If they have already fruited (dropped and probably harvested - by two legs or four), check to see if you see any peduncles hanging. If this is a fertile patch producing fruit, some peduncles will hang all the way through winter. That will be the marker for which trees (and which branches) you should look at next year.
3 Likes
Bark is a smooth grey for pawpaws. That one looks like something else. You are probably a week or two late in WV, PA is ripe about now.
1 Like
I cannot sell KSU 1-4 scions. It is not released yet. PM me about seeds.
2 Likes
Hickory, Spicebush, magnolia and a few others have very similar leaves to pawpaw as Iâm sure you know. Itâs taken some training for me to look at the structure of the leaves on the branch (simple vs compound) as well as the bark and the terminal leaf.
3 Likes
Pawpaws are in the Magnoliaceae family, so they definitely have strong resemblances in both flower, leaves and fruit/seeds. Pretty cool.
1 Like
yeah it probably is⌠i was looking for larger pawpaw trees this one i took a pic of the first branch with leaves was about 40 feet up⌠so was hard to tell.
There are thousands and thousands of 3-8 footersâŚcant find any bigger ones yet.
1 Like
yep i figured that out on the 8 footers what to look for as far as bark. No sign of any fruits or anything yet. I thought they were shagbark hickories for years⌠they kinda look like pawpawsâŚas far as leaves until u look close.
1 Like
Does anyone know what paw paw varieties are better in part shade?
I have 4 paw paw trees: one SAA Overleese and a KSU Atwood are in full sun. I also have an NC-1 and another SAA Overleese in part shade (there was a shipping mishap that resulted in me getting the 2nd SAA Overleese for free, then the first one showed up a week later).
The sunny SAA Overleese is my favorite paw paw in my yard by far. Reliable, delicious, vigorous, precocious.
The shady SAA Overleese was a bit of a dud. It set fruit, but a bunch of them ended up looking sooty black and falling off before fully ripening, so it set less than half as many fruit as the sunny one. I tried to top work it to KSU Chappel in spring 2022, but my grafts didnât take. I think my problem was that I grafted the trunk about 5â high, leaving 4 big branches of SAA Overleese below (I was hoping to hedge my bets and increase pollination), and I think all the energy went into leafing out and growing the SAA Overleese branches, instead of into the scions.
In any event, Iâm looking to re-try topworking this rootstock again in spring 2023, lower down the trunk and removing all original branches/buds. I have since read somewhere (I forget where) that KSU Chappel doesnât do well in shade, and might have the same sooty fruit problem that the SAA Overleese had.
Which all brings me back to my original question: does anyone know what variety would do better in the shady spot?
1 Like
What I think you are looking for is a variety resistant to phylosticta. Take a look for varieties like this -
2 Likes
No, donât let anybody convince you your little trees are anything other than pawpaws.
I do doubt if the tall straight tree and itâs ridged bark is a pawpaw though.
Best time to look for pawpaw is probably July. Or early August. They might not be ripe, but youâll locate them and know the places to come back to in one, three or five weeks!
1 Like
Thanks! Thatâs the word I was looking for⌠phylosticta. The Google pictures were exactly what happened to my shady SAA Overleese tree.
Other than Prima 1216, are there any other phylosticta-resistant varieties? Or resources where I can research that? I feel like there must be, cause I think I remember reading somewhere that the KSU Chappel is susceptible, but I donât remember where 
1 Like
My Al Hornâs leaves have stayed very clean. Iâm in very high humidity in SC as well. Anyone else with Al Horn have similar results, or dissimilar?
1 Like
Richard listed phyllosticta susceptibility of several cultivars here:
Let me know if you could use more scion wood next year, Dana. Iâd be happy to send you some.
1 Like
Mine has been clean all year as well although I only have a few trees with a few leaves with the issue.
1 Like
Thanks so much for the offer! I may hit you up in a few months! If you have any Benson available then, Richardâs link indicates that it is not very susceptible. Also, thank you for finding that link, that is the resource I couldnât quite remember reading before!
Just tried my Central pawpaw. Thanks to @JustPeachy for all of the fruits.
Think I recall a post upthread that said it resembled a wild pawpaw, but I found mine to have a surprising amount of fleshâŚseemed on par with my shenandoahs. I must have the palette for these things because I really enjoyed the intense flavor. Even my picky wife kept asking for seconds. Mine was very soft, but I didnât pick up on any bitter aftertaste. It was definitely more strong than sweet, but I like it that way. I wasnât planning to grow any of these seeds out, but a few were very large so I may find a home for them in the backyard.
My Horne seedling got moved from shade to full sun in the hottest days of JuneâŚso itâs alive but I canât say itâs totally unblemished. Moved from 3 gallon pot to in-ground.
Hereâs my GW from the other night. A better name for it would probably be George Washington considering pawpaw was supposedly his favorite fruit and it would keep the same Garage West acronym. 
3 Likes
@weatherandtrees I dunno if the cameraâs white balance or lighting is throwing it off, but that garage west looks a bit paler than it should. Unripe and overripe pawpaws are my bane. If it you have a slightly hard pawpaw, put it on the counter for a few days. If it isnât smelling tropical, it isnât ripe.
The sizes were off this year. Central is routinely double the size of what I sent out. Mangos came out this year smaller than a baseball, when they should be double or triple the size. The Allegheny I have planted elsewhere (not ripe yet) has fruit the size of the Centrals I sent out.
I should say I like Central. Itâs in the Allegheny fruity ilk but a tad more mild. Some years it can be a bit more phenolic than others, but I have no idea what they were this year because I sent it all out, as there was so little of it. Garage west tastes coconutty to me. Thatâs the only way I can describe it.
@dpps thereâs really no such thing as better in shade vs better in sun pawpaw. Pawpaws are by definition understory trees. In the forest succession they would eventually come into full sun once the deciduous forest cover dies back. Once they are in bearing age, all of the pawpaw should do better in full sun, just as any fruit tree would. People that put pawpaw seedlings in the full sun before bearing age are just artificially stressing their trees. Put them in a tree tube. Itâs not like a stone fruit tree or apple where itâs ready for full sun from day 1. The rest of the common fare tree fruits are not understory trees in nature.
Would some cultivars be more forgiving about being in the shade then others? Yeah, but thatâs also the case with any other fruit like apples, pears, cherries, etc⌠People often put fruit saplings in tree tubes for the first year. With pawpaws, Iâd do it for two years+ unless youâre wildlife planting with natural tree cover or on the north side of your home.
@disc4tw Having now tried Prima 1216, itâs not my jam. It reminds me too much of NC-1. Itâs heavier flavored, at least that is the way Cliff and I describe it.
3 Likes