Pawpaw fruitlets… 
12 Likes
Pawpaw will have a stunted growth when grown in clay soil. Especially when the tree is also suffering from drought periods in summer. At my nursery which is in a valley the pawpaw mother trees are growing in clay soil. During summer we suffer real drought periods, especially 2018, 2019 and this year we are heading the same way… these trees are 11 years old and only about 1,5 - 2m tall. I also have some pawpaw in my garden at home. My home is situated uphill and the soil is sandy and rich in organic matter. It also never really dries out… The pawpaw in my home garden are the same age but they are about 7m tall. The difference in size is simply due to soil and water supply! A remarkable observation is that the trees in my nursery flower just as heavily as the large trees in my home garden.
6 Likes
Well, I kept some in one gallon pots for over 5 year…and they stayed under 2 feet.
When I planted in good soil, they grew 3 to 5 feet per year.
1 Like
Hello, I was hoping to visit Jerry Lehman’s farm but sadly he passed away last year. Does anyone know what will happen to his farm and trees? Is someone going to sell his varieties? Thank you
1 Like
There you can read about it. Cliff England is propagating his varieties. I do hope he saves all/most of the varieties.
2 Likes
Peterson’s Pawpaw varieties ripening order. You can also note that 10-35/Tallahatchie will be one of the earlier ones.
8 Likes
c5tiger
I am about to start planning/planting an orchard in zone 8b in SC in Ehrhardt, SC. Was wondering what kind of success you have had with pawpaw and persimmon varieties. Or really what ar your top producers across the board?
I only have 3 pawpaw varieties, Susquehanna, Wabash and Mango. I also have a seedling from Edible Landscaping but I can’t recommend it. I can’t give you much advice other than adding Mango to your list simply for its vigor. My 3 trees are very similar outside of Mango growing much faster. I have had problems with Ambrosia beetles, so you may need to spray a pyrethroid when the weather starts warming up around the end of February. My Pawpaws ripen last end of July, first part of August and in that heat they really don’t last long. I like to feel for soft fruit on the tree, fruit that has fallen is already over ripe for my taste.
Any persimmon will grow well in this area.
Is this a commercial orchard or personal use?
Thank you! Will be a personal orchard for its infancy at least. There’s a lot of different folks gonna be planting in it…so we will see what happens.
2 Likes
My mango pawpaws have been exceptional this year. Very sweet and creamy. The tree had a light crop of around 25 fruits. Tree planted in spring 2016 and is 10ft tall and wide. My review on it last year was that it is only a little better than wild ones. I change my review. Its way better.
Susquehanna was not as good as last year and not as good as mango this time around. Sweetness seemed a lot less than last year although a couple were really good. I think i let too many fruits hang. I had 80 fruits thinned down to about 50, but its a small 8ft tree planted in 2014. Fruit size suffered too.
Still waiting on shenandoah tree to set fruit.
5 Likes
So envious. My Mango planted in 2016, has grown to almost 8 ft. Has not flowered yet.
I caught ‘Mango’ on a good year. It was the best tasting pawpaw I’ve tasted.
I guess a lot of people say it isn’t so great. Well, I recommended it highly of course to find out it wavers year to year. That should be true with a lot of fruits. Heck I don’t squat about apples but I assume they can be inconsistent, too. An apple in my mind should taste the same about every year, however, I don’t grow them. I got a couple little trees on a clay hillside not growing at thus point.
Dax
1 Like
There’s a nurseryman near here who also extols Mango. Though I suspect his experience is limited based on the fact that he’s a generalist and only grows 3 total cultivars.
I’ve never tasted it.
Had 2 seedling fruits this week from a local park. They were good but not great. A little watery - I like the thick texture of an improved variety.
My lone Shenandoah should be ripe in a few days.
2 Likes
I’ve tasted about all of them, I think. I’m missing a few, of course.
Hey, enjoy your Shenandoah.
Dax
1 Like
Thanks! I will update my “$300 Pawpaw” thread when/if I harvest it. 
Yeah from what I can tell, Pawpaw is one of the more variable fruits out there in terms of flavor/quality not just from year to year but even cluster to cluster on the same tree.
1 Like
definitely, no doubt. but the cultivars are so-so much better than the wild’s.
Dax
1 Like
Im surprised and bummed yours has not flowered at that size. Both of ours planted the same year. Mine had a half dozen fruits in 2018. It was probably 6-7 feet tall at that time. Maybe being that far north is a different deal than down here? Does it have fruit buds for next year?
1 Like