I'm testing a number of questionable locations around our 50'x100' "Ponderosa" here in Fair Lawn. My Rapitest Sun Calc is telling me that I have a lot more good places to put "Full Sun" plants than I thought I had.

I bought this little gem from Amazon for $17

Discuss...

The holy roman empire was neither holy, nor roman, nor an empire. Discuss.

suncalc.net is good if you are not familiar with path of the sun (or want to see it at different times of year)

i thought roman were republic rather than an empire. it wasn't holy.. since the political system wasn't theocracy? i mean.. holy can mean lot of different things to lot of different people. it wasn't truly roman.. by the time rome was declining, it had more foreigners than "roman". but a good selling point rome had was, if they conquer your land, you get to play roman... you know.. join legion and go fight for the holy roman empire and all that jazz. 

There is a learning curve to everything.
I never thought there would be a meter to tell me where there are no obstructions
for the full sun.
Nice meter.
All my plants are out in the open, away from everything.
No meter needed for that.


Doug

I would take anything Willis Orchard states with a grain on salt. PawPaw are naturally a understory plant, and are a great fruiting plant for shady areas, as they will fruit some there as opposed to many plants, but they only need the protection from full sun for a couple years at least in your climate. In the Southwest I think they might need some shade. They will produce better the more sun they get, so if you prefer Pawpaw there go for it, but many times folks don't give their Pawpaw nice sun locations as it is one of the few fruiting options for more shady locations. I would look more on Willis reviews prior to ordering from them. I can list some alternatives if you wish.

I would go with Pawpaw from someplace that does potted Plants. Forrest Keeling nursery, One Green World, Burnt Ridge, Stark Brothers, Edible Landscaping all carry Potted grafted trees. There are probably others as well. Some other reputable nursery that carry bareroot are England's nursery, Nolin River, and Hidden Springs but many folks have had poor luck with bareroot Pawpaw myself included. I have never lost one purchased potted, but think I was 1 for 8 after a slow decline of a couple years with Hidden Springs Pawpaw. Willis has nice prices on those seedlings and I have not purchased from them, but check out the reviews on that nursery. Seedling trees can be quit variable as well and I would not even trust Willis to choose his seedlings from select plants.

Definitely check the reviews on Willis.  Or I can summarize:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Also, I've heard that pawpaw seeds have poor viability even planted right after eating but if they dry out they wont germinate at all.  That was only 1 source.  Several people have recommended Peterson's as a place to buy superior varieties.

Bob,

Peterson does not sell his Pawpaw direct anymore, but he lists some sources, many the same I listed.  On germinating seed it needs to be stratified and even then comes up late sometimes into July/Aug to germinate for me. Pawpaw is reported to come more true to seed than many fruit, but I don't know that I graft over seedlings. I have some limited  seed that I need to set out now, been moist in fridge since last fall.