Same here. This is my main goal this year- topworking some 6-7 year old seedlings with good things.
I’ve also started some seeds in my son’s grow tent where he has tropicals. They were up in 45 days and are growing strong. Experimenting with Microkote in standard nursery quart pots.
Plan to graft these as soon as caliper is appropriate.
I also have several JBG seedlings in my crawlspace. Not sure what I’ll do with them in the spring. Might give some to family to plant.
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Think we could add to that the varieties that have the disgusting metal aftertaste. Those are trash IMO.
Already posted these from my seedling project, but they are great. Flavor profile is vanilla marshmallow.
Traded for some scions of Maria’s Joy. Can anyone vouch for it being a worthy variety to graft? Any aftertaste?
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Blake and others, is there any super early variety that is really outstanding? No weird texture or metallic notes. I am extremely sensitive to those.
I have one from Cliff called Prince Caspian that is moderately early but a standout for flavor. It is the one pawpaw I can keep eating one after another. It is more seedy and smaller than Shenandoah but flavor wise is superior.
Another excellent variety that is very early is Danaes Creekside which has more fruity notes but also very seedy.
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This may help some. Has some good information.
The variety I grew (above pic) is the earliest ripening I have. NC-1 is earlier than Shenandoah and an excellent pawpaw.
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One thing I am curious about is advice for testing and improving soil for pawpaws. I planted some at my folks in NH; I am pretty sure the soil is sand and clay, fill from when it was built, with some acidity from the pines. But advice for testing and remediating would be great!
Pawpaws can handle slight acidity. They are highly adaptable to soil type but require that it is well-drained and preferably high in organic matter. They grow well in heavy clay as well as sandy soils. In nature they are found in rich bottomlands, forest edges, and riparian zones all with rich alluvial type soils of slight acidity.
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I wish I had more data on that. As far as ‘super early’ Cliff’s Summer Delight is supposed to fit that bill. He claims July ripening. Nyomi’s Delicious is an under rated variety that produces ripe fruit in late August here in KY. It is plump and has good mild flavor, creamy and not gross. Not sure about metallic notes.
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Anybody got any other comments on 'worse performers?"
Don’t have it myself, but PA Golden has been reported to be pretty metallic and some people have reported Sunflower as being metallic also.
95% of the wilds surrounding me are metallic. Trust me metallic is not something you want in the flavor profile. None at all.
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I think this is what I refer to as ‘wild pawpaw flavor’ nauseating nonsense.
High acetogenins?
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Not sure if that is what it is. It seems to be concentrated in the skin, but some have it in the flesh also. When I eat them I try not to scrape the skin any.
For those that are unfamiliar it is the disgusting metal aftertaste in many wild pawpaw.
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I go as far as cutting the entire skin out before eating pawpaws. Some people scoop out the flesh and eat it, I couldn’t do it because I am very sensitive to the skin bitterness.
I’ve eaten most of the other tropical annonas but none of them have the skin bitterness. I think Blake is right in that pawpaws are still not entirely out of the wild and as refined as the other fruits including annonas.
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I’ve eaten a number of annonas as well and pawpaw is at the top of the list.
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It should be noted that KSU in Frankfort, KY is hosting the International Pawpaw Conference in autumn 2025. It’s expected they will release the new KSU cultivar then.
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I don’t disagree but annonas typically dont have metallic or weird bitter flavors. But the best pawpaws hold their own with annonas.
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Right. Likely those same annonas in a near wild state are not that great of eating similar to wild pawpaws. Kind of like lower quality sitapol/custard apples in India. Ok, but not amazing.
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@Blake do you know the heritage of 1-4?
How would you rank chapell, benson, atwood, and 1-4 in order of your preference?
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Spring 2025 or Winter 2025? Im interested in this one.
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I got my first flowers on a few trees last year, but no fruit set. I’ll be hand pollinating this spring.
So I can’t comment on fruit performance, but I will say I’ve had mortality issues with every Susquehanna tree I’ve had (0/3). So last year i got some Susquehanna seeds from Blake and grew out 3 seedlings. They’ll need another season of growing, but I hope to graft actual Susquehanna to the seedlings in 2026. Hopefully I’ll have better graft compatibility.
My trees with slow growth have been Summer Delight, VE-21, Prima, and Maria’s Joy (MJ may have a little root competition from a relatively close river birch).
I have an Overleese from OGW that grows about 2”/yr with a rootstock that keeps cankering. I am tempted to pull it every spring, but I get a kick out of it and I’m intrigued to see if it can ever recover and pick up vigor.
I grafted my 4-25 to the most vigorous rootstock I had and it only grew about 4”. I’m getting that one in ground ASAP in the spring. I’m tempted to try grafting a chappell this spring and then graft on top of that with 4-25 the following spring and treat it like an interstem.
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