so I had about 12 nice 2 year-old pawpaw seedlings in deeppots. They were doing great all last summer, over the winter…pulled them into the garage, dumped the pots, and started cutting them for grafting. First one was brown all the way through, then 2 without any green, living cambium…
finally got to just cutting to see what was alive–3 of them. the rest either froze or waterlogged and root-rotted. 
not my day for garden stuff I guess…and a couple years setback
That happened to my potted pawpaw seedlings too. Don’t give up on them too early. In many cases they resprout from the roots. That may take some time (months). They are fragile on the one hand (dieback occurs) but regenerative on the other hand (resprout from the roots).
How much and how often did you put water in the pots in garage? I just got one big pot through the winter in garage by putting one cup of water once a month in large pot, about 15 inches tall and wide. I read that recipe somewhere, just barely, barely keep soil moist. Seems to work.
pots went into garage in fall, wet.
I think they either waterlogged (weight never dropped a notable degree, so they didn’t dry out…being thorough I made THAT mistake with persimmon seedlings the year prior, instead) or froze; the roots are black as they tend to be in pawpaw, but the bark sloughed right off them also. Since I hadn’t checked earlier, that “look” would match something that died from too much water OR freezing and then slow-rotting in moist but drained soil, I guess…
I also lost a batch of pawpaw. This year,
In tree pots outside minimal protection ( row covers)
But standing in 1/2" water.
Right next to them another batch is fine,
Extra row covers ,and dryer
Also left some unprotected above ground in H.T.in pots.
No heat, but dry…saw single digits .
Look good …pushing new growth
Thinking dryer is better ?
I have some pawpaw grown form seeds last year that are alive and leafing out…and some that aren’t yet.
But, I am not going to rule any out as failures for at least 3 monts…as they sometimes come up from the root.
And at least one pawpaw blossom has lost it’s petals, and seems to be fertilized.
Ugh here too. If I had 500 plants I lost 490. This winter was horrendous with two weeks of very cold temperatures and of course it’s the first winter for several years I decided to use my hoophouse w/o supplemental heat as I usually overwinter in my greenhouse just above freezing all my plants. Every graft is dead. All my varieties of pecans; all my hickories; all my hicans; all my pawpaws; all my persimmons; all my fruit trees except three I can think of. And, I lost all my seedling nuts and fruits and a hundred oaks; it’s start over.
Damn I had about 25 nut varieties I think. Some very rare to get wood of.
Well, I don’t blame anything. This happens.
Truly,
Dax
I understand. I probably did pretty good, since my containerized inventory is all outdoors and not even in an unheated hoop house here in Zone 6. It was the 23 degree night s in March and April after having the 4th warmest February ever that got some things here after they broke dormancy and they had leafed out. (Some apples, for instance, in pots). But pawpaws it is still too early to get a count on what alive.
My first apple grafts in February all took this year. Some have new growth six inches already. But, the ones I grafted in April…the wood was getting kind of old and temps outside rather cold…so can’t yet tell the success rate on later grafts. (Delays in rootstocks from Raintree, and to some extent from Cummins, held up my progress.)
By the way, I’ve seen pawpaws die to the ground in summer from drought, and yet come back up the next year with a sprout. So, don’t consider them all dead and toss them just yet!
they don’t seem to work potted up over winter. I tried many years ago…they all died. The same with blueberries. Now i just bury blueberries in the ground over winter.
Sorry to hear about all the winter kill, especially you, Dax. I know how much you put into all those trees. I have lost hundreds of pawpaws to winter kill over the years–paid my tuition. Pawpaws may be the most fragile temperate zone tree while in a pot. Remember that asimina triloba has all it’s relatives in the tropics. I call it a tropical fruit that somehow adapted to as far north as zone 4–while in the ground. In a container–good luck. In a container, pawpaws are vulnerable any time temperatures get to freezing. I’ve tried overwintering in barns, under tarps, and heeled into trenches. I’ve lost them all. The only way to keep a pawpaw alive over winter is to keep it above freezing. My solution was to build a walk-in cooler that stays above freezing. You don’t need light and you don’t need any water, as long as the humidity is high. You may get plenty of mold, but the trees will live. Get them in the ground the next spring and they can survive the next winter down to at least -21F.
Well ya all’ I’m going to order in a few only rootstocks from here forward for requests. I don’t need to be in the nursery business. Now I need to figure out what I’m going to do with 500-600-700 grafts from this year. It’s ridiculous.
I’m going to enjoy life a bit more. Do some field grafting each spring and call it good. Get the nuts and fruits I really want established and who knows maybe switch over to the scionwood selling business with a block of rare persimmons, and several Hark pecans.
@marc5 nice to see you. What do your trees look like at this point? Would like to see photos sometime.
@warmwxrules @BlueBerry Have a great day.
Dax
not sure what you’ve lost, but put a shout out on here and I’ll make a list of cuttings/scions to ship out to you…
I lost a bunch of pawpaw seedlings this winter as well. I had 2-3 pots filled with seedlings and a raccoon got into the garage and what he didn’t spill and destroy he moved enough that I didn’t find until just this past week.
A real shame too, because other than the moved/spilled pots I lost nothing else in the garage (though a fig I moved out too early doesn’t look good) . Most of my losses were due to dessication/mites in my basement.
Scott
Thanks, Scott. I’m going with a new strategy and that’s to plant what I have in terms of grafted persimmons and nuts and then I’m going to put seedlings in the ground to graft later on. I didn’t think this morning thoroughly but the persimmons I lost are backed up on in-ground rootstocks at a couple different places.
I’m growing pawpaws from seed, in-ground. No grafts.
I’ll acquire the nuts I lost again.
Really appreciate your offering.
Dax
PawPaws. Well, in one gallon pots, out in the elements under trees…I’ve definitely lost less than 50 percent…I suspect only 20 percent once the others put buds out. That’s with down to -5 in January…and to 23 in late March or early April after a near record warm February. Until such time as I build a greenhouse, that is acceptable.
Mixture of one and two year old plants.