Asimina triloba cultivar named “Mango” due to the flavor profile.
It was discovered in the wild in Georgia.
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Welcome to the group!
Ah got it, thank you for clarifying. I am new to the forum (longtime lurker/reader with no membership) because I’m currently hyperfixated on pawpaws. Love to learn!
I’m actually curious — don’t want to dox you, weatherandtrees, and not sure if we can PM on this forum, but I think you might be around the same location with a similar microclimate as my parents (Grafton County, on a hillside above a lake), so I would definitely take any advice you have for this region and that kind of microclimate!
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The hillside definitely helps…especially up there in Grafton County. Are they on Newfound? Any low elevation lake area around there is going to have some cold mins in the winter so probably a solid 5a with occasional 4b winters. I have a friend 1100ft up on Newfound that stays much warmer on those radiational cooling nights.
But either way we struggle with growing degree days with the typical slow starts to spring. I suppose that can be a benefit after a year like this where even I had a hard freeze in mid/late May, but it still makes annual growth a challenge.
I’m on the north side so I don’t typically have lack of water issues like southern slopes can…although most of us are pretty wet so far this season. But the big thing is keep them moist, well drained (no standing water past 12-24hrs), and keep hitting them with the high nitrogen. Some of mine have put on a foot of growth in the last 5 weeks and I’m going to give them another dose of N soon. Some trees are struggling and will probably die. They seem to be fickle like that. My Nyomi’s Delicious grew like a weed last year, but the 5/18 freeze seemed to really set it back. The new growth keeps dying and falling off and it’s probably not long for this world. Maybe the freeze did some semipermanent damage to the tissue? Not sure.
Definitely get early ripening varieties. I have some mid season ones just to try for those occasional years where the growing season is long, but you don’t want to keep getting them zapped a week before they hit their ripeness. I haven’t had fruit yet, but next year I may have a few trees that flower. My Chappell, Al Horn, Potomac, and Tallahatchie are putting on some decent size.
But yeah, they all tolerate winter well in my 5b. It’s getting them the summer heat and humidity that they crave that’s the challenge.
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Yep, 1000 feet up on the far southeast side of Newfound angled west, so a long day of a southwestern exposure (do you run the Bristol/Newfound twitter accounts I’ve long followed?). My dad cleared some trees to unblock solar panels on the roof and is thinking of putting an orchard there; I stumbled across pawpaws while looking for unusual fruit in this area, and fruit that could take some shade up in the back.
Thanks for the tip on the nitrogen. I always sucked in chemistry and my fertilizer game lags all my other horticultural pursuits. I don’t need them to produce fruit anytime soon, I just think it would be fun.
I tend to think in spreadsheets when researching a new hyperfixation, so I was thinking of creating a Google Sheet that would have a row for every cultivar, and a column for attributes like:
- Name of cultivar
- Season (early, mid, late)
- Annonacin levels (if known)
- Plant notes
- Tasting notes
Does something like that exist already? If I made it, would people in this thread be interested in contributing to it? I’m finding it hard to map all of the cultivars since they are spread across so many nurseries and I haven’t yet found an ag school with a comprehensive directory like some of the California schools have for citrus.
cc @ZinHead, @pawpawplanet, and @Blake on that last bit…
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There is a pawpaw cultivar list on this site listing when breed or discovered, by whom & who sells it.
However, understand there are numerous mistakes even in some of the scientific literature.
Like NC-1 might not be a (Davis x Overleese) hybrid & is only a genetic distance of 2 from Potomac, but a distance of 7 from Overleese. Shenandoah is a distance of 11 from Overleese.
Susquehanna is 86.2% identical to Wabash, but only 70% identical to Potomac its presumed sibling.
If you do publish something, then the flaws in current documentation need to be corrected rather than proliferated.
More genetic tests need to be done!
BEF#53 was most likely pollinated by BEF#30 to create Susquehanna(11-5)
BEF#30 was most likely pollinated by BEF#53 to make Wabash(1-7-2)
Potomac (4-2) most likely had the same pollination parent as (2-10) else they would not have a genetic distance of 2.
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I would be very interested.
I’m growing a handful of types that I think will do well here, we get pretty extreme weather. and the pawpaws I ate in the woods as a kid aren’t going to taste the way these named ones will.
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Looking good man. Unfortunately the third and final tree I bought in 2019 just died back this year. It had lots of flowers but the late frost did it in. I will have to re-graft Shenandoah; fortunately the rootstock is taking off like the other two did and I should have a short turnaround until fruiting.
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If you are growing in the Northern USA early ripening is important.
Early pawpaw cultivars:
Allegheny, VE-21, KYC, Summer Delight, (2-10/Summer Delight), 2-10, WindStar, 166-20, Caspian, Avatar, Lehman 2015, VE-5, Taytoo, RLG4, Sundog, Cantaloupe, Honeydew, Atwood, Benson, Maria’s Joy, Regulus, Rigel, Marshmallow, Danae’s Creekside, Shenandoah, SAA Overleese, Pennsylvania Golden #1 & #2, Halvin, Zimmerman (SAA & SAB & SAC), Lehman’s Delight, Benny’s Favorite, (2-10 x Mammoth).
A number of people have early wild selections that are unique to them.
Scott Cox, David @Vid, Hansel, Tom Wahl, @Osteen, Woody Walker, Ron Powell, Clifford England.
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Check my website in my profile. I’m behind on updating it but it’ll put you on the right track.
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Thank you! Super helpful (and the genetic tree you posted is fascinating). Yes, I would assume I need early cultivars.
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Welcome
Hi Petey, In my book Pawpaws: the Complete Growing and Marketing Guide I have over 150 cultivars listed with as much info as I could find. That may help you in your endeavor. Buying a new copy of the book supports my work as the author.
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They may be near some of my friends. They’re 1100’ up on John Smith Hill Rd with a SW exposure as well. And no I don’t run those Twitter accounts, but I know my friend does run some up there so it may be him. He’s a big weather enthusiast.
Didn’t you say in one of your videos that you have massive amounts of high pH Calcium in your soil causing Magnesium deficiency in the leaves even though soil tests didn’t show deficiency?
Couldn’t this excess high pH be the reason for slow growth in the soil?
Excellent book Mr. Cothron. I have heralded it far and wide.
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Hypothetical fantasy.