What’s the scoop on that? Does he have a new field of research seedlings he’s working with?
IIRC Tallahatchie was 10-35, Susquehanna 11-5, Shenandoah 1-7-1, Rappahannock 8-58, Wabash 1-7-2, Potomac 4-2, and Allegheny 2-9.
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OK…decided the three additions for next year will be Wabash and the two new KSU varieties…will be planted right alongside my existing patch…contacted Charles West in Jersey.and he says he likely will have grafted plants of those two KSU varieties available next year for pickup…only a 2 hour drive and me and my pawpaw buddy get a chance to see his pawpaw orchard…also IDed what I think will be an OK location for 5 more varieties the year after…right in the front yard about 12 feet off the road…just behind a wooden car barrier and planted 10 feet apart…complete full sun / good soil / can water with a hose /
and most importantly…I can navigate there easily from my front door…see photo…so, 5 more decisions to make…tough…very tough…I must say…I’m developing a pawpaw obsession before even tasting my first homegrown fruit…these obsessions happen to me often…they come…they go… but I think this one is the real deal.
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Had a couple more drop today, I was lucky enough to notice the Nyomi’s Delicious was about to fall, and I picked it.
Barret’s Best also dropped it’s first fruit today, slightly smaller and definitely bruised from the fall.
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Those look great! How do they compare flavor-wise?
BTW, for a moment I thought the first picture was one of my own, my oldest German Shepherd, Ita, looks identical to the first snap with yours.
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Barrets Best: very sweet,sugary, mild, good flesh density.
Seed sacks detached from the flesh, seed sack has decent flavor as well. Fully developed seeds
Nyomi’s Delicious: decent, but idk theres just some sort of flavor that I don’t like a whole lot. Hard to describe, since I can’t think of any other food that tastes like it. Fruit quality is decent, fairly low seed and decent size.
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I’m in Nh Z5b growing 50+ pawpaws in very fast draining sandy, acid soil (former pine forest) with pH ranging from 4.8 - 5.2. The pawpaws are thriving with the 5 year olds at 10’. Last week I found multiple seedlings sprouting from failed grafts from 5 years ago with dark green leaves and 18" of growth in 2 weeks. Much of the progress so far has been unexpected give what little attention they receive and our poor soil.
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Hey neighbor.
If you are who I think you may be….are you in Dunbarton?
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Indeed I am. And you?
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can I ask what varieties and does the fruit ripen for each variety at your location in zone 5B?..I’m in NY zone 6A …so your experience would be relevant to me…thanks…Beemster
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No fruit here yet. 
I’ve had some flowers on some trees the past few years, but this is the first summer where I’ve had trees loaded with flower buds. So hopefully 2026 is the year. Most of my trees are early to mid ripening varieties, but I have some later ones too. We still have a good 5+ weeks until the average first freeze so hopefully the season is long enough most years to get most of the fruit ripe.
Timothy Lane/Ockoo is z6 and doesn’t seem to have many issues ripening any of them.
But again, I think length of growing season and GDD are more critical than growing zone. They handle our winter temps just fine. The key is avoiding sheltered frost pockets in z5/6 and getting enough heat units during the summer.
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thanks…I’ve been trying to get somewhat of a handle on the ripening issue and can provide some ideas / thoughts…of course, date and severity of late spring frosts is critical as no fruit will result once a blossom is lost…I agree the number of GDD (use base 50F) at a particular site will largely determine if a variety will ripen…after querying Gemini, I decided to use 2200 GDD for early ripening varieties and 2800 GDD for late ripening varieties…somewhat arbitrary but I had to start somewhere…then using the CSF Growing Degree Day Calculator, and starting to accumulate GDD on 4/1, I determined that both early and mid ripening pawpaws should not have an issue ripening at my location…but late ripening varieties (2800 GDD) would be marginal in the average year…in this respect, my site is very slightly better than the Worchester Massachusetts site you mentioned and considerably better than your site…anyway, if you get some time, play around with the GDD calculator and let me know what you think…I also found this video and this guy found that early frosts did not prevent his pawpaws from ripening…so GDD is likely very much the key…at my site, GDD 2200 (early ripening) is reached on or about August 27 and GDD 2800 (late ripening) is reached on or about Oct 22 in the average year…an approx. 8 week difference…seems reasonable for a marginal northern site…FWIW…your site never attains GDD 2800 in the average year…good luck next year…Beemster
Climate Smart Farming CSF Growing Degree Day Calculator.
…
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I’ll try to give it a view later. Meteorology is my educational background and I have a full weather station here with 20 years of climate data. Spring can be a long slog in coastal New England with the marine influence. I also have to deal with cold air damming east of the higher terrain. So without strong westerly flow the maritime mank likes to take over.
I believe that you can get a second lighter set of flowers if the first set gets zapped by a freeze. IIRC I’ve seen people post about it here.
But you can’t be too far from POU airport. You should be fine ripening fruit down there.
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Three more Barret’s Best ripe today, I was able to pick them at the just ripe stage. Plan on cutting them open tomorrow.
Four years ago today is when I found the ortet growing on Barret ave, and one tree out of the patch had really tasty fruit.
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Very much hoping they record all the presentations! Finally got a piece of land worth starting a little orchard on and I’m stoked to start up a bunch of pawpaws here 
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Nice! Excited to have Barret’s Best growing here. Will be a few years till it fruits.
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I have just two trees that held their first fruit this year. We had hundreds of flowers on many trees this year but I didnt have time to collect road kill or hand pollinate so very limited results. Tough lesson. Haven’t checked my records to see which cultivar fruited.
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One of the slightly larger ones dropped today, wasn’t really expecting this one to drop yet since its still quite firm.
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Came up this weekend to check out the pawpaws at my parents place in 5B. A little disappointed I don’t see much in the way of new growth. Not sure why. Also, not sure what is eating the leaves, and did find this wasp hidden in one of them. It has been a very dry and drought summer, and I only gave them a little bit of fertilizer at the beginning of the year. This is their first full year in the soil after planting them last fall.
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Other than that little tree, most of that just looks like cosmetic leaf damage to me. I personally wouldn’t worry about it. Some of that does look like woodchuck chewing. I get a lot of insects in mine chilling out. Nothing in our region does much damage. Even the japanese beetles just cause a few holes here although they are much more attracted to my grapes.
They look a little pale. I wouldn’t want to fertilize them now as they are lignifying and getting ready for dormancy, but you could probably hit them with more compost and N in the spring. It’s been really dry too and we missed most of the rain yesterday. I only have had 0.54” on the month.
They usually take a couple of years to get going though…especially with weed pressure. It can be frustrating when you’re just starting and you see everyone else with 8ft+ trees loaded with fruit.
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I went out foraging along the Potomac today and came back with quite a few. It seems the season is starting early here. Almost all of these were just picked up from under the trees, although a few were from giving a tree a light wiggle. I never shake much, because I don’t want to wind up with a bunch of really unripe fruit and I feel obligated to take anything that comes down.
Under one tree I found 3 that were substantially larger than any others. One was 250g, one was 297g and the biggest came in at 304g. I took note of the general location so I can try to go back and see if others in the area are particularly large as well and of course to get more of the big ones if they turn out tasty.
I sampled some from other trees while out and did find that it seems like the wilds had a bit more of the off flavor than I remember from fruit in this section. This is earlier than I normally go and only a few trees were dropping, so I’m wondering if earlier dropping types are more likely to have the off flavor vs late season? Is that something people find among the improved varieties as well?
We really haven’t had any rain in about 4 weeks at this point, so I was wondering how much that was impacting the taste as well. Some were still quite good and worth eating and I’m really looking forward to trying the big ones in a few days when they are softer. They have a little give, so I think they’ll ripen okay, but not enough to be at their best.
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