And here is a video of Neal Peterson giving a talk about his pawpaw journey:
To anyone interested, Qingeaton has some seed grown trees (from named cultivars) that he is selling scion wood for on Ebay. He has a video that breifly touches on one of his seed grown varieties in this video called ‘TLC’ but besides that I dont know anything about them. The others are ‘cooper’ and ‘corner’ https://www.ebay.com/itm/Grafting-scion-wood-Pawpaw-tree-orchard-fruit-paw-paw/323729127279
@hambone I found that book excerpt when I was looking for which pawpaw variety to fill the last available spot in my backyard. I had heard about many varieties being standouts, like Susquehanna and Shenandoah, but couldn’t decide on one. I saw Englands Orchards was selling seeds from Jerry Lehman’s numbered crosses. The crosses were just sweeping the Ohio Pawpaw Festival it seemed, so I searched “250-39” to find out more and that’s one of the web results. For reference, here is a picture of 250-39: https://www.facebook.com/ohiopawpawfestival/photos/a.597508676962496/597508696962494/?type=3&theater
I agree that there isn’t much info on taste test results. I have personally tasted Mango, Allegheny, KSU Atwood, Rappahannock, Summer Delight, and quite a bit of fruit from wild trees here in North Carolina. My sample size is small, but the best I have tasted of that lot is Summer Delight, a cross of Sunflower and Overleese by Cliff England. The flavor was mild yet complex, had a thick texture, and seemed to have no off flavors or bitterness even at a later stage of ripening.
Here are a few results from Ohio I have found:
https://ohiopawpawfest.com/2014_recap.html
https://ohiopawpawfest.com/2013_recap.html
The 2018 winners were: 275-56 (Benny’s Delight), 250-30, and Green Gem…and the winner for size was 275-48 (Lehman’s Delight)
And here are some of the winners you can put together from the England’s Orchard page: Premium Pawpaw Seed
It would be worth contacting the festival to see if they could share the list of winners from all the different years.
Jerry Lehman is sending me his spreadsheet of past winners. He laments that no records were kept for a period of time. I may need techie help re-formatting his spreadsheet to publish here.
I wonder if that is Benny La Fleur?He sent me a Wabash,a few years ago.bb
Here in one post from Pawpaw Fanatics FB page are several leading pawpaw growers/breeders giving their favorite pawpaw varieties.
A goldmine of information here, thanks to @TJ_westPA for sending it to me.
Link won’t work, wrong format or something. So go to Pawpaw Fanatics FB and search for David Evan’s post Feb. 7, 2018.
I just wish we have a hybrid crossed of pawpaw and custard apple that will survive Z5. Just dreaming 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/927257504078942/permalink/1054349444703080/
Let’s see if this works. You might have to be a member of that group to view it.
Yes- your link works!
lol that’s a nice dream! I’ll take a pawpaw/soursop hybrid please!
I’ve been growing one called Lehman’s Chiffon,for about two years,from Hidden Springs Nursery.Still small,but once the lateral branches start coming,I’ll put some scions at the Trading Post.bb
Ohio PP Festival winners.pdf (35.4 KB)
Attached is a list of winners from the Ohio Pawpaw Festival passed on from Jerry Lehman. Cool to see how something from his work took every prize this past year. He says with another two generations of breeding, his and Neal Peterson’s varieties will fall out of favor. It will be interesting to see what fruit qualities people are going to focus on improving in the coming years.
Nice to see KSU Atwood got first place one year. I have a tree out back and am still waiting on fruit from it (and the others).
Zafak i was reading your notes from the pawpaw tasting and once i seen the name i realized you are the same person i spoke with on youtube that told me where to find some pawpaw patches around northern Ky.
I mentioned a pawpaw tree growing next to my local Home Depot in Ky and you commented and knew of that same tree.
I actually grafted a few sunflower scions into a small patch thats off the trail at middle creek last yr.
Also, Stringtown Park has a neglected 15+ft tall pawpaw that had a few small but delicious pawpaws on it.
I’m glad that you were able to find some last year.
Did you see the tree at florence nature park last year? It was loaded with fruit but they all got picked before I could try one.
The seedlings that I offered you froze solid and are probably dead, but I still have time to cut scion wood if you are interested.
I still havent been to Florence Nature park to see any of the pawpaw trees there.
The one at stringtown is a single tree but had fruit, i plan to pollinate it this spring so if you get a chance keep an eye on that one. I found the tree in late Aug with a single cluster of fruit so it may start dropping its fruit earlier. It had a more firm texture flesh and very fruity flavor compared to pawpaws from the woods i tried and turns yellow when ripe.
No worries on the seedlings i actually have some this yr, and probably some extras to spare if you need any.
Assuming they survived the winter.
I have Sunflower, Overleese, Susquehanna, Shenandoah and adding Atwood, Rappahannock, Mango, Prima this spring.
Im always up to trade.
If you have scion of any improved pawpaws with the exception of the ones i listed i would definitely take you up on the scion offer.
I have stuff i can offer up in exchange.
I was speaking with Tyler Halvin yesterday. To my surprise he doesn’t care for Mango. He said it tastes like typical wild pawpaw. Naturally, it was my favorite from a dozen approx.cultivars I’ve tasted thus far.
Tyler said ‘so many are alike & there are getting to be too many cultivars.’
Tyler likes those that are fruitier-flavored with no aftertaste. These are his favorites:
Overleese
Shenandoah
Prince Caspian (his newest that I really can’t tell you when it will be available)
Danae’s Creekside (cultivar named for his wife Danae found wild in N. Missouri.) Her favorite and has the least amount of seed of any wild selection of theirs. He says it’s super fruity too! Tyler said they have different tastes but he agrees with her this one is superior in flavor.
Halvin
Wabash
Hope this helps you.
Dax
I have tried KY champion once and it was good.
Dax, you know Jerry Lehman personally, you have visited his orchard so you will be wiser than me… do you know what VE-21 stands for? It is one of Jerry’s top pawpaws. His system of labelling trees is confusing at least for me. Some of his persimmons have numbers (100-46, 100-45, etc.) and some letters (U-20A, WS 8-10). Some of his pawpaws have numbers (275-48, 166-13, 250-39) and there are yet some with letters (VE-21). I would appreciate if anybody could clarify his system of labelling trees. Thanks.
I know this! Or at least part of it. From my tour of his orchard:
Jerry explained his naming scheme to me. The pawpaw named 275-56? That tree is located in the row 275 feet from his property line, and is the 56th tree (spaced 5 feet apart). The idea is that, when he is long gone and somebody is trying to recover cultivars a century in the future, they will still be able to locate everything.
I don’t know what VE is, but he has a few different fields, so I imagine it indicates one of the fields in particular.
Very interesting, thank you Tim.