So I was away from home for a few days and came back to check on my two seedlings that I had deeply watered before I left before some very hot days. One of them is happy, one very unhappy. The happy one had a solid taproot, the wilted one has a taproot that broke during transplant. I was surprised it was doing as well as it was, but I wonder if this is an example of how much that taproot wants to go find water in the good one, and the other roots weren’t enough in the broken taproot one.
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Buzz has his stock listed at Perfect Circle. Some rare ones are still available.
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Got a VE-21 coming from him. Also a Chappel - I am aware it is probably an inappropriate variety for my location, but it will be interesting to see if it maintains some of its vigor in the north. I like ordering from him because I know he has cold trialed his rootstock. Also, KY Champion and Summer Delight were gone in the first 4 minuets, and I had 2 places to fill.
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My seedlings continue to pop up. A few of them came up with the shoot end looking damaged or rotten, like this one. Any chance they’ll still manage some top growth?
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Don’t give up on them, they will probably sprout a leaf.
I’ve had several break their necks coming up and still make it.
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Yeah stick with it. I’ve had some shorter than that sprout new growth. Was this buried 1”+ down? I don’t bury them deep anymore because of that.
Mine are in the sun. The ones that resprout usually have a timge of green in the broken neck stem and those that don’t stay white. Not sure what that means for your seedling if you don’t have them in full sun though.
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@jcw @weatherandtrees thanks for the reassurance. It’s not like I actually need any more pawpaws, but I really don’t like failed propagation attempts! They were buried about 1"+. Have you seen a correlation with deep bury and damaged shoots? I have these in morning sun, afternoon shade. That’s what’s worked well for me in the past. I’ll be sure to report back on what comes of them.
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Yeah that’s annoying. Happened to a couple of mine this year. For me ones that “bad” usually don’t make it TBH.
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Yeah, I’m not super hopeful. But I’ll let them do their thing. I pre-sprouted mine this year, and one the seed broke off even though there was definitely still useful cotyledon in it, but it looked like the bud was still intact. I wish I had marked which plug cell that was in.
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I have one way shorter than that sprouting new growth. I’ll get a pic later when I get home.
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So I’ve got 4 pawpaw babies coming in and I’m planting them in two locations. One location is the southeast side of my partner’s condo near Boston. It gets about 4 hours of sun a day. There’s not a lot of space to work with.
Blake’s guide says (among other things) to make sure it’s not competing with any grass or other growth. This is what it looks like now (I’m going to take that tall shrub down in the back).
What’s the best way to get rid of the competing grasses in an area near the tree for the purposes of planting a seedling?
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Not selective herbicide, e.g. glyphosate would be my approach. Will kill everything green.
You could just mulch it heavily esp around where you plant the tree I would think.
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Putting down landscape fabric before mulching would help to minimize weeds as well.
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Blake’s guide says:
Pawpaws cannot handle weed competition and/or grass growing next to the trunk when young . You must completely eliminate all weeds and grass for 2-3 ft around each pawpaw tree. Cardboard and mulch makes this fast and very easy.
But I don’t actually know what this means; just layer cardboard around the tree and put mulch on top of it and the tree?
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Sheet mulch is what I’ve done, or just lots of leaves piled 8-10 inches deep. Will smother everything out and aid in water retention.
However, glyphosate is a fast option.
Many folks sheet mulch at the time of planting - they just cut holes in the cardboard where they plant the trees and voila!
Google “sheet mulch” to see that he’s talking about. It’s like composting in place, making an organic layer salad. Wet Cardboard is the bottommost layer.
I would do the whole area you pictured if it were me.
I use a 5" key hole saw and then drop the cardboard around the tree tubes. It’s backwoods so look istn’t an issue.
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