I have been trying to get pawpaw going. Last year they got broken by animals and this year only one has come out of dormancy. I bought the cultivars named in the title to replace the ones that did not come out of dormancy. Some hidden springs nursery seems to be the only seller of. The one that came out of dormancy and is still going is a Sasquahana so I would have a good amount of cultivars if all those are good.
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Chappell and Atwood are fabulous altho Atwood can have hard, white, unripe sections that don’t detract from the ripe parts. Have not tasted the others. The only pawpaw I bought from Hidden Springs 10 years ago was tiny, stunted, poor roots, poor quality and has never fully recovered.
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Thanks @Richard
I don’t think Mitchell is much to write home about but that’s not from personal experience. Rather, the reading I’ve done and the lack of buzz, and the existence of newer superior cultivars.
The others are very solid and you can’t go wrong there.
My Atwood has had a high degree of the issue mentioned above, but other growers don’t have the issue. Not sure what’s up with it. It’s not unique to Atwood, but Atwood may be predisposed.
Lehman’s Chiffon is a tough one to peg. It is on the soft texture side. The flavor is milder, coconut vanilla-y and less pawpaw-y. It seems very prolific, requiring no hand pollination in my little orchard to set many fruit. However, either due to genetics or the large fruit set, the fruit are among the smallest of my trees. I keep trying to thin them more every year but so far hasn’t made a big difference.
It has very attractive, narrower leaves. Relatively vigorous.
Contrary to assumptions, Jerry Lehman did not select this cultivar. It merely came from seed from his orchard.
@hambone was your hidden springs tree mail order bare root?
I have 4 trees from hidden springs and they’ve been very strong. However, I picked them up in person in their treepots.
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I hope your Susquehanna ripens in time for you. Someone in zone 5 here in MA has said her Susquehanna does not consustently ripen in time.
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That is something I have worried about with all pawpaw to be honest. Stark Bros mentions it ripens in October which is pushing it but we don’t get snow until around November. If I lived slightly higher elevation I can see a problem. I live in the old town Golden area and if I when up to the Genesee golden area or Indian Hills right above Morrison I would be too far more than likely. Those areas are still rated to zone 5 but have a much shorter season than us. You go up to Conifer and it is still zone 5 but turns into 5A and they have no season but it makes sense because they go up to 10k feet high.
I believe it was bare root and I’ve never had good luck with B.R. I’ll never buy or recommend bare root pawpaws after losing several large groups of plants from Nolin River, all bare root.
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I have had really good luck with bare root trees with other types of trees. I think I had a bare root pawpaw from hidden springs before and when it started to leaf out something broke it so I could not see the results. I had a black gold cherry that never really grew and died bare root, my almonds have just not made it through a winter either way and I am not sure why as they are rated for zone 5, I have had a pecan just not leaf out that was bare root, and then I have had cherries shipped in January which did not survive but that was more so the timing. Those were my experiences with bare root that have not worked. The main problems I have had bare root is they come small so take a lot of time to catch up and you cannot evaluate health. You get credit if they don’t come out but they typically don’t credit you for shipping and it is a bit of a pain because you often have to wait a year. Raintree has stated they will not refund me if anything happens anymore too so I am assuming the warranty on bare root is void with Raintree for me as well. Again this is overall and not with pawpaw specifically.
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Same here and agree 100%
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My pawpaws are shaded and my KSU Atwood does the same thing that others describe. I wouldn’t plant it again.
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I would be more worried about the lack of humidity where you are. I have moved from west to east coast and what I can grow here is completely different. My pawpaw are in a humid dapped sun area and grow like absolute crazy. Since I started giving them a bit of extra water they are even happier.
I had a few <32F nights before mine were ripe last year and they didn’t seem to mind. But the humidity may have protected them from freezing. They did mind a LOT when we had a warm winter followed by <32 F. They leafed out and even had flowers and the frost killed all the leaves and flowers. They’ve grown new leaves now, but not much fruit set this year.
I suppose @Richard has pawpaw and is in a dry area - are there people in CO who grow pawpaw you can ask? or are you trying something new!
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