My pawpaws LOVE deep and wide mulch. But still I’ve lost (in first 1 -2 years) probably half to two-thirds of all the pawpaws I planted over the years. I say, if you want X number pawpaws, plant 2X or 3X. I’d also suggest planting pot grown pawpaws in Spring.
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Updating on my paw paws… the two I moved this spring have survived and both are green and leafy. As expected neither has put on much growth this year. One of them has formed leaves much smaller than normal. I assume this is a result of stress on the plant and that it will return to normal next year.
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Does anyone have information on pollination partners for paw paw? I have Sunflower, KSU-Atwood, and Shenendoah. They were planted in spring of 2016. I had flowers on just one tree this year, last year I had flowers on two trees (forget which) and they flowered at different times.
Also — the stuff about Parkinson’s is sad. When I planted I was looking forward to maximizing the use of whatever I got, estimating 25 lbs per tree when fully mature, and was thinking about planting a couple of seeds from the paw paws that are sold at Rocky Point Farm in Rhode Island. At this point, I guess I’ll really have to limit the paw paws to 2 or so per day when in season and maybe the equivalent to one or two in pulp per month out of season. I also love soursop but at least that’s something I have to seek out while on vacation, so there’s no need to worry about toxin buildup. I’ve tried soursop in Atlanta and NYC, and both times they were terrible. Maybe the reason for that is they have to pick the fruits so green in order to have a chance at something the customer can eat.
These are Pennsylvania pawpaws. These are my first ever and I’ve never tasted a pawpaw so I am super excited
And this is the tree.
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Pretty tree, very symmetrical. Please let us know what you think of the fruit.
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Rocky Point Farm…
I miss Rocky Point Park, personally… And strip pizza and spinach pies most of all… (I have gallons of Autocrat)
My kids are sad they didn’t get to try Dels, though…
Back to pawpaws…though Neal has said his shakes are not due to Parkinson’s, it’s also true that he has consumed far more than any of us will likely ever eat…
How are the pawpaws from RPP? I could almost be willing to add another one… Let us know how KSU-Atwood is once it fruits.
Scott
The pawpaws from Rocky Point Farm tend to be pretty good. You have to get there pretty well before they open on the days they sell paw paws if you want to bring any home with you. I’ve had some excellent pawpaws from there, one time they sold me overripe paw paws. I like them better ripe, but some do like them better overripe. At least I got to taste how they are. It’s a completely different taste. I’ve emailed them about specific paw paws that I liked from when I bought from them and they were able to tell me that the best one, the one I asked about, is not a named variety. It comes from a seed given to them from, IIRC, a farmer in Indiana. I tried growing some seeds from this paw paw but wound up killing what came up with too much sunlight. They also have many of the normal named varieties including the Peterson paw paws.
I’m not sure how much longer I’ll have to wait for the KSU-Atwood to fruit, but it’s a much more vigorous plant than the Shenandoah is. The Sunflower is also vigorous.
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I have trouble with this also, my EL seedling flowers first, then Wabash, then Mango and Susquehanna. As they got bigger and produced more flowers the more overlap they have, but it is still somewhat of an issue for me.
Here is Mango and Wabash. I was eating Mango July 17 last year but I am about a week behind that this year. Wabash has a good crop and Mango about 50%, maybe less, even with a lot of hand pollinating. I had a lot of fruit drop this year, some fruit even had good size when it dropped.
![IMG_20180713_142313[1]](https://d55v7rs15ikf5.cloudfront.net/original/3X/9/1/91b392748162ee2763740bb9c23e5e158516bb68.jpg)
Susquehanna, a few years younger, has one cluster of fruit on it.
![IMG_20180713_130903[1]](https://d55v7rs15ikf5.cloudfront.net/original/3X/2/2/22d909140159b30dd41a56f67ad25cbefd055f43.jpg)
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I haven’t heard any mention of these varieties. They are both relatively new so I thought I would bring them up on this forum.
First is Tallahatchie a new Peterson variety
https://www.petersonpawpaws.com/
And a new one form KSU called Chappell
I am really interested in the Chappell variety it supposedly may be the fastest growing of all pawpaws. Not to mention I know a guy who has a fruiting Atwood that produced more pawpaws than his other trees and they were every bit as good as his Peterson varieties. Hopefully this productivity is found in all of the KSU trees. I want to buy a grafted tree and try to switch it over to it’s own roots like what was mentioned with starting apples on their own roots. Greg
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[quote=“gregkdc, post:171, topic:8374”]
(“I want to buy a grafted tree and try to switch it over to it’s own roots like what was mentioned with starting apples on their own roots. Greg”)
Pawpaw are virtually impossible to root a variety.
This would be ideal if we could do this,and their are people trying.
Very limited success .
Just sayin
On Sunflower - this was the first year mine bore fruit. My NC-1 had one very large fruit, out of dozens of flowers that I hand-pollinated. The Sunflower had a couple dozen fruits, some were good size. They were absolutely delicious. I shared with a few people who had never eated pawpaws, and they also loved them.
I saved seeds. Im not young, might never see them bear fruits if they grow. The NC-1 seeds should be a cross with Sunflower. The Sunflower seeds could be cross with NC-1 or self.
My little Mango bloomed for 3 years, no fruits. It is only 2 feet tall. I just cut diwn a massive buddleia nearby that may be competing for nutrients.
My Allegheney is 4 years old. I see it has buds that typically become flowers in Spring. The Sunflower and NC-1 each bloomed for 3 years, however, before the first fruits stayed on the tree long enough to ripen.
Bottom line, I’ve read some people aren’t crazy about Sunflower but in my garden and climate they were wonderful this year.
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Peterson has a working relationship with KSU and his selections were included in their breeding work. KSU Atwood is believed to be a seedling of Susquehanna for example.
KSU helped him with evaluating his varieties. He mentions them as the reason that he released some of his cultivars:
https://www.petersonpawpaws.com/potomac/
https://www.petersonpawpaws.com/wabash/
https://www.petersonpawpaws.com/introducing-tallahatchie
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Pawpaw Taste Test Results:
Here’s one from KSU 2008 thanks to @Bradybb:
http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/PDF/Nutgrowers%20Newsletterfall08fincorr.pdf
G9-108, second place, is a mystery after searching- maybe it was never named, released. 10-35 is recently released Peterson “Tallahatchie.”
Any other tasting results out there? I’m searching for orange flesh, melon or other overtones, stronger (vs mild ) and complex flavor. Not interested in size or production.
So far Mango and Susquehanna seem down my alley; looking for others.
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@Persimmon1 : Where does Mango rate on your list of favorite pawpaws? Or in tasting events you know about? Is softness/perishability its weakness?
Sounds like the variety Kentucky Champion fits what you are looking for – orange flesh, melon taste. Also, Woody Walker the person who introduced it has noted that Cliff England is releasing some melon-tasting varieties from Walker’s selections this year: link.
As for taste test results, there is the Ohio Pawpaw Festival results. Some varieties that have taken awards include Susquehanna, Overleese, and a bunch from Jerry Lehman’s breeding work (250-39, 275-48, 275-56, 250-30, and Maria’s Joy). Cliff England grafts and sells all of Jerry’s varieties, and he’s the only person I know doing so. I can’t find the link for it, but I have seen KSU Benson and KSU Chappell get favorable ratings in a taste test, too. I’ve heard particularly good things about KSU Chappell.
Peaceful Heritage has some good selection and descriptions of pawpaw varieties on their page, too.
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@nik_umesh Thank you- very helpful info. Do you work at U of Md, Eastern Shore? If so you’re about an hour south of me.
I’ll see if I can find scionwood of Kentucky Champion.
I will second your kudos to Peaceful Heritage website for detailed taste descriptions of most of their fruit- not just pawpaws. Lots of information I have not seen elsewhere, most of it first hand tasting/disease descriptions. Blake at PH told me he posts here but I don’t know his username.
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Cliff England has KY champion but it may be too late to order scion wood for it. When I placed my scionwood order this year he was running low on or out of alot of what I asked for. However I didnt ask about KY champion scionwood as I bought a KY champion tree from him last year. Another champion tree that sounded interesting was Mark Twain from https://www.treepeony.com/pages/connecticuts-champion-pawpaw-tree but it seems they don’t have it available this year.
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@hambone I don’t, I actually live a little further south in North Carolina.
Blake from PH has been very helpful in getting info on pawpaw varieties! He says he really enjoys Nyomi’s Delicious and Prima 1216. However, when I spoke to Cliff a while ago he was a little ambivalent about Prima. Either way, I would love to taste both of these one day.
Good luck getting some Kentucky Champion wood!
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Mango is a good variety but is very soft fleshed and thus needs to be eaten very soon after harvesting or processed. It does not hold up well. And it should also be harvested from the tree instead of the ground because of its very soft flesh. It bruises very easily. It can have a good flavor and its fruits can get quite large though I would say most are in the medium range. I have a close friend that likes mango above all others he has tried.
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