Pawpaws have been on my list since we bought this place in Piedmont NC. Once we’d cleared enough room i planted two – Sunflower and Wells from Stark Brothers – flanking a red mulberry, as well as one started from a seed from Sheffield’s. The seed grown is back in the deepest shade. Well, snot far from it. Sunflower died, and that fall i bought some fruit, “Wynn’s Winners” from Wynn Dinnsen (see link below). I promptly put those seeds in the ground where Sunflower had failed. Three sprouted and i let them all be. They get more sun and in the past couple of years thinning for our solar had the added benefit of even more sun for the Wynn seedlings. They’ve rocketed in height.
Wells has had flowers for the past few years, but nothing to pollinate it from. We had a pretty bad drought over winter, and i was sick or work distracted during the pawpaw flowering season – but there were flowers on the Wynn seedlings and Wells. Towards the end of the flowering season i could see where fruit set and was not surprised to see the nascent fruits drop because i wouldn’t want to bother with fruit in that drought. But two hung on, and hung on, and finally one dropped, ripe and my spouse wanted to know what strange thing was on the ground.
Both were divine, but especially the one that dropped. The fragrance was amazing. After retrieving the first and noting where ants had started feasting, i processed it quickly, scooping the fruit out and mashing it, eating half over a bit of vanilla ice cream. My spouse did not immediately try it, but the next day, rooms away, the fragrance hit my nose and i followed the siren scent to find my spouse having it oh her late morning first meal. “You can’t taste banana in this?” she chided. I can’t: i think the floral notes like mango and cantaloupe overwhelm the banana for me.
I didn’t realize she hadn’t eaten all of her share until later, and i found the puree had set up – gelled. She’d spooned her serving away, and the remaining puree hadn’t spread out or slumped overnight. I don’t recall anyone mentioning pawpaw setting up like this, although maybe it’s because no one in their right mind would let it just sit in the fridge.
I ought to have left the second one to ripen a little longer on the counter, but some black scars were on it on the stem end and i didn’t know if that is the same rot eating my figs. I made a pawpaw pudding with the second.
I will be so well motivated to hand pollinate next year, oh my.
I’ve chunked peel and seeds into the woods hoping a raccoon or possum might disperse the seeds for me (while hoping next year i will be more fit and able to intentionally plant them).
I just wanted to share that Wynn Dinnsen genetics seem to be a good thing. I didn’t find a mention of his work on here and thought i’d share. I hadn’t realized he’d passed away.