Flavor is pretty good, mild, I have never tried a named variety so don’t have much to compare against. More banana than mango.
It is 1lb. 3.5oz.
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Wow that’s a big one. I think that’s quite a bit bigger than KY Champion.
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Cool to know! There’s a few of us pawpaw fanatics in the middle TN area.
I know of and have heard of multiple patches with very good fruit in the area of Old Hickory/Mt Juliet/Hermitage area.
Conversely, the wild ones near me are terrible!
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Paw Paws seeds do not come true to parentage. I have read that and seen it in my own seedlings I have raised to large trees. Many of my seedlings gave more prolific fruit than the grafted varieties, but none of mine were as good of quality of fruit. (TASTE, lower number of seeds.) This is pretty common with many fruit trees, and why Apples, Pears and many other trees of known superior varieties are grafted. IF you are going to plant seeds, make sure you keep them damp as you cold stratify them. If Paw Paw seeds dry out, they usually will not germinate.
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I’ve been following the literature on pawpaws(and growing them), since about 1995. Writings from some early pawpaw researchers and breeders in the last couple of decades of the last century (Desmond Layne, Corwin Davis, John Gordon, etc.) suggested that while pawpaw seedlings did not come ‘true’… as in, seedlings were not genetic clones of the ‘mother’ tree, like we see in many citrus… a majority of seedlings would produce fruits that closely resembled those of the ‘mother’.
One would certainly anticipate that seedlings of a named selection - pollenized by other superior named selections - would have a genetic headstart toward producing better-than-average fruits.
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@UndeadFruitNWGA
Thanks fellows for your comments, I have several locations nearby wetland ares that would seem very fitting for populating with pawpaw, so I will be trying to grow out my seeds for the purpose of giving these natural areas something worth more than cattails and eelgrass!
My own property is only 1/3 acre so here I have some spare room to add a few varieties but mostly by grafting onto a few trees.
Since I’m new to Pawpaws, I appreciate your input.
Dennis
Kent, wa
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Agree. That is, if both parents are superior, there’s a good chance the offspring will be good. Maybe not as good, but then again some may be better.
I had 3 seedlings fruit for the first time this year and all had big, tasty fruits.
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Cool!
TT
Can you tell us which cross varieties most likely they came from?
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@DennisD
Yes and no 
The seed parents are known - Sunflower for 2 of them and Wabash for another. the pollen donors are not exactly known, but they’re from KSU orchard where the only surrounding trees are other named varieties. Susquehanna are closest to the Sunflower trees. Wabash I’m not sure, but I think also near sunflower and Susquehanna trees.
It’s nothing too special- many other folks have good seedling trees.
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Thanks TT, one more rookie question. As you probably know some fruits do not further ripen when picked early, will Pawpaws ripen if not fully ripe when picked?
Dennis
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There’s not much more than a couple days you can pick early and still get the proper ripening.
Pick 3 days early and they keep maybe 10 in refrigeration.
Pick at ripe…and you have a day or so to use them.
Maybe I exaggerate, but not by much.
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In my opinion pawpaws are touchy about picking too soon.
It’s possible that stomach upset is linked in part to consumption of fruit picked too soon.
The fruit should be soft at the neck - the softer the better in my opinion. It should release easily when gently wiggled.
It may or may not be fragrant and may or may not have a slight yellowing in hue.
Shelf life will depend on a lot of factors including your taste preference- after a point, the flavor changes from fruity to maple/caramel.
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Thanks fellows exactly what I wanted to know. This year I have only 6 total fruits on two trees, so it’s good to know how to harvest these few!
Dennis
Kent
Wa
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Cool!
Of course the fruits will eventually drop, which means they’re optimally ripe unless wind or an animal knocked them out. Still, you may prefer the flavor 1 to a few days off the tree in that case.
You could put a sling or bag under/around the fruit to catch them.
Also note that not all fruits in a cluster will ripen at the same time.
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Here are 8 Shenandoah and 1 Wabash that easily fell off when I lightly tugged on them.
Below are some clumps of Wabash that fell off during a storm. They are aromatic so I hope they will ripen properly on the counter.
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A few isolated NC-1 pawpaws started ripening about a week and a half ago. Came out this morning and about a dozen were on the ground, with many still on the tree.
These are excellent pawpaws. Rich, creamy, sweet and full-flavored, with no “off” flavors or bitter aftertaste. They’re so rich, though, that I can’t eat a lot at one time. NC-1 does not seem to be precocious. Mine has been in the ground seven or eight years—and this is its first crop. To be fair, though, would’ve borne last year, but late hard freezes destroyed all flowers. Another late freeze this year destroyed its first bloom, but it put out a heavy second flush of flowers.
My Nyomi’s Delicious (fourth year in the ground, first serious bloom—though there might have been a smattering of flowers last year if I remember aright) lost all of its flowers this year; it is an extremely fast-growing cultivar. Sunflower lost most of its flowers but managed to set a few fruit (which have not ripened) despite extremely severe dieback. It lost about half of itself after this season’s freeze; it grew reasonably well this year, but still not sure if that dieback bodes well for its future. Two random seedling set a scattering of fruit, but these are very small, and these trees may be candidates for topworking.
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I picked the last ones that hadn’t fallen from a nice tree on Pitman Creek near Somerset today. None of mine have fruited yet, personally. Most have ripened and gone here already.
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I found another wild patch near Pittsburgh that had a few fruit. None were ripe, but I was excited just to discover it (my wife’s co-worker pointed us in the right direction).
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Found One fruit lying on ground under the Sunflower, others are still hanging on the Prolific and Sunflower trees. This one was probably shaken off by wind as it does not emit a ripening smell, and has not turned color. Since this is our first year fruiting, I am inquiring if this one can be ripened on the counter, or some other process?
Dennis
Kent, wa
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