Pawpaw don’t transplant well and are usually weak with slow growth the first couple years. After that they take off and are hard to kill.
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Never had much of an issue transplanting my own seedlings. But yeah many are slow…sleep, creep, leap like most trees. The slow ones I mentioned are in a league of their own…at least on my property. Almost all of my OGW trees have been slow to establish (or die) minus Potomac. Most of Blake’s trees have thrived. The exception was a golden moon that never woke up one spring and a nyomi’s delicious that suffered pretty hard from a late May freeze in 2023.
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Thanks Blake! I have your book which has been a helpful guide.
@Blake while you are here — one question from the 2024 thread you might have insight on. Can you think of any cultivars you have tried that have any kind of acid/subacid tang to them?
There was a discussion about those of us who have trouble eating too much pawpaw because it’s just so thickly sweet all the way through. On the lookout for something with just a bit of tang…
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It’s a tough call but I think I’d say:
KSU 1-4
KSU Benson
KSU Chappell
KSU Atwood
In that order, with 1-4 likely being the best. Although I really like all of them. They’re all quite different. I haven’t eaten a ton of KSU Benson fruit but the ones I had were rich and thick how I like my pawpaws. Chappell is a little softer and creamier, but def. not juicy or goopy. Atwood is like a really really good wild pawpaw but with no weird flavors.
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More like winter 2025 b/c I am not releasing it pre-KSU release. I have some nice grafted trees in my nursery of it, but would need the OK of KSU before selling them…
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If it was me, I would let those Susquehanna seedlings grow out and fruit. Those genetics I sent you should be killer.
I’m assuming you are thinking it may be more compatible to graft Susquehanna onto. It’s your planting but I doubt it would make much difference from what you have been seeing already with grafting Susquehanna.
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When will you have more copies of your book?
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I have purchased a lot of pawpaw seedlings and grafts over the years, from at least 8-10 different nurseries. Most of what I saw in other nurseries really lacked vigor, was shipped to me toothpick to chopstick size practically, and took at least 2 years to really establish and start growing, if it even survived that long. I saw lots of poorly developed root systems, that were not well rooted in their growing medium, black roots, and really tiny seedlings being grafted and shipped. Obviously just mediocre to poor quality overall. There are a handful of nurseries doing better than that. I have torn out all but 1 or 2 grafted pawpaw trees from other nurseries, and my orchard is 99% my own trees.
When pawpaws are roughly handled, poorly fertilized, shocked, or undergo extreme stress such as when a field-grown seedling is dug and then potted and grafted, it takes them years to recover, if they ever do. The roots have to re-establish and this is a major energy drain on the little tree.
In my nursery I have developed a systematic way to get pawpaw seedlings with pencil thick strong, straight stems, 3-4 ft tall in 18 months from seed. Organically, with no weird hormones or synthetic fertilizers. When I graft these the following season, I will get several feet of scion growth within 2-3 months, at which point I ship them out in June. When Woody Walker visited my nursery in winter 2024 he commented on my seedlings and said they were the best he had ever seen, especially in that short amount of growing time.
I am sharing this to say that facilitating an excellent root system with little to zero transplant shock, and providing strong nutrition is key to getting big strong pawpaw seedlings that graft easily and grow like a boss. Leaves should be pretty much full sized in year 2. When I transplant these out into my own orchard in July, there is no 1 or 2 year long gap where they have to recover and put on little stem growth. They continue growing a bit that summer, maybe 6-12 more inches, then take off the following year. Keep in mind at that point they have already put on at least 2-3’ of growth that year from the scion.
These are 18 month old seedlings:
And about 6 weeks from grafting in spring following 2 seasons of growth:
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The leftist publisher has made it near impossible for me to sell my owns books at a profit, and so I have relegated all of that to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.
Please purchase a new copy there:
Pawpaws: The Complete Growing and Marketing Guide: Cothron, Blake: 9780865719552: Amazon.com: Books
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2024 pawpaw orchard from said trees produced here. This was a shot from Farmer Jesse’s No Till Podcast video he shot here at the nursery.
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I grew pawpaw seed in 5 gallon containers with 70% promix BXM and 30% dry chicken manure. I got very good growth to about a foot tall with most in the pencil diameter range.
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How long did that take to get to that size?
I planted stratified seed sometime in early June. Germination was erratic with some not emerging until early September.
Sounds like you applied heavy organic fertilizer which is what I recommend
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Yeah I may do that and just try grafting my own Susq this year. I went down to see Ockoo last fall and got 8lbs of fruit so I have a bunch more seed to play with this spring. I already have a good 30-35 planted in the field and another 75 or so in tree pots. He only has cultivars with great genetics so these seeds should be high quality too. If I hadn’t done that I probably would’ve gotten more seeds from you this year.
I grafted your florence white last July and it put on a quick foot of growth. My other field grafts were all about 6”.
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Yup. You and Buzz Ferver have always had the best root structure in your grafted trees. Buzz uses the Stuewe 4x14 tree pots and always has the roots coming out the bottom when he’s selling them.
I have no greenhouse here, live at 43.5N, and just overall have a lot fewer GDD in central New England so I will never be able to compete with your growth. I’ve had success growing mine in full sun from day 1 up here without burning the seedlings. Obviously many others south of me will have their mileage vary, but it works here. I don’t get a lot of tall growth year 1, but the seedlings are stocky and put out a lot of roots. I’m sure the full sun triggers to rapid rooting to offset the evapotranspiration. But they transplant into the field really easy this way since they’re already used to full sun/uv.
I use a variety of pots, but the 4x14 trees pots and air pots have worked best. The D60s are a little narrow and are easy to have dry out without having a drip setup like you have. The little 2L propagation air pots work well, but they quickly outgrown those pot in 1 year. So last year I doublestacked them to get the taproots longer before they try escaping the bottom of the pots. I keep them wicked on the bottom with water in bins.
I had a busy year of work last year and wasn’t always on top of my seedlings and this is how some of the nonstacked ones looked later in the summer. The taproots were able to get out the bottom and into the water. The root pruning did its job and that taproot is thick, but this method can definitely be improved upon. I’ll see how the doublestacked ones look in the spring when I transplant them.
I don’t have a nursery…just doing this for fun. So I like trying different things and methods to see what does or doesn’t work. I’m definitely not reinventing any wheels up here, but I like learning by experimenting.
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I got a Lehman’s Delight (250-30) from Perfect Circle this past summer and it was pretty nice little tree compared to Restoring Eden.
Anyone know if he’ll also be selling KSU 1-4 trees on release?
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Is Florence White the same thing as Balarama? Preston’s pawpaw?
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I got a bunch of fruit from @OckooMicrofarm, all open-pollinated among premium cultivars; I’m hoping some of the seedlings grow and I can see whether there are some great fruit from it.
e: same as @weatherandtrees.
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