well my 1st 2 pawpaws are partially leafed out and so far show no signs sunburn .they get about 6 hours direct . the rest is dappled or indirect. i wanted to see if they could take full sun this far north without protection. am i tempting fate or should i just continue keep a eye on them? i have some shade cloth i can throw around a circle of 2in.block chicken wire if needed. theyre both about 14in.
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Welp.
We’ve had over a foot of rain in the last 5 weeks. It’s still soggy out there after 2” in the last 48hrs, but it’s sunny and I was able to get out into the pawpaw grove to assess things. My field grafts from last year are slowwww and I have a couple of trees struggling.
I cut back my Green River Belle graft from last year down to the lowest bud (the only one growing) and noticed a hint of what looks like blue stem disease. I cut off one of the tips from my Carmelo (most branches have tip dieback) and saw the same thing…slightly darker green cambium than usual leaning toward blue-green. Then I went to my really struggling Lehman’s Delight and cut one of the dying branches off. There was darkening hardwood and very blue-green cambium. Many of the branches already had gone brown. There’s a little growth still coming out of the top of the tree that looks semi healthy, but I bet that’s stored scion energy. I expect the tree to completely croak in the coming months. I assume I should dig it out and start anew.
The strange thing is that most of these trees came from Buzz…either the entire grafted tree or the scionwood. Carmelo and LD are from him and GRB was scionwood from him.
One thing I noticed from all 3 trees last fall was that they were slow to go dormant. Carmelo kept growing and stayed green into October. So maybe that played a role?
Here’s a branch from the Lehman’s Delight sliced up.
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we dodged the bullet here. was supposed to rain all weekend. we didnt get a drop. thundered some yesterday. was a welcome dry out. now i can spray my stonefruit tom.
Hard to give advice because we don’t know the age or size of your trees.
Looks like it could be BSD.
BSD is a major problem that I think pawpaw growers are only starting to come to an awareness of. It’s a pretty big deal.
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The first hint of it in my experience is smaller than usual leaves, less vigorous growth, and yellowing of leaves. The telltale bark cracking also is a major indicator.
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Here’s a pic from 10/27 last year. Most of the pawpaws have very yellow leaves at this point. Chappell is the big one to the right and Al Horn is just left of that. Slightly cut off on the left side of the pic is a very green Carmelo. It’s strange because I planted that tree in 2022 so it’s had a few seasons to adjust to the normal solar cycle. I didn’t fertilize the trees late either. I think I stopped in July.
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Sunburn has been a small problem for me here early on with pawpaws. I started keeping them in pots over winter for the first year, so I could protect them from too much UV exposure on their first leaf. Then I plant them in full sun the second year, in a tree tube. So far that has worked very well. I will state that the ones I’ve had get sunburned the first year always came back next year and were okay. Sometimes in the summer our uv-ratings here can be pretty high 8 to 10, but not quite Colorado ratings. I don’t know about where you’re at. Just my experience, for whatever it’s worth.
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Seedlings? Grafted? When did you plant? Were they planted dormant?
What would you recommend for shade cloth that is economical? My trees right now have tomato cages and I was planning on putting some burlap on them since I suspect some may be getting sun damage. Is there something more economical? Maybe something that can double as winter protection (for my other plants)
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12-14in. 2 year old grafted?
12-14in. grafted seedlings planted in ground 2 weeks ago. leaves about the size of sour cherry so far.
Amazon sells shade cloth for $8-$12 for - 6.5x10 square.
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I should say that what I said was for sprouting seeds. I have always just planted grafted trees in their permanent location, and haven’t had sunburn problems.
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i have about 50 pawpaw seeds in flats on the north side of my garage i planted 2 weeks ago. they were traded for over winter then buried under scion wood and forgot about until i found them a few weeks ago in the crisper drawer. they were in moist peat so hopefully at least half grow out.
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12-14 inch grafted trees are on the small side to be ready for full UV exposure. It could go either way. You will never regret protecting pawpaw trees.
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For economic shading, I would recommend buying a large piece of agricultural greenhouse shade cloth and cutting it into pieces. This is likely the cheapest option. The big Ag supply houses online can ship it to you. Maybe some local options available also. The stuff is durable and lasts a long time, and is made to shade.
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Tough call. Did it leaf out in shade or in a greenhouse? I start all of my seedlings in full sun so they are adjusted to the full solar spectrum right off the bat and handle the June UV no problem. But if the roots can’t meet the transpiration needs it could struggle. Of course being way up in far northern Maine helps.
When I shaded my nursery purchased trees I just threw some cheesecloth around the cages and they did fine. If I was home on the weekends, I would occasionally take the cheesecloth off to harden them off a little more.
But if they are taking the sun okay I say go for it.
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That about describes one of my trees, a seedling I grew myself, that, when cut down, looked like this. The color doesn’t quite render - It was cobalt blue.
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I’m on a similar place- 2k elevation, high desert, extremes of heat, drought then freeze and snow.
I’ve got 6 growing now, 4 have been in for more than a year or two. seedlings are doing ok, plus a Shenandoah. I lost one this year that I planted last fall bare root.
they like drainage and they like part/full shade until they get some size on them and the ones that get the most water do best. I water daily in high summer here and mist them a little too in midday, it may be superstition that part but I believe they like the extra humidity when it’s truly dry here.
I think with our conditions we have to expect pretty slow growth, they are thirsty and we are in dry places. mine are too young to fruit yet but I have gotten local pawpaw fruit from a friend’s place, she’s got Susquehanna and sunflower going. they were smaller fruit than I remember from back home ( PA )
small, sweet, very tropical deep flavors. SMALL. I don’t think she waters as deeply as they want
but they were tasty. she’s doing the same- daily water in dry season, mist occasionally, good drainage, deep mulch all around with a gap at the trunk
my fence shades them most the day, they get only mid afternoon sun as you can see, and a nearby lilac helps with that. my hope is they grow up and out of the shade
side note- the mulch between and around, I put my winecap spawn in that, and I planted in a lot of ramps all around that in the shady spots. might put a fiddlehead fern or two back along the fence for extra spring time food.
@zone7a I have used burlap for shade on other things and it works just fine. it’s less shade than like an expensive “shade cloth” but it works. I’ve used old sheets too.
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