If it has marshmallow, honeydew, and cantaloupe on the list, don’t listen to it. Freestone is not a thing that really matters if you’ve ever eaten a pawpaw
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Yeah in S IL you can grow any and all.
Just stick to the ones noted for flavor and get a range of ripening to extend your season. There’s milder and stronger tasting ones as well. Shenandoah and Susquehanna are always a good pair for contrasting strengths. Any of the KSU ones are great. Benson is earlier and Chappell is generally the most vigorous. Tropical Treat and Potomac are late, but very good tasting. Potomac can get very large. VE-21, summer delight, and Halvin are on the most early side…Allegheny is early for a Peterson as well. There’s other good ones from Cliff and Jerry Lehman as well. JBG has large, tasty fruit. Maria’s Joy is kind of an underrated pawpaw that is kinda like “jack of all trades…master of none”. The “freestone” ones aren’t really freestone anyway. The seed sacks are maybe a little less, but they’re still there.
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Yes i did and there is a ton of great info/conversion. I think AI did reasonably well summerizing, based on my criteria of flavor , fruit size , productivity , and vigor. Like I said. I believe the recommended list is as good as any to start my pawpaw jouney. My trust of AI is low that’s why i inputted it with known good sources, see list 1 and 2 in my pervious post.
Thanks for the reply.
Freestone isnt a favored characteristic that I considered and wont atleast for the near term. Is there an undesirable characteristic with regards to flavor , fruit size , productivity , and vigor that I should be aware of for marshmallow, honeydew, and cantaloupe varieties?
Thanks for the reply
I really do appricate your reply very much. I need to study your response and factor into my consideration for starting my inital variety selection.
Thank You
Shenandoah and Susquehanna offer contrasting strengths in taste.
KSU varieties are highly recommended, with Benson ripening early and Chappell being the most vigorous.
Tropical Treat and Potomac are late-ripening but have excellent flavor, with Potomac producing large fruit.
Thank You I will study these varities more, since they fall into my criteria of flavor , fruit size , productivity , and vigor
I didn’t include the others since they fall outside of my criteria in one or more categories.
Since you are going to graft, you might consider growing out your rootstocks until they are well branched 6+ foot tall trees and then frameworking them (leader and all side branches) to a range of different varieties. That will take some of the varying vigor out of the mix and people generally find they get better pollination with a number of different varieties of pawpaws in the same tree, since it puts the flowers from multiple varieties close together. Or, if you wanted to at least get them grafted to something right away, you could do an alternating mix of KSU Chappel and Mango, two of the most vigorous varieties, and let those size up then graft over various branches to different types.
I really think vigor is an underappreciated issue sometimes and frameworking helps minimize that. As an example, I have trees of both Canopus and Regulus, varieties from Red Fern Farm, and Canopus is dramatically more vigorous. Regulus is supposed to be great, but it does seem like it would do better by frameworking it onto a big tree. Al Horn is another variety that might be worth growing (whitish flesh and somewhat of a coconut flavor I have heard) that is knows to be a slow grower and hard to get to size up.
Another benefit to this approach is delaying making your “final” decisions.
There are very few tasting reports of some of the lesser-known varieties and a lot of other varieties coming out, so making the decision for final varieties several years from now when there is a lot more information and possibly even new, better varieties, such as the new releases from KSU that just came out this year. Plus you’d be grafting them onto vigorous trees, instead of nursing along some that might be weaker as single grafts.
Just a few thoughts on how I might proceed if starting new with pawpaws.
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Top tier:
Susquehanna
Chappell
Benson
Shenandoah
Jerry’s Big Girl
Atwood
Potomac
There are many other varieties that are fun to have but may as well grow the best if you are limited on space.
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Marshmallow, Honeydew, and Cantaloupe aren’t worth growing. They are ok but others are far better.
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Thans for taking time to reply @Vid it looks like your spot on with your recommendations. I appricate you.
- Susquehanna :
A popular cultivar known for large fruit (often over 1 pound), with sweet, creamy yellow flesh. It ripens in mid to late season and is noted for reliable productivity. Requires a pollinator for fruit set. - Chappell :
Produces large, cylindrical fruit with excellent, sweet flavor and light yellow flesh. Ripens in mid-season. Known for good productivity and is often recommended for home orchards. - Benson :
Features medium to large fruit with rich, sweet flavor and smooth texture. Ripens in mid-season. The tree is vigorous and productive but, like most pawpaws, needs a compatible pollinator. - Shenandoah :
Yields large, well-shaped fruit with aromatic, creamy flesh. It has a balanced sweet flavor and ripens in the mid to late season. A reliable producer when cross-pollinated. - Jerry’s Big Girl :
True to its name, this cultivar produces very large fruit—among the largest of all pawpaw varieties—often exceeding 16 ounces. The flavor is sweet and tropical, with soft, custard-like flesh. Ripens in late season. - Atwood :
Developed by Neal Peterson (a leading pawpaw breeder), this cultivar produces consistently large, flavorful fruit with a smooth texture. Ripens in mid-season and is part of a group of elite cultivars known for high quality and productivity. - Potomac :
Also developed by Neal Peterson, this variety produces large, elongated fruit with excellent, rich flavor and high flesh-to-seed ratio. Ripens in mid to late season and is noted for its reliability and vigor.
Also worth noting: I had trouble getting scionwood for pawpaws. A couple places I ordered from, later said they couldn’t provide. In the future, I will be more likely to try and get it from the sell/trade here.
It seems pretty easy to get certain ones (Atwood, Mango, Taytwo, Sunflower,… come to mind)
Good to know! I grafted both Canopus and Regulus this year and I’m looking forward to seeing the results but may get some more Regulus to add to a bigger tree based on the rec.
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That was going to be my next question… scionwood sources. Seems fruitwood has some of the varieties. Paw Paw Scionwood are there other sources for purchase?
BTW - I really dislike autocorrect always changing my words.
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Red Fern Farm sent some good quality scions last year. My experience with fruitwood last year was not good for pawpaw - the scionwood was not of good quality and very small.
Forgot to add - peaceful heritage has scionwood and @Blake posts regularly here. I didn’t get to my ordering early enough to put in an order there, but I see some things in the list I’m hoping are available next year.
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Its been a good growth year so I’ll have plenty
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I decided to go with @Vid recommendations to get me started.
Just need to source scions for the following.
Susquehanna
Chappell
Benson
Shenandoah
Jerry’s Big Girl
Atwood
Potomac
I’m not looking for a gift and will gladly pay reasonable price per scion, plus shipping.
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Our scion wood sales will open in November for spring shipment. I should be able do everything on your list.
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Thank You @Blake i’ll be on the look out so I can order early.