I think i’m putting mine in the ground. If i remember correctly…many years ago i tried overwintering some in the garage and they all died. Up here snow should probably cover them most of the Dec-March.
I’m very iffy area for growing these things, but i did see a very nice paw paw in Madison, WI years back and it even had fruit. So if they can survive there, they can survive here.
Humm, well, they’d freeze solid outside in pots and probably lose the roots.
I could plant the biggest one, 8 leaves or so, and put the rest in the porch or down cellar.I’m 6(a), most winters, but very changeable weather, lots of warm spells followed by cold.
I have overwintered fruit trees in my unheated garage for about 7 years now and all the pots freeze solid. If you kick them hard enough in Jan/Feb you’d probably break a bone in your foot. It’s just paw paw and blueberries have both been death sentences with overwintering. I think a lot of it has to do with moisture. I try to leave everything outside as late as possible and then move everything outside as early as possible. Temps in the garage during cold snaps drop to 0F or below but that is only a few times a winter. Way better off would be burying the pot outside in winter and then digging up in spring while still dormant…i have done that with blueberries that i wasn’t sure where i wanted to plant.
I had two or three come up with no leaves but the seeds were all left in the soil. They do grow more leaves.
Most of the empty seeds are left in the soil…especially if they were planted at least an inch deep.
I also have a first, one either got burned by sunshine or by fertilizer, and I thought it was a goner. But, I think this little 3 inch tall bugger with black leaves is putting out a sprout or two at a leaf node!
I have had the same experience with potted paw paw dying in pots in our attached garage, even though temps don’t get much below 20F.
I also think they are very susceptible to be killed with the first freeze and to winter kill when they are little. It is probably depth of dormancy related, as slightly bigger plants were not adversely affected by our -30F temps last winter, to my surprise. In ground plants seem to usually come back from the roots though if they are top killed.
Maybe, I saw yesterday proof of slugs.
Instead of the garage, one thing you could do is either sink the pots into the ground, or mulch around them with leaves. I’ve overwintered things that way, although keep in mind I’m in zone 7, and the coldest I’ve gotten since I have used this method is about -2°F.
August update:
We’ve had a pretty wild swing from a wet spring to a straight drought with multiple 100 degree days. The seedlings look pretty good, but are clearly crowding each other:
I’ve ordered some Stuewe 4"x14" pots, and some mycorrhizae powder. I plan to repot the majority of them and give them a dose of mycorrhizae within the next couple of weeks. My potting medium will likely be peat moss, compost, and perlite, but I haven’t nailed that down.
I’m behind on my land clearing for directly transplanting. I’m afraid they’ll fry if I put them out right now. I had schemes to put 8-10 in my yard this year. Hearing the success rates of others, I may do 2 plants per ‘hole’ in the Fall.
I haven’t sorted out my over-winter plan for the pots. Depending on the number of takes, I may put them in my garage. I’m 7a, so it usually doesn’t freeze over.
Good luck and keep up the good work, everyone!
I took a few that had 2 or 3 in the same pot…and divided and repotted today. Did this while watering and checking on everything at a third location where I grow some of my plants.
Others I plan to leave and let them form a clump. I used recycled sandy topsoil.
One the varmints (probably chipmonk, maybe skunk) had spilled and the little guys were growing into the ground. I broke the root at about 4 inches…but I think it will grow in it’s new pot and be OK.
Time for pots:
Last weekend, I received my 4x14 treepots from Stuewe, and I decided to repot everything. I used the Mandala Farms process (- YouTube).
The set-up: Bin full of medium (compost, peat moss, perlite), pitcher full of water, mycorrhizae rooting powder, treepots, and racking system (mine came with some wine glasses I’d purchased at auction).
The process:
I had several types of seed going in a few different potting configurations, which means most of these observations are qualitative / not strictly scientific. The varieties were Lehman’s breeder’s select, Summer Delight, and KSU orchard (not the freebie seed, but not their taste test select either). Each of the grow pots had several dozen seeds, and grew from 4/27 to the first week of August outside.
It wasn’t possible to salvage the larger pots. For the sake of time, I just opened them up over the soil bin:
You’ll notice I experimented with a taller pot. Even in the shorter pots, I didn’t see any J-hooking. The roots could’ve escaped through the bottom, because I had the pots on bare soil. I did notice some other enterprising plants sprouted roots into my pots-- lesson learned; a barrier is needed.
The roots looked pretty good. Most tap roots had feeder roots, which were fairly easy to keep intact with this method. I did notice that the pots with heavier compost had less developed roots-- I think those with lighter medium did better:
There were, of course, some odd-balls. I’d estimate that ten of my ‘takes’ had really good roots, but had some room for improvement top-side. For example, there were a few that clearly died back and were trying to sucker again. Another one hadn’t shed its seed. I potted them, so we’ll see what happens:
The other cool finding was a white leaved pawpaw. This guy was tucked under the ‘canopy’ of taller sisters. Not sure if it is nature or nurture at this point, but I’m leaning toward nature. We’ll see what develops:
Results:
I was expecting about a 1/3 to 1/2 success rate given this was my first attempt. I did keep a portion of the Lehman’s in medium over winter because they were already pre-stratified. They were neglected water, so I was happily surprised that those pots came up at all. The KSU and Summer Delight were all fridge stratified and planted in April. Not sure how to account for the disparity.
Considerations for next time:
This was a fun learning experience. Hope I can keep some of these alive through the next leg of life. Good luck, everyone!
I’ve got mine planted in the ground now. Maybe i’ll bury them in leaves or something in the fall…
Wow. You’ve got a forest there.
Mine were growing out of the bottom of my 1 gallon pots. Very healthy looking roots. I water about everyday and i just used regular garden soil for mine.
Looks good to me…you should expect many of those to make it to full sized trees.
Yeah, I way underestimated things. It’s like the dog that actually caught the car-- ok, what now?
Cool thing is it made me start talking to other green thumbs in the area. It’ll probably force me to take the plunge into grafting, too.
I bought some dormant seedlings last year that were about 12” whips. I assume these were 1 year old. I’ve seen people give various growth rates, so I’ll show a picture of mine in their 3rd year (possibly 4th year). Planted in clay soil with afternoon shade in southern Michigan. Fertilized and mulched regularly:
There are so-so-so many variables. If you keep a seedling in a one gallon pot for 5 years or 10 years…it probably will NEVER get 5 feet tall…but if you take the 5 year old seedling and plant it somewhere in good soil, it may grow 5 feet the next season!
They look just like my four year old trees from seed. I’m in Michigan too.
I’ve got 3 or 4 trees about 11 or 12 month old (planted seed July 2018 outdoors in pots)……
that are big as those pictured above…and some “sister plants” that are no more than 6 inches high right now…same as many of the 2019 plants.
October / First Frost Update:
After marketing and foisting some trees upon friends and family, there are 58 trees remaining:
I had about ten potted trees that looked bad back in August, but I only lost seven. I managed to put 8 in the ground this Fall (2 SD, 6 Lehman). We’ll see if I can get a few more going before the real cold hits. I plan to keep the seedlings in my garage over winter.
Best of luck everyone!
