Have one of my own I’m thinking about sharing with the forum. I describe it as a vanilla marshmellow taste. Ripens early in the season. Personally I think it’s better than a lot of named varieties. Part of my seedling experiments.
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@clarkinks
That “ Storm damage “ looks suspiciously like the asimina webworm damage I am seeing here , a catapiller with a orange stripe on its back ,hiding inside those leafs ,bad here this year,
Might check yours
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I agree, looks like Asimina webworm feeding.
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Currently I am still evaluating our seedling trial. Nothing stands out just yet but some have still hardly produced any fruit, as they are just now maturing. I have my eye on a couple of them. I do have one seedling from Cherokee Park in Louisville that is producing it’s first fruit. Other than that I am collecting promising cultivars from people all over and grafting them into my orchard. After I evaluate them I release into the nursery trade what stands out.
‘Free Byrd’, ‘Florence White’, and ‘Ralph’s Whopper’ are all high quality acquisitions from other growers. I hope to get more to introduce.
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Hi Blake,
I got 2 seedlings of KSU 1-4 Pawpaw going from your seeds. How is your KSU Hi 1-4 paw paw tree doing? Any fruit yet? How is the taste test? @Blake
Tony
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I keep my fingers crossed for as many promising seedlings as possible! Do you use pre-selection for vigor among seedlings as recommended by John Gordon ? Could you tell us more about the pedigree of ‘Ralph’s Whopper’? Honestly, I’m mainly looking for wild plants from different states, for a variety of genetics in further crosses.
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Pretty sure Ralphs Whopper is a seedling tree(KSU seed) that Jeremy Lowe’s dad grew. I liked the flavor when I tried it but haven’t seen photos of the whole fruit or the tree its self.
John Gordon also said that if he were to do it over he would look to select seedlings with the largest leaves.
If you think about it, vigor will be variable in first year seedlings especially considering the difference in the size of the seed(bigger seed, more food for the embyro). You see the same thing happen with pecan seedlings. Bigger nuts make bigger trees the first year.
If you do plan on going for a big genetic diversity from across the range and using wild fruits. Go for round shaped fruits vs long skinny fruits if possible. Wild fruit thats round, can hit the one pound mark, with good flavor would be worth grafting into a breeding patch, if wild trees are what youre looking for.
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Thanks 
I remeber that he wrote something like that in his book but I wasn’t 100% sure so I generalized it as vigor, because from what I saw it worked for ‘European’ fruit species.
If I undestand correctly correct selection is possible only in the second year of cultivation and only by the size of the leaves ? If so, it would probably be a good idea to sort the seeds from a given cross by weight. Then, after 1 year of cultivation, leave only one seedling with the largest leaves from each group.
This would probably be the best solution. However, I am limited by access to seeds, so far I have found one seller in North Carolina who offers wild seeds. Other stores offer material from locations from which I already have cultivars or mixes of improved selections.
At the moment I am planning hybrids (in both directions)
- Taylor x Sunflower
- Mitchell x Sweet Alice
- Halvin x Caspian
- Kentucky Champion x (Probably the best option would be Quaker Delight but I have problem to find it in Europe) ?
I also have Sue for tests (@Richard mentioned it as a wild selection from Indiana), From other locations, I only found mentions of ARK-21, LA Native, Pina Colada (all three not available) and 421 (hard to get).
Ralph’s Whopper got rave reviews in the 2023 KYSU report.
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I went to the tasting in Burlington 2022 and at KSU 2022 & 23. Had a blast tasting all the different selections. I wish I could at least look at whole individal fruits, maybe one cut open and one intact.
Basically everything was cut into slices and you could grab a slice of each one. They did a great job setting up the tasting, but its kind of limited in what kind of conclusions you can draw from it since different fruits and cultivars were at different stages of ripeness at the time of the tasting. Ralphs Whopper was definitely really good though, I’ll dig up my photo of the samples I got along with the notes.
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That matches just about every report of mango…watery.
Looks like there’s nothing redeeming about g9-109? It looks a little goopy like mango there.
I assume r3t10 is the one Blake referred to as 3-10? Row 3, tree 10 maybe? I have a few seedlings from one of those fruits.
This makes me want to plant a Benson out in the field too. Good stuff.
Have you tried 1-4 or 3-120 from KYSU yet?
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Yes I have not had a ‘Mango’ that I liked, but soem folks really enjoy it, so I’m not sure if its a region thing or I just haven’t had a good one.
HI 1-4 was really good and I have a picture(pretty sure it will be released as a cultivar in the near future)
Hy3-120 - don’t remember tasting but I grew seed from it last year.
Row 3 tree 10 sounds likely to me
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Hey our KSU 1-4’s are establishing well. We’re seeing our initial crops this year after about 3 years in ground. KSU 1-4 remains one of my top favorites ever.
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KSU is releasing this one in 2025. We’ll be ready!
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Any spoilers yet on the “D” name?
Does the mother tree KY Champion grow alone? Are there no other asimina trees nearby? Then how can it be pollinated and bear fruit?
Some pawpaws can self pollinate and bear small crops of fruit
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This white flesh pawpaw was discovered NW of Florence Kentucky, along the Ohio River, near a park.
It has been named (FLORENCE) & is sold by Blake Cothron @Blake
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