to many an American
I know you and I have talked about it before but for some reason I thought you’d said yours all died. Perhaps I’m thinking of @marc5.
That’s awesome that you have some fruiting. So strange that it’s been so difficult to propagate reasonably.
Thanks for lending an expert’s voice to the durian-pawpaw lore. Good to know more have noticed it.
I think i’ve said it already but: what I had back in 2016 was not very strong durian, with all the “funk”…it was subtler. But it was unmistakable and more than just a hint.
Yeah that’s sort of what I mean. Before you taste it you get a whiff of that smell and your mind just says “stay away from that thing”. But once you try it and get an appeal for the taste the associated smell takes on a different meaning in your mind. I definitely still smell it, but my brain knows there’s something good coming behind that smell.
I got 4 from you last year including a Horn. This whole pawpaw adventure is an experiment for me in central NH given my lack of GDD due to the slow spring warming from the cold north Atlantic. I don’t expect the Horn to produce reliable ripe fruit here before the first frost in the fall, but if I can get edible fruit for 50% of the seasons I’ll consider it a win.
Your trees are definitely the most vigorous coming out of dormancy compared to Nash and OGW. I actually lost 2 OGW trees over the winter (shenandoah and susquehannah). Your KSU Chappell, Nyomi’s Del, and Al Horn all jumped out with great growth this spring. If the Horn is slow growing I wouldn’t have guessed it yet. The Golden Moon started leafing out and pushing out growth, but has stalled over the past week. I’ve been giving it some water during this warm and dry stretch we’ve been having, but have refrained from fertilizing it until I see more signs of life. Maybe I’ll do a light dose of some fish and seaweed fert.
I’d recommend heavily fertilizing all your paws this time of year. They only put on above ground growth from about May-July, then they lignify whatever growth they put on. So it’s important to really fuel that spring push hard. Unless you want pawpaw fruit 8 years from now (of course you don’t).
