Neal Peterson finally ties Ketter pawpaw cultivar (winner of national best pawpaw contest in 1916) to his Susquehanna and Potomac cultivars! For the longest time Neal and everyone else feared Ketter genetics were lost.
Discovery involved UVA and a metal detector.
Wow, so happy for Neal. Short video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLcG_QyFmRA
You write: “Wabash was listed by Michael Judd as one of the varieties definitely NOT to grow due to flavor.” Where did you read this? The Peterson Wabash is sweet and rich in tropical flavors. It is favored by many. Perhaps you have confused it with ‘Wilson’. Excerpt from Blake Cothron’s pawpaw book concerning ‘Wilson’: " Reportedly terrible quality; humorously, Dr. Kirk Pomper once said when eating ‘Wilson’ fruit " you may wish for death"!
Agree. Wabash is excellent
Indeed. I have several of them, one in the front yard, several in the spring-fed hollow, and down at the River. I would like to make an alcoholic beverage from the fruit and call it the ‘Wabash Cannonball’ —a stout Pirate’s brew, not for the weak of knee nor faint of heart. 
FYI CherimoWest and GarageWest are listed on Buzz’s site ( and @JustPeachy’s other varieties i assume are the North/East/Front? )
As I said, Michael Judd, in his book on pawpaws. I have never actually tasted it, even though I bought it. It was mislabeled by the defunct nursery I bought it from, so I got something else. I am quoting Judd. I don’t have a dog in this fight.
John S
PDX OR
How are everyone’s blooms doing after the cold snap this past week? 
My orchard got hit HARD. Fortunately I am seeing secondary flower buds and the few larger survivors doing their thing. Lots of pollinators. Planning on starting some controlled crosses soon.
Buzz is good people.
I’m curious to learn about how pawpaw respond to flowers getting froze out (none of my trees are old enough yet for me to observe this).
Will the trees actually produce new secondary flower buds in response to a freeze event? Or by secondary buds, are you meaning there were some flower buds that had remained dormant yet and thus avoided the freeze damage?
My trees flowers only started opening the past few days. They had popped out and were starting to droop, but mine had opened when the freeze hit.
Yes.
Yes, pawpaws entire flowering process goes on for about 5-6 weeks. So, in the event of a freeze, the very small flower buds (what I call the ‘fuzzy BB stage’) as well as flowers that are still tight and green can survive a lot of cold (ours survived around 23 F the other day). Secondary flower buds will also emerge from lower down on the twigs (the buds near the tips open first).
Opened purple flowers cannot handle any frost and are likely killed around 32 F. Green flowers could probably survive a brief 32 F episode.
I estimate a 50-75% yield on my trees at the rate things are going this season. Way better than 0%.
You know an opened flower is fried if the the tight ball of anthers goes from white to brown.
Wow! Yours are amazing! Mine just kind of limp along.
We got a handful of PawPaws last year . . . before the possums and raccoons went to work on them. This year, my 2 trees are ‘laden’ with those weird looking blossoms! So, maybe we will have more fruit.
Are these pawpaw seeds? I found them near trees, but they’re rounder than I’ve usually seen. But they’re also wild trees and might have tiny lousy fruit?
Definitely not pawpaw. Buckeye maybe?
Aside from hand pollinating, is there anything you all do to attract flies and other pollinators to the trees? I’m not too keen on putting raw meat out there with my chickens next to the grove. I thought about putting some of the stinkier cecal chicken poop around the trees though.
Those look to be Kentucky Coffeetree seeds to me
Anything can be used that would attract flies. Banana peels, rotting fruit, vinegar, etc. You can go vegan with it. Chicken manure would likely work as well.
Oh man. We’re going to need a full description of every variety from you that he is selling…a one stop for all cultivars. I know we’ve talked about a bunch of them on here, but North, East, and Front are all new to me.
I can’t imagine pawpaws ever getting the blossoms frosted. Based off my pictures from last year I had mulberries turning red when our wilds were blooming.
