Only a 40ft x 25ft area currently.
But I have 800ft of livestock fence & 6600ft of barb wire, plus posts.
I have gotten 75% of the pathway cleared of trees, bushes, etc
Figs, pawpaw seeds & pomegranate seeds are going in the ground first.
Then I will attempt to finish the fencing.
Pawpaw will be planted in 1ft deep trenches.
200ft of trench is already dug.
I will lay down fencing over the trenches, while I put up the fence perimeter.
Don’t want the pigs to munch sprouting seedlings.
I will probably plant 2K seeds in sand in plastic containers on my porch.
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I suggest growing no more than a dozen trees. You will get SO MUCH fruit that you wont know what to do with it. Also 12 trees is much easier to manage than thousands. And much less likelier to fail.
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I already have 37 pounds of 2 cultivar parent pawpaw seeds.
The goal isn’t fruit to eat or sell.
The goal is new desert thriving pawpaw cultivars to change pawpaw agriculture in America!
I’m hoping that 1% to 5% might be that kind of Pawpaw.
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Ok, got it.
But how do you think that will occur? Are there hidden genes in pawpaws that predispose some to be more tolerant of desert climates?
AFAIK, this doesn’t exist. They seem to want a lot of water and prefer river banks and temperate climates
I would reiterate what AI told me.
If you’re scientifically inclined or working with a lab:
- Use marker-assisted selection if heat-tolerance markers are found.
- Apply tissue culture to propagate the best individuals quickly.
- Explore CRISPR or mutation breeding (e.g., with EMS) to induce traits like stomatal control or waxy cuticles.
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That would be awesome & logical, if I had money.
Shenandoah, Maria’s Joy, Nyomi’s Delicious, Sunflower, are far more vigorous here in the heat with 40% shade.
They are also low chill.
I suspect that Chappell is heat tolerant too.
They will be sprayed with (Sodium Molybdate).
Heat tolerance will depend upon the ability to close the Stomata breathing pores on the leaves.
The Appalachian mountain range is high in Nickel.
Nickel copolymerizes Zinc Ligands, putting Zinc in storage & reducing availability.
Nickel reduces tolerance in several other ways too & increases the probability of young leaves scorching when exposed to UV Light.
Anyway, I’m hoping for a few heat tolerant ones.
Custard Apples are genetically similar & are heat tolerant.
So there should be such a gene in the species.
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Unfortunately tissue culture isn’t perfected in pawpaw.
Take is below 12% & everything cloned so far has died in under a year.
Lots of Universities & companies have worked on it.
I have invested 3 years in it.
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Most but not all pawpaw have a waxy cuticle layer except Susquehanna & maybe Chappell.
Susquehanna is not heat tolerant & Chappell is very vigorous & probably is heat tolerant.
The main problem is that UV Light opens up the Stomata breathing pores about 8 times as effective as Blue Light.
Where in most species UV Light closes the stomata.
Molybdenum enzymes produce the hormone which closes the stomata in most species of plants.
It could be that pawpaw have difficulty in assimilating Molybdenum.
Or it could be they produce something that interferes with Molybdenum or the hormone which it produces.
Difficult to say, as very little research has been done on pawpaw.
Anyway I should have a better idea by November 2025 & will post updates.
I will be attempting air layering next year.
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Some serpentine soils in parts of Appalachia are high in heavy metals like nickel, but:
- There’s no solid evidence that Appalachian pawpaws have higher nickel content.
- The idea that nickel copolymerizes with zinc ligands is unclear chemically; nickel and zinc may compete for uptake or transport, but “copolymerize” is not the right term.
- That nickel reduces UV tolerance by promoting leaf scorching is a stretch; at most, heavy metal toxicity stresses plants generally.
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Further. ,
A waxy cuticle helps reduce transpiration and is often thicker in xerophytes. It’s reasonable to speculate that variation exists among pawpaw cultivars, but this needs microscopic or biochemical confirmation .
If Chappell is heat-tolerant and lacks wax, cuticle wax is not the only determinant of drought resistance.
There’s no credible evidence I can find that UV opens stomata 8× more than blue light in any species—let alone pawpaw. Can you point me to any research showing this?
There’s no research I can find suggesting molybdenum uptake or metabolism is deficient in pawpaw. It’s a hypothesis in search of evidence. The better path would be to measure tissue molybdenum levels and ABA response in seedlings under drought.
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It was part of a research paper by a university student on several hundred understory trees, shrubs & vines.
They measured stomata sizes, stomata counts, duration of stomata opening with different frequencies & intensity of light.
It was only a couple of paragraphs in a doctorate paper.
And I don’t remember the student or the name of the paper nor the university.
Sorry.
I read it last year.
If I find it, I will get back to you.
I wish I had downloaded it or saved its location or both.
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I will have to check into that. I know that in the lab that Nickel can copolymerize Zinc Ligands & thought that I read about it doing so in plant biology too.
I know that the ionic bond strength of Nickel is greater than Zinc & that Copper ionic bond to acids & ligands is greater than Nickel.
So an abundance of Nickel can cause Zinc deficiency, even if not a copolymerization.
The issue is the ability to Zinc to synthesize tryptophan, a precursor to (IAA) Indol-3-Acetic acid.
The issue is Auxin & ABA made from Abscisic aldehyde oxidase a Molybdenum enzyme.
Plus Nickel as a catalyst to Iron stimulating ROS & H2O2 triggering Ferroptosis in young leaves.
Plus over production of Carboxylic acid around the stomata due to CO2 absorbtion faster than Ammonium avalability for making protein.
Nickel stimulates Mycorrhizae to turn Nitrogen into Urea.
If Molybdenum is low then Ammonium can’t be manufactured from the Nitrates & Urea.
So even if Nickel doesn’t copolymerize in plant biology, it’s still the problem.
Yes, I agree, Pomper should get the funding from USDA, for this & many other pawpaw topics.
Anyway we are way off thread designated topic, lol.
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There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as Infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge, This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area where Mikey the Plant Detective grows luscious, delicious, nutritious, humongous Asimina triloba fruits in the Desert.
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Is this a poem? I admit, I don’t always understand art.
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I’m not sure, but Rod Serling’s voice started coming through, when reading it.
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Tom Wahl & Clifford England both have it.
Ask one of them about the quality.
tom@redfernfarm.com
cliffordengland3321@gmail.com
Clifford England has on Farm#1
14.Seedling Pawpaw 2021
15.Taytoo Pawpaw 2003
16. Sweet Virginia Pawpaw 2003
17.Toll Gate Pawpaw 2003
18.GA – 866 Jujube 2003
http://www.nuttrees.net/England’s%20Orchard%20and%20Nursery%20-%20Scion%20list%202024.pdf
Mikey ZinHead the Plant Detective, has given up.
But has reached obstacles.
My anaphylaxis, other new allergy meds & new blood pressure meds, are failing to control my issues.
Can’t finish the pruning & putting up of the fence, given the Sonoran Desert heat & I’m allergic to what I’m pruning which is in bloom.
Pawpaw will be planted in containers on my porch.
Figs & pomegranate will be planted in the trenches.
Pawpaw will be added to the trenches next spring.
Fence will go up during the winter.
I will continue my cloning research.
Have managed to stimulate new roots from every Lenticel & branches from every node in fig.
Normally roots come from wounds into the Cambium layer.
Roots from Lenticels off the Phloem, requires Auxin Transport redirection & activation.
The current method, failed in pawpaw.
But feel that I’m finally on the correct track.
Make take a few more years, lol.
May the PawPaw gods be with you.
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I will be in the Cochise Stronghold next Spring, and I will drive over and help you in the trenches. I will bring you some mighty ‘Sunflower’ X Italian Montanari ‘Prima 1216’ seedlings to engage in the pawpaw struggle for survival in the Sonorra
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That’s a kind offer thanks.
Are these your new crosses?
Each is vigorous in Tucson.
So a cross sounds promising!
I will keep in touch, multiple times this year.
As I have never had any success on this property. Much success many other places in Sahuarita & Tucson, but not here.
It’s a mine flood zone!
Maybe I will go a head & plant some pawpaw in both shade & summer heat, just to see what happens.