Yes! But I think it is interesting that the experts seem to disagree as much as the forum members!
Doesn’t surprise me. Neal and Cliff are going to come at it from a production angle. Sheri is going to come at it from a more research germplasm angle.
Where exactly do you think they disagree ?
The way cliffs email read to me indicated he does not think pruning is a good idea, except for very light/small branches. Neal’s and Sheri’s emails, to me, indicated that probing is not a problem.
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That may depend on how you read it.
I don’t see a big disagreement in what they said.
All advocate tipping small branches is ok.
Sheri said to not cut all the flower buds off, and Neal shows leaving flower buds, But tip pruning ,Causing Branches to fork.
Cliff mentioned not making big cuts , ( I would agree with this )
Pruning is a Art and a Science .
No two trees are the same .
No two people SEE them the same way.
I don’t think there is ONE right way to prune any tree.
It’s multiple choice.
There are some wrong ways.! For sure !
Iam trying to prune my pawpaws so as to be able to reach most of the fruit from the ground…giving them that gentle squeeze to see if they are ready for market. Fruit picked off the ground has a VERY short shelf life. Aiming for short and wide.
Still learning how to best accomplish this .
Have heard Sheri mention different pruning trials they have going on.have not seen a paper about the results. Still evaluating ?
I did some mid summer pruning of the top shoots this year on some that were growing straight up , fast.
Was hopping it would promote flower buds. It did not.
But I have some nice fat leaf buds for grafting, and it stopped there vertical growth.
I absolutely love the look of older ,unpruned , open grown ,Pawpaw trees. Such a nice yard tree. Would be hard to pick on a large scale.
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I’m with @Hillbillyhort on this one. I think they’re all saying pretty much the same thing, just pulling up different aspects of it: pawpaws want to grow as a central leader tree, so guide that rather than try and force it into a different form. Don’t make huge cuts, and make sure to leave some fruiting buds.
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As I remember Sheri said a modified central leader looked to be the best method.
As. I understand it …This is essentially heading the leader to a side branch , redirecting the growth to lower branches , rinse and repeat ?
So maintain a central trunk which is frequently topped to force sideways growth , limiting height. For ease of harvest.
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That really is a beautiful pawpaw you got there!
Thank you! It makes me a little nervous that I’m gonna butcher it when I try to prune it. Eek!
@dpps When I make a pruning cut of an inch or more diameter on pawpaw I always take a very sharp knife and shave the edge of the cut to speed wound closing. Pawpaw wounds heal slowly I have noticed. Also I use a very sharp pruning saw.
Wow I missed a lot of conversation here.
I just found this recent presentation by Neal Peterson.
He mentions sun scald at about 35:30 mark.
I had commented on this way up above.
Ok so I was incorrect regarding pruning affects on lifespan. Good to know!!
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I don’t know if any of the expert opinion quotes here are based on anything much more than anecdotal observations or even that. If Nick had shared his experiences with making large cuts on paw paws I could at least know his opinion is something more than just a logical leap, perhaps based on the tree’s tendency to heal slowly- but that doesn’t mean they succumb to disease as a result. Has he tried making large cuts on paw paws? He didn’t leave a clue.
Anyone who has spent a lot of time with a given species is likely to learn a lot about it, but these brief comments left me a little cold because of their lack of true explanation via case studies and any kind of controlled research- or even just a single example of what harm certain pruning has done- besides sun scald which certainly doesn’t necessarily happen when a big cut is made.
I am going to butcher one of my paw paw trees whose fruit tastes excessively bitter to me and see how the tree responds. I’ll let you guys know.
I’ve already made a big topping cut on it a few years back to no detriment I’ve seen.
One site one tree, but it’s something.
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Alan is this a grafted tree or a seedling? The majority of comments I’ve heard about short lived pawpaws relate to grafts dying and the rootstock continuing onward with new root suckers. I’m not experienced enough to have first hand insight, but I’d imagine pruning back and encouraging new growth could actually prolong the life of a tree. Hard to say without trying it.
*I have had two grafted cultivars (Atwood and Susquehanna) die back to the rootstock this year, but they were only a few years old so it was something other than old age that got them. I’ll be grafting the rootstock sprouts to try again next year.
It is a grafted tree and I doubt there’s much significance once a paw paw is properly healed. I’m guessing that the genetic difference between scion and root of grafted paw paws is a fraction of that of apples or even pears, cherries and other common fruits. Breeding of paw paws is in its infancy and the genetic bridge from seedling to selected cultivar is a short one.
I used to sell a few paw paws that I grew up in my nursery- grafted trees that started as root suckers from my two “orchard” trees. I didn’t figure out how to get a high percentage of grafts to take so stopped doing this although now, with help from more experienced grafters I believe I can get adequate takes given recent success with persimmons (by waiting until they are fully leafed out to graft and only grafting on vigorously growing young trees).
The reason I mention this is because only one of my nursery trees has died after being transplanted to a new site and well after it established vigorous growth in the new location. It may be that they are less hardy in other regions but unexplained deaths seem not to be common here. I tend to attribute such deaths as likely the result of sudden changes in weather causing injury to cambium cells in the trunk. The one paw paw tree that died sent up vigorous suckers which I’m gong to use to create a new grafted tree. That at least proves that whatever killed it didn’t kill the whole tree only wood exposed to the elements of weather. It didn’t send up shoots below the graft- only below the ground.
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Did you do it? If yes, how is it looking this year.
I butchered it and it responded with vigorous growth, not set back at all. Then I cut it down.
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