Four seeds in that pawpaw. There’s a trait not seen often.
I like the lake idea a lot. Good you built the lake for them. 
Dax
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Dax,
Many people grow them but I’m trying to match their natural environment as close as possible. You can see based on the photos above what their true natural habitat is. That is actually how I located the patch. Family in neighboring states grow big patches like this. I saw the terrain and began looking for them. I let @39thparallel in on my secret a couple of years ago. You should see a couple of my secret morel patches! Once I told Mike where they were he scouted the area where I found the trees one winter and he located the larger patch a short distance from there. I saw a lot of trees on my initial encounter and told Mike the landmarks where I was.
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Absolutely. I’ve seen several native areas around here. Not only are they found close to the Mississippi on sloping ground, we find them here in situations just as you posted above. We see them on hillsides here, mainly.
What you said about about alluvial soils washing into a basin is another example. I know a guy that found 80’ pawpaws on the same type of ground.
ahhh. mushrooms. something I haven’t learned yet.
Dax
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I’m only really good at finding Morels. We had our eyes out for fall mushrooms today but we didn’t find any. I want to get better at harvesting fall mushrooms.
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My buddy I walk around with points to any mushroom growing but it’s too much information for me consume. And I sure as heck don’t want to get sick.
He’s off looking into branches of boxelder trees, knows where everything he wants should be growing.
Dax
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Here is the latest thread I started on fall mushrooms so I will keep you posted Anyone finding fall mushrooms?. Back to the pawpaw I never let the seeds dry out from when I eat them. I plan to put the seeds in a jar this winter and then plant a new patch!
I clean them in my mouth. I found my favorite way to eat a pawpaw is to skin it with my fingernails and then eat it I suppose like a banana. I take a big chomp into it and clean the seeds as I go. Then I do run them under water to get the last bit of material that always sticks to the flat end of the seed off. And then I instantly put them in damp media and put them in my refrigerator.
Dax
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Yes… don’t let the pawpaw seeds dry out. As Dax says… plastic bag with damp media; peat moss; etc. Into the fridge for at least 3 months to stratify.
They take forever to get started… sometimes 2 years in the ground before they poke their first leaves out of the earth!
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Holy cow those are productive compared to the wild pawpaws around here! The place where I forage has a total of about 3 acres dominated by pawpaw trees, and I’m lucky to find 2 dozen fruits a year.
It also looks like your fruits have fewer seeds than the ones around here.
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You need to graft another variety on one of those tree then you will get a ton of pawpaws.
Tony
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What is the prognosis for the pawpaws I have in pots that I planted this spring and are just starting to poke out now? If I bring them in once we have had frost will they be OK?
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If they are too tender to handle the hard frost then I would bring them in a unheated garage and let them go into dormant as Winter set in…
Tony
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I would advise you immediately carefully plant out those tap-roots now, if you intend to plant them.
If you want to keep them in pots, then yes: into the garage or basement.
Pawpaws drop long dangling taproots. The roots are VERY fragile. For pot culture, they require huge tall pots.
Slow development of the surface growth for the first couple years is normal.
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Drew,
As Tony said, wait until winter sets in to either bring them into your garage. You should allow them to be outside until the snow starts flying, or, when a period of 2-weeks or more allows dormancy to set in. All any woody plant requires is 2-weeks.
Basement should be ok if you were to keep them in a dark area in a basement that is not-heated. Otherwise, non-tropical or semi-tropical woody plants really should not be kept in a basement. Your best bet is an unheated garage or to sink the pots into a temporary bed and mulch over them. You’re always taking a risk with mice or voles or rabbits or whatever when you sink pots into the ground, but… it is the best way to overwinter potted plants.
You choose. An unheated garage or sunk into the ground.
If for some reason you do lose them over winter, next time direct sow your seeds in June where you want to grow them. Right now as seed is being collected, you should extract the seeds and immediately put them in moist (not damp) media in your refrigerator. Pawpaws will not germinate in your fridge. I’ve stored pawpaw seeds for two years in my fridge w/o a single one germinating.
Planting the seeds late in June is the correct time.
Dax
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I really love pawpaw! Trying to freeze some and limit consumption to two per day. My family is saving seeds as well. These are sweet and delicious, about as near to a perfect fruit as I’ve ever eaten! We’ve eaten these since before I went to kindergarten. We certainly don’t get a chance every year to harvest them. My grandfather could grow these, persimmon and sassafras among others in his backyard. When I eat them I think of my grand parents , extended family and old times long since forgotten by most people.
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Beautiful.
Dax
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I’m going to go ahead and discuss some of my tricks on how to grow pawpaw since I really can’t find where anyone else did. When you largely draw your own conclusions like I have done through the years you can be wrong about some things even though what I do works so if you see that please bring it to my attention. Pawpaw adapt like anything to their environment. Pawpaw were probably not meant to grow in Kansas but due to seed diversity and varying genetics they do grow here.
The pawpaw need nearby water for many reasons but the seeds must remain moist constantly which is why if you want pawpaw go to the river , lake, or creek to look for them. When the seed hit the ground constant moisture is absolutely needed and so you may be wondering why? Let’s look at the seeds and note the opening at the bottom of the seed.
Pretty easy so far right? Step 1 never let the seed dry out because the seeds are not completely sealed like other seeds. If they dry out they can sprout but your germination rate would drop to less than 1%.
The next problem we have goes back to last spring during pollination. Many people don’t know it but pawpaw are not pollinated by bees they are pollinated by flies. I know just when you thought you could kill all the flys you want you find out they are designed for a purpose. Old timers hung rotting meat to attract flies in their pawpaw orchard and some still do. Many people pollinate with an artists paint brush. Ok so back to my point which is not all the seeds are fertile. Last spring it was cold and most flies were hit with that cold so we have trouble on these seeds! I hate to waste my time so I have another trick to figure out what’s fertile or not and besides I need to clean up these seeds for winter storage. I dump the seeds in s bowl of water and the seeds that float are probably not going to grow and I will throw those out this fall and heal them in but they are likely mouse and worm food. The seeds that sink are fertile.
The next thing you need to worry about is stratification. You need to put your good seeds in thevrefrigerator wrapped up in a damp papertowl for 6-8 months in order for those seeds to germinate. So October, November, December, January, February, March are all waiting months while the seed is safely stratifying in the refrigerator safely away from all the rodents that might eat the seed if it was in the ground this winter. We are getting a little ahead of ourselves because seeds will rot if to moist and they can mold if to much papaw is left attached to the seed. I believe the protective rubbery sheath that surrounds a pawpaw seed is called the aril and they can be a pain to remove! Rub the seeds together and in your fingers to remove them.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again pawpaw trees like filtered sunlight when they are babies. They will be babies at least 2-3 years. I grow mine in the shade of other trees period and when those pawpaw are 20-45 feet tall their babies will grow in their shade and by then it’s likely the ash borer of Missouri will find me and destroy my ash trees that are my forest canopy. The large pawpaw will be canopy then and these will be understory trees. Remember pawpaw have a long tap root and they frequently die when that is broken so my suggestion is plant these trees where you want them from day one or in pots where transplanting is easy. Now with all that said you should probably ignore my advice and listen to the experts at Kentucky http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/pawpaw/ppg.htm. Some experts say plant pawpaw seeds in soil from the parent trees growing site to inoculate the baby pawpaw with the correct microbes http://homeguides.sfgate.com/sprout-wild-paw-paw-seeds-40439.html. I’m hopeful some of this helps someone grow pawpaws. Here are a few more pictures of me cleaning the seeds under a really bright ceiling fan light and separating fertile and infertile seeds. If your not in the sun or under a good light you will miss a lot of pulp and other things that will cause your seeds to mold.
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Seeing this makes me think I’d like to give pawpaws a try. Just Fruit and Exotics carries them. They have a variety called gainesville that supposedly does well down here.
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Jeremy,
I would definately try it they are gorgeous trees but most require a lot of chill hours so your right to look for low chill types.
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A couple photos from this past weekend to Starved Rock State Park in Illinois.
Getting out of my car and walking 10 or 20 ft. I came upon the trail sign and pawpaws. I was stoked! As I went into the forest more and more pawpaws were to be seen. Then, as I looked just about every direction toward the end of the short hike there are pawpaws everywhere. Some as tall I’m guessing as 50 ft. Of course I spent a lot of time shaking as many trees as possible, but, I had to of been a few weeks late. I wanted to eat just one! 
Ottawa Canyon Trail
Daisy, my pawpaw trailblazer expert:
Here’s a 50 footer:
Looking up into the canopy of this 50 footer:
Lots of sand where most grew:
Dax
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