Mango starred this year.
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#jealous. 
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Idk about you guys, but I planted mine using a backhoe and still struggled from rock in a few holes…
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As you are the [quote=“Blake, post:1, topic:68693”]
annual Pawpaws thread poster
[/quote], I as a beginner have a question. But some background. I grew up in Southern Africa and love pawpaws. However, I now live in France, roughly the equivalent of zone 9a, and don’t have much space. So:
a) Are they easy to grow from seed if I buy from the US (there is almost nothing locally available)
b) What are the smallest height and width varieties
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So I was able to remove the rock yesterday, but I’m feeling it this morning. I didn’t have heavy equipment to assist in the removal so it came down to brute strength. Thankfully I don’t have to build a pyramid or I’d probably be one block and done. 
Put a Regulus seedling in that spot and dug a much easier hole a bit further over and planted a Susquehanna there. I don’t normally like to plant in the fall, but they were grown in 14” tree pots so the roots will be pretty far down. If we start the season thin on snow cover I’ll just pile some up around the trees to insulate.
It’s always a little tense trying to slide them out of the pot without the whole root mass falling apart though.
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Sounds good!
That’s a lot of good root mass - how long was that one in the pot?
There’s a lot of pawpaw stuff going on in France generally, but maybe not in your specific area.
- Very easily grown from seed.
- There aren’t dwarf or compact varieties of pawpaw. I guess the closest thing would be slower-growing cultivars which is not something many folks keep track of. Maybe a Susquehanna?
There’s perlite in the mix so I’m going to guess those were spring of 2022. I don’t use perlite anymore because my chickens treat it like oyster shell and dig it all out.
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Before you go too deep down the pawpaw rabbit hole, be sure the fruit you love is the North American pawpaw (Asimina triloba) and not the tropical papaya (Carica payapa), called pawpaw in India and other countries.
On to your questions:
They aren’t necessarily hard to grow from seed (other than pontential import issues). They need cold stratifcation to sprout, and young trees need protection from harsh sunlight. They have a long taproot, so they can’t stay in standard pots very long, so they either have to go in to tree pots or in-ground at a young age. They also take a long time to fruit. Otherwise its just standard tree care.
I can’t speak on varieties, I have only dealt with seedlings as of now. They can be pruned to a degree to be kept smaller. I would expect a 10-12 foot tree with a 5-6 foot branch span, pontentially mantained smaller and pontentially larger if never mantained at all.
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I have found 3 kinds of pot which are long: treepots, deepot and rootmaker (except I can’t find the deep ones of those on their site anymore).
I have done this a lot now and been successful. I’ve always dug them out in early spring. I don’t use the special containers but as they grow I will need to (Which is why I was looking into them. Also, for some other natives I’m growing in pots).
I have basically also planted them into the dirt they were growing in or a mix of perlite, coconut coir, sand, and yard dirt. Depending on what I have available and what appeals to me. I wash the sand cause it’s cheap sand.
I have pH paper and test the mix/stuff I buy because sometimes it can end up really odd in pH. My SIL bought some compost from her county. It had high pH and hurt a bunch of plants. You’d think they’d test stuff like that but they didn’t. I test my own compost before I use it.
I’m guessing they were burned by the chicken manure and that is what killed them. You must compost chicken manure first. The high ammonia content will kill plants otherwise.
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I have wondered about this. Do they actually know it’s some sort of bacteria that is acting as a pathogen? Or is this just the most common theory?
Does it affect all pawpaw or only the grafted ones?
Also, does everyone have the thing where a lot of the time if you cut a pawpaw branch, some part of the wood turns blue? (but the tree is perfectly fine and doesn’t decline at all).
I have noticed that a lot of the time when I cut pawpaw wood there is a part of the damaged wood that gets blue. However, even when I’ve damaged pawpaw and seen the blue, the tree hasn’t died or even looked bad later.
I wondered if something in the air was reacting to something in one layer of the wood to make the blue color. Or maybe it’s air + bacteria in the wood making the blue color.
I did have an older tree die (15-20 years old) and when I cut it down there was a full blue ring inside the stump. I assumed this was the “blue stem disease” or “vascular wilt” and that the xylem was no longer able to transport water and nutrients and it was blue because it was injured somehow.
The root suckers that shot up have been doing fine though, so I kind of figured it doesn’t affect the rootstock? I guess @Blake’s friend in GA has found the same…
Also, I’ve wondered a lot about the lifespan of grafted trees. The 15-20 years old tree that died was a grafted tree. It had seemed a little pathetic (wilty maybe?) two summers ago. Then, we had a very cold winter spell and it didn’t leaf out in spring. I figured the very cold winter had done it in before I read about “blue stem disease”.
I also looked at how pawpaw grow in the wild and they kind of act like a slow version of a caneberry. The main tree dies and the rootsuckers become the new main tree. So I wonder if it’s something physiological as well.
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…I think if all transplants had this kind of root system, there would be much less transplant shock…I know when I planted my patch, I had to be incredibly careful in the planting not to disturb the roots…extricating the tree out of the pot and then lowering it down into the hole and refilling without disturbing the roots…and the root system was not at all bad…just not like this…given how slowly pawpaws seem to grow the first year or two, this has to make a big difference…in my opinion.
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yeah jeeze that sells me on if the ones i have dont cut it buying one of these. the roots on the ones i planted were barely there to be honest. i worry about them lol
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Thanks @sharq . I didn’t know there were two different types. Sadly it seems that even with pruning, they might be too big for me, but thanks (also @TrilobaTracker ) for the education.
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…looked over my patch and decided I can add 7 more trees to the existing 5 which will get about the same sun exposure and planted in the same soil type …will plant on about a 10 foot spacing and just allow the 12 trees to make one solid patch…the existing 5 have essentially grown together to the point that only sparse grass grows beneath / between them…have already ordered 3 and will look to add 4 more to the order…hopefully can get them all in next year…3 ordered are KSU- Dunnigan™ , KSU-Pomper’s Choice ™ ** , Wabash … 4 final additions …among the following
Mango
Sunflower
Rebecca’s Gold
Overleese
NC-1
Maria’s Joy
Prima
Nyomi’s Delicious
Lehman’s Delight (275-48)
Jerry’s Big Girl (250-39)
Kentucky Champion
Taytwo
Summer Delight
Lynn’s Favorite, Al Horn, Wells, Taylor, Tollgate, Green River Belle
…
…if I live long enough…should be providing the entire neighborhood with fresh pawpaws
…have a bunch of seeds in the fridge…will be sticking them in the ground all along the Dutchess Rail trail (abandoned railroad bed converted to paved bicycle / walking path) which runs pretty much north / south behind my property…think it might be an ideal site…kind of swampy on both sides and can plant them all along the raised bed…could be my lasting legacy for many…will be ordering an electric tricycle soon to facilitate the whole thing
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which 5 do you currently have?
Ive heard taylor and kentucky champion are both losers. I personally dont like sunflower because of the bitter taste.
I ended up grabbing Nyomi’s delicious based on blake’s book, but NC-1 fills a simiilar niche and was in the running for awhile there.
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have 5 of these 6
Chappell
Atwood
Allegheny
Potomac
Susquehanna
Shenandoah
then ordered;
KSU- Dunnigan ™ , KSU-Pomper’s Choice ™ ** , Wabash
likely last 4
Nyomi’s Delicious
Green River Belle
Jerry’s Big Girl (250-39)
Prima
…all chosen since they are available to me via pickup and the likelihood I can get them into the ground without disturbing the roots
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Where are you getting these via pickup? Charles West? Is that the full availability list?
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I think I’d go JBG, Al Horn (white flesh), Maria’s Joy…and then either Nyomi, GRB, or NC1.
GRB is a little smaller, but can have a unique taste. If you want a really early one you could go with summer delight.
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ive heard GRB is very unique, it was one i considered for a bit. but yeah i plan on maybe adding pompers choice next year. where did you get pomper’s choice? i couldnt find any selling it (well saw all sold out)
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