It definitely had plenty of give to it, but I do think I should’ve given it another couple of days. Like I said up thread it was more white than yellow and I got the taste of coconut as well…with a little hint of vanilla.
My notes (from reading, not experience) on phylosticta:
Very susceptible: Chappelle, NC-1; Potomac; Sunflower;
Somewhat susceptible: Shenandoah; Susquehana; Mango
A good breeding goal: keep great taste of Chappelle and Atwood but breed out C’s phylosticta trait and A’s unripe white sections trait (in warmer zones).
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That is a good goal, I’d eat that!
Something to note: Neither of my shady trees had phylosticta on the leaves. The shady SAA-Overleese had normal, large, green leaves, but only the fruit would get the phylosticta. And even then, it was only some of the fruit, not all of it. The NC-1 is a beautiful tree, tall, beautiful shape (like a big deciduous christmas tree), big green leaves. The NC-1 has not fruited yet. It set flowers this year (spring 2022) for the first time, but all of the little fruitlets dropped off before ripening. Maybe because of the drought this summer? It has a lot of little baby flower buds growing on it right now, though. So, hopefully, the NC-1 will bear fruit in 2023. Since it is listed as very susceptible both by you and in the link from richard above, I hope the fruit doesn’t have the same sooty phylosticta problem!!! The NC-1 is such a beautiful tree, I would hate to have to mess with it or topwork it, etc. (I could only bring myself to mess with the shady SAA-Overleese, which was also a beautiful looking tree, because I had the sunny SAA Overleese as a bigger, better, backup).
First Mango pawpaw. Planted this grafted tree in the spring of 2015. It has grown very vigorously. It took 8 years to flower and fruit. Possibly because it is in a mostly shade area.
This one fell into an organza bag so it was saved. The other one fell to the ground and got mauled by wildlife.
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I loved Mango pawpaw because it is jucier, sweet, and has nice pawpaw flavor and not as strong like the rest.
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How many varieties of pawpaws you have grown and eaten, Tony?
I think you have grown pawpaws before I even know what it was.
You are always ahead of the curve!!
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Shenandoah: Mildest Pawpaw I have tasted so far but still a very nice tasting one with Banana and tropical taste. My kids loved it.
Sunflower: They are splitting here but I picked them and after 3-4 days in garage were soft and very sweet with typical tropical Pawpaw taste.
Out of the 4 I have tasted at my little Orchard I like them in this order. Tropical Treat, KSU-Atwood, Sunflower and Shenandoah.
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I have been growing them the last 12 years and ate quite a bit from my orchard: Mango, Shenandoah, Susquehanna, Wabash, VE-21, Sunflowers, Kentucky Champion seedling, Halvin, and a few wild ones from persimmon Bob called Lakeshore and some in my area. Hopefully I can get some seeds of the KSU 1-4 soon that would be great. I just grafted a Carmelo pawpaw scion from @JustPeachy this may. Too bad my Cherimowest scion broke off by a bird. Hopefully, I will get a chance to re-graft it again because I think it tasted close to Cherimoya. I also crossed Mango with Kentucky Champion seedling and got 15 seeds and hopefully plant the new Hybrid next spring at my new house.
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Hi Tony,
What is your opinion of Kentucky Champion and has Bill Merrill’s Pawpaw fruited yet?
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Kentucky Champion seedling taste with a hint of melon with slight orange flavor. Bill M. Seedling got 2 fruits this year and they taste good, sweet with medium size fruit and the flavor is pineapple melon blend. Refreshing.
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First taste of Mango variety off one of my franken-trees and I LOVE it, could eat several. Can’t describe the exact taste but it stands out as right down my alley. Not mushy as some reports say, at least not here. A nice texture and perfect taste.
More Mango and Susquehanna still hanging, the two very latest varieties for me, by far. Mango tastes substantially different to me than the Chappelle, Atwood, Susquehanna group. A different kind of excellent taste, change of pace from those.
Interesting that two of my best tasting varieties, Overleese and Mango, were discovered a long time ago and stand up well against newer varieties, at least for taste.
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I cut into these bad boys today which are another advanced selection from KSU. This one is KSU 3-10 and it’s another winner. I’m going to advocate for it’s release. The fruits are huge as you can see, and have perfect firm, creamy texture and this excellent mild vanilla flavor. Very sweet. Unlike 1-4 this one has a mild flavor. Compared side by side, 1-4 is obviously a stronger, Susquehanna-type fruit. This one is more like Sunflower but more refined, and way less seeds. Seed weight is low on this one- note the ONE row of smaller seeds right in the sea of pulp around it. It’s another top-notch pawpaw that is taking it to the next level. These new selections are so amazing I am gradually phasing most of the old ones out of our nursery. Like @hambone relates, many of the older ones are still quite good and have merit, yet, we can only graft so many! One of the advantages of these newer ones I am trying are: way less seeds per fruit (seed weight), no bad aftertastes or bitterness, no 'wild pawpaw" flavor (some may like it, but it makes me nauseous), and bigger fruits in general.
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@Blake, would love to get my hands on some seeds from KSU 1-4 and 3-10. Both these varieties look and sound amazing.
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PM me your address my friend.
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This Sunflower brings the end to pawpaw season for me. This thing was almost glowing on the tree as the color changed. I thought for sure the animals would get it.
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Nice. It’s a good vintage variety.
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Noticed my second-leaf Susquehanna is turning fall colors already, ahead of the other pawpaws:
So far none of the pawpaws have done well in my yard, at least compared to the loquats and avocados that flourish all summer. They are along the fence on the south end of my lot, so they are mostly in the shade until they get taller than the fence, when they’ll have nice sun.
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Competition from grass can do that. In Seattle we should have 1 more month before pawpaws turn color.
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