Tony what do you think of Chappel and Benson compared to other varieties? Debating on grafting more of them or something else. I haven’t tasted them, but they have some stiff competition. NC-1 is moving up on my favorites list and maybe beating the Peterson varieties.
Thinking about grafting Blakes Sri Gold or Al Horn as well.
Also, when are you picking your Medlars? I’ve got a good amount this year, but have yet to figure out the best time to pick them.
Chappell(and Susquehanna) definitely cracks with Phyllosticta and inadequate rain. This year on Susquehanna I didn’t have any fruit cracking but I saw it on the leaves. Chappell is 100% worth growing, flavor wise I like it more than Susquehanna and it makes about the same size fruit. I hope you continue to have Phyllosticta free trees at your place. I have seen orchards where it is a big problem. @weatherandtrees brought up a good point about removing the leaves and I think that is a good idea. It would be great to see some breeding work done on developing resistant cultivars. Grow out thousands of seedlings and inoculate the leaves with Phyllosticta and see if any show any kind of resistance.
Chappell is good. They can be pretty sweet. Has some light-moderate fruity flavors to it and also has a marshmallowy taste, probably due to the high sweetness. I’d imagine most people would like them. I don’t like them as much when they turn yellow/brown, but I’m finding that I don’t like most pawpaws when they start to get overripe. Most pawpaws start to get burnt sugar, toffee, or bitter flavors when they start to turn brown, which I don’t like. Allegheny may be an exception as it doesn’t get like that even when overripe. I like fruity flavors in pawpaws more than sugary flavors, so I prefer a variety like Allegheny over Chappell. But for a sweeter tasting pawpaw, I like Chappell more than Wabash, which is more caramely in taste and can oxidize and turn brown very quickly. The sweetness in Chappell is more appealing to me since it doesn’t taste as cloying and seems more in balance with the fruitier flavors than Wabash, if that makes sense.
Benson is a sweeter pawpaw as well. This is my first year tasting them, so I’m still assessing. Some melon, some caramel, and a bit of banana in flavor. Firm texture like Wabash, but it’s smooth and doesn’t have the slight grittiness that Wabash has. Tastes more caramely as it gets more ripe and can taste very similar to Wabash at the more yellow/brown stages. One tasted in between Allegheny and Wabash, in terms of flavor. I do like it more than Wabash though. The texture should appeal to those who like a firmer textured pawpaw since it is firm and nice and smooth.
It’s been a while since I’ve tasted NC-1, but I remember liking it for it’s stronger fruit/banana-like flavor. Glad to hear that you’re enjoying that one. I probably won’t get fruit from my NC-1 tree until 2026.
I haven’t noticed the medlars ripening yet this year, but I am keeping an eye on them. I’m afraid they will ripen earlier than usual this year due to the amount of heat we had and the early spring. In 2021 I first noticed that they were ripening in early December, perhaps they started in late November though. 2022 was a warmer year. Most fell off the trees in late October and weren’t ripe yet, but those ones started ripening in early November. In 2023, the ones that fell on the ground started ripening slowly in mid November, while the ones that remained attached to the tree started ripening in very late November / early December.
I’m not sure why some fall off the trees just before ripening while others remain attached, but I prefer when they remain attached as they seem to keep better that way. They ripen just fine either way, but the ones that stay on the trees can remain good throughout winter as long we don’t get many really warm days. The ones on the ground seem to go bad more quickly. When they go bad, I mean that they can have a moldy or spoiled smell to them when cut open.
I don’t like to pick them from the trees until they blett and turn softer. You can see a subtle color change as it happens, they go from light/medium brown to a darker brown. For the ones that fall early, I’ll gather them up and keep them on a tray on the porch until they blett.
You mentioned a bunch of varieties I am looking to add! I originally was looking to grow Wabash, Susquehanna, Allegheny, Benson, and Potomac based on some of the reviews online, but maybe I should consider Chappell and Shenandoah instead of Wabash and Potomac. What do you think? In your post from 5 years ago, you outlined a few pawpaws:
Shenandoah - creamy texture, mildly flavored though still very good, not too much banana flavor, banana & fruity flavors are subtle, no melon flavor, has a vanilla flavor to it that makes it taste a lot like vanilla pudding
NC-1 - banana/cantaloupe, flavorful, tastes like most wild pawpaws though a good version of those, not much fruity flavor, a lot of banana flavor, fairly strongly flavored overall
Susquehanna - very sweet, firmer, smooth texture with light orange color, a lot of fruity flavor, a bit of cantaloupe flavor, hardly any banana flavor
PA-Golden - tastes similar to most wild pawpaws (banana/melon), has noticeable bitterness to pulp, especially near the seeds, not as good as the better wild ones I’ve tasted
Allegheny - difficult to pin down in terms of flavor. Came to the conclusion that it has a very well balanced mix of all 3 flavors (cantaloupe/banana/fruity). Hard to taste any 1 flavor distinctly. Some bites did have a stronger cantaloupe flavor to them
and again in 2022:
Shenandoah is a great variety imo, even if it is very mild. Taste is typically like a slighly fruity vanialla pudding. Can sometimes have a bit of a coconut taste to them. Productive tree, large fruits, great flesh to seed ratio, precocious, easy to eat, keeps well. Lower sweetness, but still sweet enough for my tastes. They do tend to have a mild bitterness to them when they turn brown and get overripe, but they keep well in the fridge so this isn’t usually an issue for me.
Allegheny can be fantastic flavor-wise. They have a lot of complexity to them with a well-balanced mix of many different flavors. I swear I had 1 this year that had a bit of flavor to it that reminded me of orange sherbet. I did taste a bit of pineapple in that one, which likely contributed to the perception of a sherbet taste. Good level of sweetness. They keep really well in the fridge and don’t develop much or any bitter flavors, even when overripe. The drawbacks to Allegheny are the seediness, smaller size, and need for aggressive thinning to keep fruits better size
I have tasted paw paws that were more egg-custardy in flavor (probably Shenandoah), and others that were “fruitier”, and some that had a metallic aftertaste (wild ones I found in North Carolina and PA). I’d like to try to get a few pawpaws that have a wide range of flavors and high productivity, and then graft onto any for different flavors. What do you think?
Chappell is a must have imo, very vigorous and makes excellent fruit. Flavorwise I prefer it to most others, but I’d keep Potomac over Shenandoah.
Interesting, is there any reason why Potomac over shanendoah? I was planning on having shanendoah as the mother tree and grafting on other varieties like Potomac, since I’m pretty sure the pawpaw i had from Charles West was shanendoah that I really liked (or at least I don’t remember any fruity flavors and only an egg/vanilla custard flavor I liked, and the shape was definitely not big and round).
Mainly a personal preference, shenandoah is just kind of boring to me, but its many folks favorite. I like the flavor of potomac more, and it also makes bigger fruit.
I’d be really curious if there was a more scientific way of collecting some data on pawpaw flavors, textures, etc. I am curious if there are any tabular data on cultivars of paw paws (or any fruit for that matter) that are have notes on taste profile, texture, resilience (heat, drought, wet, soil, ph, cold, etc.), productivity, fruit size, seed amount, vigor, precociousness. I would particularly like it if it was easy to know that “yes, everyone says Shenandoah is their favorite, but they’ve haven’t even tried a Tallahatchie”. I’m rather new to the forums, but I think something like that would be useful (especially for something like the pawpaw that can take many years until you actually get to taste it!)
Chappell and Shenandoah are definitely worth considering. Chappell seems like a crowd pleaser with high sweetness and good flavor and is known to be a strong grower (though they haven’t been any more vigorous for me than the other 2 KSU cultivars).
I really like Shenandoah. It is precocious, reliably productive for me, they keep well in the fridge, and are healthy trees. I also really like how spread out the ripening season is. It starts early and yet finishes late due to dropping fruits slowly over a long period of time, as opposed to dropping most of its fruits all at once like PA Golden and Allegheny did for me this year. If your goal is to have a wide range of flavors, than a mild/subtle type like Shenandoah should definitely be among them imo. I don’t taste an eggy flavor when I eat Shenandoah fruits, but they are rather custardy in texture and often have vanilla notes to them, so comparisons to vanilla custard make a lot of sense for that variety.
I haven’t tried Potomac, so I can’t comment on that one.
It’s been a long time since I’ve tasted Susquehanna, so I can’t comment too much on that one either. My largest Suquehanna tree should’ve fruited for the first time this year, but ambrosia beetles killed it. Some people mention health issues with it, but I haven’t noticed that yet.
Allegheny is a must have for unique flavor as well. I mentioned one of the fruits having an orange sherbet component to the flavor before. This year I tasted that in most, if not all, of the fruits. Whether that is due to maturity of the tree or my taste buds or brain picking up on it more easily now, I don’t know. It is a higher maintenance tree due to the need for fruit thinning, but at least you know it will be productive.
Wabash and Benson tasted very similar to me. This was my first year tasting Benson though. Both are round, firm textured, very sweet, and have caramel notes to the flavor. I’m curious if other people feel the same way about Wabash and Benson tasting similar. I liked Benson better, so I would go with it over Wabash. The texture is smoother than Wabash and I don’t like how fast Wabash fruits oxidize and turn brown.
Not many people have tasted a wide range of different pawpaw cultivars and documented their experiences. Even less have grown a wide range of cultivars and compared and detailed their growing experiences. That takes a lot of time with pawpaws. We do have a lot more people doing that sort of thing now compared to 5 or 10 years ago. Everyones sense of taste varies as well, so it’s hard to get on good consensus on some cultivars when it comes to flavor profiles.
There are some nice, concise videos that Tim Lane posted of some of the different pawpaw cultivars and he talks about how they taste. Those are well worth checking out if you haven’t done so already. Look up Ockoo Farm on Youtube.
Chappell has not grown any faster here either. It’s been pretty much on pace with the rest. Wonder if there really is anyone that can say it grew fast for them or just a repeated myth. I agree Shenendoah is a must have. It’s like a starter pawpaw that everyone will like. I really like NC-1. It’s also got that vanilla custard flavor, with very little seed. I might give Allegheny a try. I’m trying to find unique flavors and I like orange sherbet. I keep saying 8 varieties is enough, but all those root suckers seem to be calling for more varieties. @TJ_westPA
I plan to plant my pawpaws in a line about 8 feet apart. I foresee them putting up suckers; do you have advice on grafting on top of the suckers vs grafting a branch on an existing tree & cutting the suckers? Would you feel there’s be any significant difference in terms of yield, health of the nearby trees, or precociousness? I’ll start with around 5 and given in every now and then and graft a new cultivar somewhere
Grafting the root suckers allows you to more easily tell the varieties apart. With grafted branches when they fall it’s not that easy to identify one from the other. I don’t bother with it, but most people sever the main root going back to the mother tree on root suckers.
It’s been an insanely fast grower for me. Faster than any other.
What’s a good late blooming pollenizer that has early ripening fruit? I currently have Sunflower and Mango and they don’t bloom at the same time. There are also some root suckers that may start to bloom in the next year or two. I’ll see when they bloom, but I could also graft something to them.
In my climate, pawpaws bloom for a long period of time and there is always significant overlap between all varieties I grow. If they are young and have few flowers, then there won’t be as much overlap, but that improves as they develop more blooms with age. Anyway, I’ll list my bloom times from this year in case that will be of use to you.
I didn’t record dates of any variety that had very few flowers (Honeydew) or were in the process of dying from ambrosia beetles (Susquehanna & Kentucky Champion).
I recorded the dates based on when the first flower from each variety turned fully maroon in color.
Shenandoah - 4/17
Wabash - 4/17
Allegheny - 4/18
PA Golden - 4/18
Benson - 4/22
Chappell - 4/25
Overleese - 4/25
Mango - 4/27
Atwood - 4/29
Sunflower - 5/1
This can vary some from year to year. We had colder temperatures from 4/20-4/22 with a light frost on 4/21 and 4/22 (down to 30 that morning), so that caused a bit of delay with the ones that started blooming after PA-Golden.
Same.
I don’t think there’s an answer to @murky ’s question.
I.e. There’s not significant difference in bloom times. Later blooming is a goal of breeding, to combat the issue of late frosts.
Thank you. So maybe just letting the trees mature and getting more varieties will help just to have more variation.
I had Shenandoah and Allegheny at my old place but moved before they started fruiting.
I think so. Though definitely appreciate @TJ_westPA ’s providing his flowering times!
I’ve gotten lazy about keeping those kinds of records 
If you find out, could you let me know also? I live south of the native triloba range in zone 9A.
I know it’s not a named cultivar but in the Congaree National Park there’s native pawpaws growing everywhere. And even though the Congaree (Columbia SC) is further north than where I live (Florida Georgia border) the summers are hotter than where I live. I have a seedling from the Congaree that’s doing well.
I’m guessing you’ve probably already heard Mango does well in the deep south?
Its not going great. Last year, it defoliated in early November and came back in March. This year it defoliated in September, while the weather was still warm. Hopefully it will come back again in March, but I won’t know until at least then.
I had heard of the variety but had not heard that it was good for the deep south. Looks like its a vigorous grower, which is probably the most important thing for me. Where do people buy bare root pawpaws on the east coast? When I google it I always get nurseries in the PNW.