Poughkeepsie NY Z6A…checked the fruit on my trees today…Sept 4…on both Chappell and Allegheny(?), the fruit are completely green / rock hard / and looked like they have a good deal more to grow…the fruit on a third variety is also green / hard but I could not reach it…the GDD 50F from May 1 to Sept 4 according to the CSF Growing Degree Day Calculator web site is 2284 when I key in the Poughkeepsie airport address which is about 3 miles from me at very similar elevation…however according to NEWA | Network for Environment and Weather Applications web site, it is 2452 at the airport…a difference of 168 GDD…still, this represents only about a 1.4 degree ave difference…but when totaled over the 165 day growing season, it could be as much as 220 GDD…so bottom line, these numbers are simply not accurate enough for very localized predictions…but, unequivocally, my fruit do not lie…and at least to me appear to be not even close to ripening…I’m thinking now late Sept for the earliest Allegheny…we are set to have two warm days but then plunge down to about 60F ave where only 10GDD are added per day…2531 by Sept 9 is predicted…has anyone else in the northeast 6B / 6A / 5B / 5A and their specific location ripened any varieties yet this year?..so my insufferable wait continues…stay tuned
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https://climatesmartfarming.org/tools/csf-growing-degree-day-calculator/#:~:text=How%20does%20this%20tool%20work,plant%20is%20dependent%20on%20temperature
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Partial Success in Pollination: My hunch 10 years ago has paid off: graft 6 varieties in one tree to make it easy for pollinator flies that rarely visit. Franken-tree out produced my other 5 trees (each with 2 varieties) about 10 to 1 this year. I’ve thrown in the towel on roadkill, catfish bait, fish emulsion, etc.
I put some chicken bones in my paw paw tree a few years ago. What happened? A cat jumped into the tree, breaking several branches. I stopped afterwards.
John S
PDX OR
Perhaps instead of bones in the tree you might try a litter box at the base of it. Should bring plenty of flies and a lot less broken branches.
Good idea. It would be farther away from the flowers, but it would prevent the broken branch problem.
John S
PDX OR
Join the club! But yeah that looks like a whopper!
Eating my last fruit of the season, definitely better than the first ones dropped during the heat, no underdeveloped off-flavors.
On the east side of the “Agricultural Hall” building on the University of Nebraska’s East Campus are 4 large cultivated Asimina triloba trees (about 15 to 20 feet tall and fruit-bearing sized). There are numerous clonal root suckers, and a few spontaneous seedlings that have volunteered from fallen fruit amongst the Vinca vine ground cover. One of the small Asimina seedlings appears to have variegated foliage. I don’t think this is of viral/viroid origin. Interestingly the variegation appearance differs markedly from the variegated pawpaw seedling I documented in my Texas orchard a few weeks ago: Pawpaws in 2025! - #1073 by Johnsgard Here is the new little seedling:
Interesting find!
Charles West (today) told me he just started to get a few ripe fruit on 9/5 and 9/6 …just early varieties Allegheny / Benson / Taytwo…the data says his Branchburg NJ location Zone 7A hit 2600 on 9/6 from a 05/02/2025 start…seems very reasonable compared to an approx. 2600 GDD for a number of early varieties in the KSU data…his first pawpaw workshop is scheduled for 9/16 which looks to be around 2720 GDD…putting it past the middle of the KSU data…this suggests my location (Poughkeepsie NY Zone 6A) hits 2600 for early varieties around 9/21 from a 05/06/2025 start based on current forecasts …again seems very reasonable since my Allegheny and Chappell are still rock hard green…so, two more weeks wait…maybe
…yes…9/1…probably a few days too early…Wrightstown is about 40 miles south of Charles West farm and he only saw his first ripe fruit for early varieties on about 9/5
little update, I’ve been misting weekly at least, and daily if it’s over 90F in the little patch where my pawpaw are growing and they are much improved. they really do not like dry air. I’m glad it’s a sheltered spot so i can get some humidity on them until they get bigger and tougher.
Surprising Avatar. The tree enclosed in a 5 foot fence with shade cloth is an Avatar planted (at 18") 14 months prior. Pushing 7 foot and no lateral branches yet. Shade cloth is a necessary insurance policy in my very hot central Arkansas summer.
So I suspect we should maybe know more about new varieties this week?
Well we know 1-4 and 7-1 from KSU are a given. The only spoilers left are the D and E names.
And yeah, supposedly a new cultivar from Neal. I was thinking about this some more…maybe he will be officially naming and releasing 2-10? A lot of nurseries are already growing and crossing it so there’s scion ready to go for grafting purposes. It’s a large pawpaw with early ripening which would be another good option for the growing market on the northern tier.
Just a guess.
Pawpaw spotted at Hever Castle & Gardens in Kent, UK.
The whole day I had this sort of premonition that I would find one, and at the very end, there it was!
Odd that it’s nearly defoliated already.
It was not marked and in the middle of a bed that prevented me from getting close.
Seems healthy!
Protecting my pawpaw fruit…
wonder if anyone else does this for the low lying branches, hoping it keeps the smell more localized inside the bag when its ripe to keep away animals, but if that doesn’t work, then it at least still helps when they fall they won’t get cracked open and filled with ants/compost under the tree. I had one fall the other day and it tore into the skin a bit, but was protected inside the bag.
Is that the original Big Ben? 
