< runs to the orchard with stakes and tape >
Good reminder.
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Agree 100%, I have been pretty lucky so far without staking. This is the only time its ever happened!
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I wonder if a bud graft would work better there.
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Maybe so, buds werent super developed either though. Just used a grafting tool for ease/quickness to get it done in the rain.
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Was that from that line of wind that came through? That was rough. I thought for sure some big branches were going to come down.
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Hey folks I am finalizing my work to complete the Official Pawpaw Compendium of all known and available pawpaw cultivars. This will be used by KSU.
There seems to be an influx of new cultivars in the last 5 years post me writing Pawpaws: TCGAMG
I am not looking for obscure old varieties no one has. This is for selections that are available either commercially in the nursery trade or actively traded by pawpaw people.
If you know of some newer obscure yet available cultivar worth including, please reply with name and description and narrative. I have most of them included but wanted to make sure to include everything possible. Thanks!
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Alexander, I live in New Mexico at about 1500 meters (5000 ft). We have very hot summer temperatures, very dry air and strong sun. I put shade cloth around my pawpaws until they are about 1.3 meters. This can take 3 years or more because many plants stay small at this altitude. When the pawpaws are small, their leaves burn and are torn by the wind but when they are taller, they seem to tolerate the conditions well. They need to be in full sun to set fruit. I haven’t had any fruit yet. Mine are still small.
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Can you share a list/doc of what you have now?
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Well, July 16 is pretty early for pawpaws but here we are.
One of my seedlings from the 2017 Ohio pawpaw festival biggest pawpaw third place fruit (a Lehman’s Delight entered by Jerry) is dropping fruit. I found some on the ground (no storms) and I picked 2 off the tree that were slightly soft at the neck and would’ve dropped overnight or tomorrow.
Now, this tree is a bit odd. It leafs out and flowers before all my other trees, and it has leafed back out in early winter after warm spells. this marks the second year of odd fruit dropping/ripening behavior. Last year was a terrible drought and extremely hot, and the tree dropped nearly all its fruit at one time after a rain. They weren’t that great tasting.
This year has been consistently rainy. We had a very slow start to warm temps, so I was actually planning on a delayed ripening window.
We’ll see how these fruits ripen- up. They don’t have much if any fragrance now but I suspect they will soon.
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That certainly sounds like an interesting tree. Hopefully the fruit quality improves from last year. While the early fruiting is enticing, the fact that it can leaf out that early scares me due to potential susceptibility to late freezes and ambrosia beetles.
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My thoughts exactly. 
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Do you have an actual Lehman’s Delight out there as well? I find that seedling interesting considering that was one of my trees that didn’t get the cue to go dormant and eventually died.
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I do not 
I have another seedling (“LDA”) from the same fruit and it’s quirky too. The fruit almost always drops quite firm with a dry scar and no fragrance. The fruit also gets little black bumpy freckles on it. But the flavor is very good. I just was checking its fruit and one came off in my hand. So another early one.
Interestingly, neither one makes large fruit like the parent does.
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Hello, Jay!
Thank you for your comment, for sharing your experience! I observe climate changes in our conditions, temperatures are increasing every year, especially in the summer, while the amount of precipitation is decreasing. Therefore, it is also important for us to shade young pawpaw seedlings with a protective net, and even older trees. Without shading, the leaves on the pawpaw trees are very badly burned, the photo is an example of how pawpaw suffers in our summer heat. My pawpaw has not yet yielded a harvest either.
Respectfully, Alexander.
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that early drop fruit- if you get any extra seed, I would love to start some. I have room for one or two more seedlings and early ripe even a little bit would be fantastic. I don’t mind waiting the time on a seedling
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If you have any seeds from this early leafer I would to take them off your hands if possible. My main issue with the pawpaw I had was that it did not wake up till mid-April. I would love one that wakes up as soon as it starts to warm up since we never get freezing temps more than a week or two apart (if we get them more than once).
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I’m seeing a lot of wilting and leaf drop. This spring was about a third above usual in rainfall, and it was slow to warm. Many things put on more growth than ever, but all that succulent foliage then hit mid 90’s and we’re in a serious drought now. Surprisingly little fungal problems, though. I think once it was warm enough for that it then became way too dry.
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Dutchess County NY Zone 6A…FWIW…this is a long range shot of my pawpaw patch planted in 2019 (see post #845) taken from my driveway…there actually is a rather steep slope down to the pawpaws which are about 40 feet away…the orientation is such that the tree line about 20 feet behind the patch runs North/South…the picture was taken around 7:45AM and the morning sun is seen hitting the pawpaws…there are actually 5
pawpaws there that have grown into a near solid patch…a pawpaw patch…
(I planted 6… about 10 feet apart…lost 1)…the big one is Chappell (see photo)
at around 15 feet tall and the rest are around 10 feet…all seem to be healthy with large leaves and good growth…note that they were planted in 2019 but I had a serious stroke in May 2021…before then, they were pampered…since then, they have had ZERO care…no watering / fertilization / pruning / cultivation / mulching / etc…I saw a single fruit bunch last year in early June but it was gone by July…this year, there are multiple bunches on at least 3 of the trees…My guess is the non full sun site will limit ultimate fruit production somewhat but it should still be more than enough for me …I can only walk down there on rare occasions and need to take a circuitous path…avoiding the hill…I did note that a couple of the trees now have multiple trunks that must have come up from the seedling rootstock…so a mixture of named varieties and seedlings…not an ideal situation, but it is what it is…I think only a concerted animal attack can defeat me now…unfortunately, racoons, possoms, squirrels, and the odd bear abound…so, is there anything I can do other than making difficult daily trips down there to make sure I get to eat my fruit…I think I can bribe my neighbor into daily harvests with some fresh pawpaws…do any here suffer huge losses at the hands of all the hungry critters?..my patch is in a somewhat protected area from the animals and I’ve not had much pressure there with all the nearby ornamentals I’ve planted in the area…I am so looking forward to tasting my pawpaws…I tried a wild one once and recall even liking it…many many seeds though…it should be a very inventful September…stay tuned!
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Back in central Illinois where I grew up, it was uncommon to find ripe pawpaw fruit on wild trees. The raccoons and fox squirrel usually got to them first. Occasionally they would miss some though. Usually you had to look in the heart of thick trees.
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