Growing Pawpaws ( Asimina triloba )

Have fun at Cliffs! He’s a really nice guy and has lots of cute cats. Plus lots of unusual fruit trees :grinning:

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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 :rofl:

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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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Do you have time to hand-pollinate?
It’s fun but wouldn’t be practical for many trees.

I repost this every now and often:

Pawpaw%20Pollination%20Newspaper%20Snip

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I’m glad you did! That’s the first I’ve heard tell of such a thing.

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NC-1 has awful flavor? I digress. NC-1 has excellent flavor and quality. It’s one of the best cultivars available.

Sunflower is not late ripening. It ripens mid- September most areas.

Mango is fast growing but KSU Chappell grows just as fast and likely even faster.

Flavor is always subjective, and certain seasons some will be better than others. I’ve had years where Sunflower was just incredible and other years where it was mediocre. Thus you have to be careful with subjective taste reports. Someone might go to a pawpaw festival or orchard somewhere and taste a bunch of cultivars and say “this ones great, this one’s awful”. Well, this was one person in one season trying one fruit. Consistently, NC-1 gets good ratings for flavor, and I’ve had it many times and it’s always very sweet and flavorful with very nice texture. It’s also from Ontario, CAN making it super hardy. Yet perhaps when it’s grown far south it’s not that great, and hence a negative flavor report. Although in KY it grows well.

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You’re welcome @TrilobaTracker

@Blake I think NC-1 is delicious. I’ve had it on an off year too and it was more mild in flavor. Maybe a bit if I recall that (I don’t know the word for pawpaws) rancid after flavor.

Dax

Interesting premise on the putting honey in the blooms to attract bees bit. I’ve heard of people spraying the trees with sugar syrup, etc for that purpose. However I wonder if the acetogenins in the pollen (assuming they might be there, which is reasonable to presume) might be harmful to the bees, bee larva in spring or even people eating the honey. Just a consideration from a beekeeper’s perspective. After all, acetogenins are insecticidal.

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Agree regarding flavor judgments

@Barkslip
I would not feed honey in the open .
It can encourage robbing, and the spread of diseases,
( foul brood )
Especially if from the commercial market.
Sugar water would be a little safer.
Road kill ,the best.

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I agree on the theory behind potentially harming a bee colony being problematic. I wonder if the pollen might also have a negative effect on the carrion loving pollinators the trees are supposed to naturally attract… But in the case of the bees it may affect the entire colony instead of a few individual flies. Interesting research topic for sure!

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Alright pawpaw enthusiasts, I have updated the site www.growing-pawpaw.webnode.com to include www.redfernfarm.com (Tom Wahl)'s cultivars that are currently available!!! Unfortunately they sold out of scions for the season pretty fast which means they must be good. I might have to race you guys for them next year :wink:

Tom has a few other very cool sounding cultivars up for naming if they continue to perform. One ripens its fruit within a very short period (3 days or less), and he may have discovered another seedling that is fully self fertile to add to the mix (sunflower and Prima 1216 are the others I am aware of). Both of these traits could have major implications for commercial breeding genetics in the future, but I see them as less important for most backyard growers unless having issues with setting fruit for various reasons.

Anyways, I also made a few updates on wording and added a bit more information recently so feel free to take a look. It’s almost time for leafing out and grafting here in Pennsylvania, I am excited!

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Exciting time of the year indeed.

I noticed something peculiar today…a couple of my flower buds just about set to open have large sections that appear to have been shorn or chewed off.

Not sure if that’s insect or bird activity or what…? Will see about posting a picture soon. but just imagine a bud sliced in half on the vertical axis.

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