Pawpaws 2023

Questionable of course as to fruit bearing. Would be good to procure and grow seedling from a N.D. that did manage to fruit in your area.

2 Likes

The ā€˜Sunflower’ pawpaw has no difficulties whatsoever in assimilating Boron.

Mine as Well. They must be assimilating Beu coup Boron thus creating a plethora of Ethylene. :laughing:

1 Like

If I find anything that works in this climate I will be happy to share. I planted over a hundred seeds from northern sources in shaded beds this spring, as well as some ā€˜select’ seedlings. With as slow as they grow here there may be results to report in about 20 years. :yum:

1 Like

Outstanding! You are a northern pawpaw pioneer with a warm and sharing nature

2 Likes

Welcome to the group. :smiling_face:

1 Like

My statement was an expression of suspecting a possibility, nothing more nor less.
And I provided circumstantial evidence for the claim.
You are making an emphatic proclamation without any evidence.
Have you grafted both Sunflower & a high brix cultivar like Susquehanna, Tallahatchie, Nyomi’s Delicious, or Chappell to the same root system as Sunflower, then done a parts per million analysis of Boron & the other micronutrients?
Have tested the ppm of Boron in the fruit skins between Sunflower & other cultivars?
If not, what evidence do you have of the truth of your definitive statement of things not proven factual???
The 3 most common causes of fruits remaining starchy & extra firm during ripening are:
Under assimilation of Boron, or over assimilation of (Zinc or Potassium).
All 3 of these can result high starch low Brix, which is exactly the type pawpaw KSU has defined Sunflower as being.
Since Sunflower has excessive blooming, there is also high probability of Sunflower over assimilating Zinc.
I’m stating these as theoretical possibilities with circumstantial evidence.
Can you provide any evidence for your position?

1 Like

You are spewing again Zinhead and you should put a lid on it.This is not the place for us to argue about this.This is the Growingfruit.org site which is primarily for people who actually grow fruit. On that note, I remember the pics you posted last year on this forum of your yard in the Sonoran Desert where you were going to plant the 15,000 pawpaw seeds along with tobacco plants etc. for your pawpaw farm where you hoped to hold future pawpaw festivals for enjoying desert grown pawpaw fruits. I and several others who made donations including the free seeds and scion, would like to see pics of your progress if you would be so kind. You also personally promised cloned Asimina trilobas by the 4th of July (you proclaimed that it was going to be ā€˜Pawpaw Independence Day’) to me and a number of others who I stay in touch with. So… it is July 14th, and we anxiously await our cloned Susquehannas, Lehman’s etc. What say Zinhead?

2 Likes

For air pruning- is the bottom of the box a wire mesh of some sort?

1 Like

Yes, it is 1/4" hardware cloth and I added a light weed barrier cloth on top of that to keep thing soil from dropping through. I filled the bed with 2/3 ProMix BX and 1/3 pine fines and it is 11-12" of media, so a good amount of space for the roots to go before they’re pruned by hitting air.


I recorded some video of the beds as they were filled and planted, which I’ll put up at some point and share here. My biggest concern is protecting the roots during the winter, since I’d rather take them out next spring or might possibly grow them a second year in the bed depending on how big they get. I think for my zone I’ll be able to pile up wood chip mulch all around the outside of the box and that should provide enough insulation, but I keep hearing that 25 degrees will kill pawpaw roots so I’m hoping for a milder winter.

8 Likes

Well done.

1 Like

So, here is a close-up of my double-stacked 1L air-pots. I don’t know if it makes any sense :joy:…

Some important points - the double overlap is shifted slightly between the two pots. If it wasn’t, it would mean 4 layer thick at the border between the two pot sides. This way, it is maximum three :joy:…

To put the pots together, I first assemble the top (without a bottom of course). Then I use a temporary screw to attach the bottom pot wall to the top pot wall, while I hold my hand inside the top pot. Then I maneuver the bottom pot wall all the way around the bottom of the top pot wall - be aware you have to insert the bottom circle/floor inside while wrapping it around! - getting the ā€œdimplesā€ to match up. In the end, you insert a screw, get it to go through three layers, and screw it shut. Then you can remove the temporary screw from earlier.

Oh, and the top pot wall is the right way around, but the bottom pot wall is turned upside down…

I really do not know if this makes any sense to you - so hard to explain! :joy::joy::joy:




5 Likes

Delusive. And same song and dance with all donated plant material you receive A to Z, Apples, Figs, Pomegranates, to Zucchini. Let us discuss this no more and agree to not comment on each other’s activity here and to not bring in any Sock puppets to support our positions. Sayanora.

1 Like

@Osteen and @ZinHead please no more bickering after this post. You are welcome to continue it in PMs.

8 Likes

into the subject of pawpaws, generally. I have a potted seedling that’s making me nervous, mainly because it leafed out for the first time in spring. I kept it potted and may keep it so over winter, and plant in spring. I’m concerned about protection over winter in the tree pot - I have 3 options

  1. keep in the pot and mulch with straw, leaving it outdoors in the pawpaw patch area. possibly killing it if it’s a mighty winter

  2. keep it with figs, olives in a protected greenhouse area that’s dark and between 39-45F all winter. it may get monthly watering in there. but will it be too warm?

  3. keep indoors in a windowsill in the basement- even warmer, very protected. it gets about 50-55F there and there’s a bit of shaded light.

my inclination as a mother hen is to basement it, as it’s so small. but then again a seedling an inch tall survived last winter in the ground! so I could try to plant it out in fall. but fall plantings here tend to die, it’s very dry and it gets cold extremely fast. the one that lived out there was planted in spring.

what do you all think?

2 Likes

I like option 2,if the temperature stays below 45F mostly.That way,any chill hours will be achieved and the tree won’t start growing until about 60F.

3 Likes

I have same problem generally for all my seedlings - potted plants are easy to kill with frost, even cold hardy ones. I’m doing option 3.

I’ve got a semi-insulated greenhouse. It gets hot when there’s sun, but during nights, it attains ambient temperatures. :joy:… plants wake too early in spring and new growth would be killed.

My biggest problem with over-wintering plants inside, is to get stable and sufficiently low temperatures. Everything above 5°C (40°F) is a BIG problem for me. Especially the prunuses, but also eucalypts, and chestnuts start producing foliage.

Next problem is humidity, which is dependant of room - which can be an absolute pain to control. I bought a dehumidifier to keep humidity at healthy levels, but it produces so much heat that it only makes sense to use it when heating is required. If money was no issue, I would buy one of those professional sorption dehumidifiers - but they cost around $1500-$2000… :neutral_face:… some plants just rots away if the humidity is high. In my experience, Honey Locusts, Silk trees and some apples are especially sensitive.

Next problem is rodents. Mice ripped up over 100 washingtonia filiferas a couple of years back. I had left the seed attached, so I think they ripped them when going for the seed. But I think they may have eaten the part of the stem on ground level also. Now I always have several traps set, and check them regularly :innocent:…

My ideal project, if I had large amounts of money, would be to build a super insulated refrigerated room with humidity control, and keep the temperatures between 32 °F and 34°F (~0-1°C) the entire winter.

Lastly, watering. This is an entire subject in itself. To keep the soil perfectly moist - not too wet, not too dry - is hard. Luckily, for me, checking every 1-2 months have been enough. However, the actual job of checking the soil moisture, is a drag. I usually lift every pot - compare it to the likes. An overly dry pot is easily distinguished from a moist one. Still - going over 2-300 pots in a cramped room is not an enjoyable experience :joy:…

Btw, my latest solution to watering my plants during winter was one of the better ones. I simply put snow in every pot. It was easy not to over water, the slow melt (over 1-2 days) meant the soil was able to absorb the moisture gradually without runoff, and I had a rough but still good measure of how much each plant got :relaxed:

  • Edited because writing error. -
7 Likes

I voted for a modified 2. I keep mine in the unheated garage after dormancy begins and only bring them into the basement when the garage temp starts getting below 30°. Then they stay in the dark 40s until spring. I put them right out in the full sun before they wake up and it seems to get the seedlings ready to handle the UV on the foliage right from the beginning. I move them in and out in the early spring depending on the temp (almost never out at night). Keep them moist all winter too.

I wouldn’t want them in the 50s with sun all winter. I figure the colder without freezing the better. I had plenty survive a winter in my garage the first winter as well and that probably included temps around 10° in there.

5 Likes

I have 10 or more 3yr old pawpaws in 15gal containers and so far they all have made it through the winter in my hoop house just fine. The temp is warmer than outside during the day and they stay dry in there. I’ll throw some ice or snow on the top of the container a few times during the winter but so far they seem happy. Most of them bloomed this year. I’ve not checked if there’s any root damage but that’s been my leading concern with storing them outside. We dropped below 0°F this past winter. My garage is just too full of figs to fit the pawpaws in or id prob go that route.

5 Likes

Thanks. Figured it out. It was a lot easier trying to roll them both up fitted together from a flat position first. I rolled them up holding the seam together while my wife placed the bottom base in and tucked in the bottom and then I could roll it up to the top the rest of the way no problem. Wish I did that from the beginning.

3 Likes