John Gordon, living in Amherst, N.Y., contributed a series of varieties whose ancestry can be traced to Zimmerman germplasm (Fig. 2). Gordon gathered seed from trees belonging to George L. Slate of Cornell University who in turn had gathered his seed from trees on Zimmerman’s estate. Gordon named one variety ‘SAA-Zimmerman’ in 1985 and a series of others ‘Pennsylvania Golden No.1’, ‘No.2’, ‘No.3’ and ‘No.4’ in 1986. This series of varieties are noted for their early season of ripening. Three other varieties he introduced in that same year are seedlings of ‘Overleese’, a series called ‘SAA-, ‘SAB-, and ‘SAC-Overleese’.
Are you sure @Barkslip? I have not heard that prior but I know you visit with Tom personally. I was under the impression that he bred “Sweet” himself as a seedling of Shenandoah and Susquehanna.
Well, I grafted both Sweet and SAA Overleese this year so it’s good to know Tom thinks they are the same. Has he run genetic tests or is there some other way he figured it out?
This year my tree set more fruit than last year, but they look slightly smaller. Today’s fruit was DELICIOUS. Perfect, creamy, consistent texture. Delicious flavour, sweet and tropical, no bitter flavors or “off” flavors. It is interesting, because my SAA Overleese is WAY BETTER than the KSU atwood that is about 10 feet away. Maybe it is because this is the Atwood’s first bearing year (versus bearing year 3 for the SAA Overleese), but the atwood was starchy and had a weird burnt/bitter off-flavor, and also had random sections of white, hard, unripe flesh inside the ripe fruits. So far, the only redeeming factor for the Atwood is it’s vigour, but even on that front the SAA Overleese is comparable. The SAA Overleese was planted in 2016, and bore in 2020 for the first time. The Atwood was planted in 2018, and bore for the first time in 2022. I prune the trees, so they are both about the same height. I’m hopeful that the Atwood will get better with age, but so far, for me, the SAA-Overleese is hands-down the better fruit.
No. From his own writings…John Gordon picked these from populations of seedlings he grew out. ‘SAA’ meant 'Saved As “A”(meaning #1/the best), 'Saved as ‘‘B’’. ‘Saved as ‘C’’. etc.
So… SAA Overleese was his pick as the best Overleese seedling, SAA Zimmerman was his pick as the best seedling of Zimmerman, etc.
Because of the issue that many folks have encountered with grafts declining and dying off, JHG opined…no later than the early 1990s… that if he were 30 years younger and starting over, that, rather than planting grafted pawpaws, he’d plant seeds of named varieties and select those seedlings with largest leaves for outplanting.
I don’t know the reasoning behind JHG making this selection criterion unless he’d noted that sort of correlation. He passed away in 2012, so there’s no asking for clarification…
I think larger leaf indicates more shade tolerance. The small leaves are adapted to full sun and large leaves are designed to get as much light as possible through the canopy. At least thats the way most other plants work. I could be wrong. Pawpaw is a different beast.
I believe you’re correct. That’s what I thought and had heard about pawpaw leaves and also what I have seen comparing wild trees in shaded environments to those growing in full sun.
I’ve never visited JH Gordon’s nursery site… but suspect he was outplanting pawpaws in full-sun locations(?). If I were trying to select a particularly productive plant, I wouldn’t stick it in shade where it would NEED large leaves to capture diminished sunlight.
Today, the last 4 SAA Overleese paw paws fell off my tree (possibly because an impatient gardener kept poking and squeezing them to see if they were ripe yet). They are not quite ripe enough to eat, although they do give slightly when squeezed, so they should ripen OK on the counter. I think the weight of the hand was also a factor in their falling off a little early. Alltogether, the 4 paw paws weighed in at 1016g (aka 2.24lbs).
The largest paw paw in this hand was 361g (aka 0.8lb, or 12.73oz).
The other three paw paws weighed in at 326, 201, and 127 grams each (aka 11.5oz, 7.1oz, and 4.5oz each).
I feel like this was pretty standard for what I saw from this tree over the season. The tree would produce hands of fruit where the largest was between 300-400g, and the smallest was between 100-200g. On average, I’d say the fruit were around 250-300g each. I keep the tree pruned to about 12ish feet tall, and it produced maybe 9 or 10 hands of fruit this year, with the hands ranging between 4 and 6 paw paws. So, approximately 40-50ish fruit off a 12’ tree. This season, the tree started bearing mid-september, and these last fruit fell down on October 12, so approximately one month of fruit off the SAA Overleese. I’d eat one or two per day.
Granted, my sample size is low (the only other paw paws I’ve had were wild ones down by the creek/traintracks about a block away, and the KSU-Atwoods off of my tree that bore for the first time this year), but this SAA-Overleese (grown in full sun) is so far my hands-down favorite paw paw. The tree has been vigorous with minimal care, it has given me no problems, no fungi or diseases or weird fruit, and the fruit has been consistent, large, and delicious. Highly recommend!
I concur. The SAA Overleese is an excellent marriage of the Overleese vigor, disease resistant hardiness, and shippability , coupled with the “Sweet Alice” uniquely delicious flavor. I have grown the “Sweet Alice” (old cultivar circa 1939) ,for quite a while and I find it’s fruits to be most delicious. Thanks for sharing. The ‘Sweet Alice’ grows well in the deep South. I once tended this variety at the old family homestead along the Suwanne River close to the Georgia/Florida border last century.
