ordered a couple unnamed seedlings to try to grow in my z4. planting them on a south facing wall of my house to protect them from the cold wind. should easily be like z5 there. what cultivars do you all recomened i graft for my climate that would ripen in my short summers?.
Probably Kentucky Champion,Summer Delight, VE-21,Halvin ,Allegheny and maybe even NC-1.
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In addition, there are a few others under my “coldest hardy” category that should ripen early; PA Golden #3 being a choice that is supposed to taste good. Going off of the choices Brady mentioned, I’ve heard good things about Summer Delight and NC-1 taste - wise with the qualifier that NC-1 is known to be a lighter producer than some other cultivars. That being said I am planning to grow an NC-1 in my tiny yard.
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Well, a few varieties have been tested…
Sunflower is supposedly actually low in annonacin. And, I assume that Prima 1216 is too, since it’s one of its offspring. This combined with the fact that they are both self-fertile and Prima 1216 bears prolifically early (in years) and is great-tasting…are why I want some (Prima 1216)!
Anyways, after trying to find some consistency amongst many varying opinions, I compiled a few Pawpaw notes in general. Keep in mind that these are generally just casual opinions I found, not necessarily all scientific!
Low-annonacin cultivars: Sunflower, Wabash, Potomac, Zimmerman, Wells
High-annonacin cultivars: NC-1, Overleese, Mitchell, Middletown, Susquehanna
Good-tasting cultivars: Allegheny, Shenandoah, Prima 1216, Halvin, Maria’s Joy
Maria’s Joy - best flavor ever, large, tasty
Overleese - no bitterness
Sunflower - low acetogenin, late ripener
PA Golden - medium size
Halvin - ?
Taytoo - ?
Prolific - ?
Tallahatchie - ?
Potomac - ?
Mitchel - ?
Davis - ?
Mango - good flavor but mushy, fastest growing
Rebecca’s Gold - OK, watery
Rappahannock - no droopy leaves
NC 1 - awful flavor
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Prima 1216 is a great pawpaw cultivar in our experience and is far superior to most. It is very vigorous and precocious and comes into bearing early (we got 10 lbs of fruit in 4th summer from planting). The fruits get quite large and plump, many over a pound. The flesh has perfect firm yet silky texture, never goopy. They are very sweet and mild with no strong or off flavors. Seed weight is fairly low. The skin is thick and durable so this would make a great marketing cultivar. It is very consistent and always produces a large crop. It was the ONLY pawpaw in 2020 that produced fruit for us due to very poor spring weather, late freezes, etc. It ripens late which stretches the pawpaw season considerably. In KY it ripens around the first week of October, so may be too late ripening for northern growers. Seems to be resistant to phylosticta.
Prima 1216 is one of my top picks for sure. People should get excited about this one!
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Good to know! Thank you for sharing info about it.
Fungal resistance is high on my list for sure.
I’ll have to try one some time 
Thanks, do you sell any Prima 1216 seeds, BTW?
Even if it’s just out of a Prima 1216 fruit, and the other parent is not known for sure?
I did have some earlier but they are spoken for now. We do have other excellent genetics available at our website www.peacefulheritage.com
What makes you feel that “Maria’s Joy” has the best flavor? Can you describe the flavor?
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I went back and took another look at England’s Nursery website. I usually make a few trips each year to interesting nurseries and I decided that since they are only 3 hours from me, this is definitely one that I should visit and get some trees and scion wood from. I called and got the information I needed to make that a reality this spring. Thanks again for the recommendations. 
@Blake great review! Thanks!
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Have fun at Cliffs! He’s a really nice guy and has lots of cute cats. Plus lots of unusual fruit trees 
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Maria’s Joy is a Davis x Prolific cross (formerly well known as 166-13). I haven’t tasted it myself, but it has won several taste test awards and is described as having “a mild Tapioca/mango flavor, and good production.”
“Bred by Jerry Lehman of Terre Haute IN Maria’s Joy Pawpaw produces medium to large sized fruit that are kidney-shaped with yellow flesh. A Davis X Prolific cross Maria’s Joy produces good crops annually with fruit averaging between 8 to 14 ounces. A well-known fruit author remarked it was the best tasting pawpaw he ever tasted. It also won the Ohio Pawpaw Festival’s “Biggest Pawpaw Contest” in 2012.”
Generally-speaking, yellow Pawpaws (like Maria’s Joy) taste more like mangoes and white ones taste more like bananas…
Here’s a good, descriptive, alphabetized list of cultivars, BTW…
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My Maria’s Joy bore unremarkable fruit two years ago - first time on a grafted branch. Did not impress me in the least compared to my seedling “Select” from Edible Landscape. Will see how it progresses.
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I was at Jerry Lehman’s when Maria’s Joy had a few fruit left on the tree and a few dozen on the ground which also was how the cultivar ‘Mango’ was. Maria’s Joy had an awful flavor then. Mango on the other hand was and still is my best tasting pawpaw as of to date. Was I lucky or unlucky with each, I do not know for sure. Both of Jerry’s trees were in the 5-7 meter height and about the same width.
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Is it possible the fruit is not as good as it could be the first couple of years the tree bears? I have seen assessments on the jujube threads that show this occurring.
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I’ve been told the same thing about pawpaws.
My very limited experience supports this - my first Shenandoah was terrible 
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Yes that’s possible, I’ll leave all my varieties in place for at least two years of fruiting before editing. I need as many varieties as possible to help with pollination which here remains a big problem.
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Do you have a dog or farm animals who make some manure that could help you out in the spring?
There is a herd of Belted Galloways not far away- guess I can go shovel manure- as long as the bull is out of sight.
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