Although this is a fig forum, I'm sure many of us are interested in fruit in general. I wanted to share some info and photos of another one of my favorite fruit, Pawpaw is largest wild American fruit. 

 

Bass
I like figs since it is fig Forum.
However I bought two pawpaw plants from Grimo Nut Nursery and the instructions were to plant it under a tree for the first few years. That was OK because I did not have any place other place. They have been in the ground for for 3 or 4 years in Zone 5a near cedar hedges under a huge maple tree. Plants are alive healthy green but not growing in size and making me impatient. I am not sure if it is slow growing or these are planted in a wrong place.

They like shade when young, but they don't grow big unless they see the sun. You may need to fertilize them. If you got them as a bare rooted tree chances are they're still in shock. They don't like being transplanted, unless they were grown in a pot and then into the ground they won't do well.

Bass--In an effort to expose my small collection of figs to a little cultural diversity, I'm looking for a few additional types of fruit that might grow in Tucson (and that I'm unlikely to find in the grocery store). You've convinced me to find a Li Jujube, and I'm wondering about a Pawpaw as well. Do you think it might have a snowball's chance in Tucson? I've read online that they can produce in zone 8, and I'm in 8a, but it also sounds as if they like some humidity, which we only experience from July-September.

I'm sure it will grow for you but since your area doesn't provide its usual conditions, you will to give it extra care. Such as shading while small, and irrigation.

hI Ottawan,
I'm also trying pawpaws in Kitchener ontario zdb or 6a depending on where you look.
I bought two potted plants from Henry Fields this past spring, which have put on about a foot of growth this summer. 
will be getting another from Grimo next spring, from his billing info I gather he ships them in pots.
lets keep in touch on this to compare how they grow in the great white north.

Grant

zdb ??? that should have been z5b

Bass,

The real question is this, Does this plant produce flowers with a real bad odor? I heard it stinks bad.

Is this true? If so, How bad and for how long?

Not trying to push a panic button here but need to know.

Thanks

Hi Bass.  Great pictures.  Thanks.

My Mom grows a big crop of Pawpaws every year in Indiana, enough for everyone.  We just visited and got some to bring home too.  And at least to our taste they are very good, kind of a smooth banana/sweet apple flavor with a hint of butterscotch.

I am growing some here in Georgia as well, and it does seem to take them a couple years to settle in before they start growing well.

But overall they are a very good, trouble free fruit.  No insect problems that I have ever seen, productive and easy to grow once established.

And Ken: I picked our first Jujube fruits just a few weeks ago.  They are still very small trees, but the fruit was good.  Unusual, but good.  They reminded me of dates a little bit.

And just to keep with the fig theme, our Hardy Chicago is still producing strong, as is the LSU Purple, even as other figs seem to be slowing down with the shortening days and cooling weather.

Best wishes to all.

John
North Georgia Piedmont
Zone 7b

I have several large pawpaw patches in the woods behind my house. They bloom well each spring but there is never a single fruit. I wonder if each patch is made of suckers from an original plant and can't pollinate itself? Don't know. But I bought 2 trees this spring for may yard and I bought some pawpaw seeds on line last winter and have about 2 dozen seedlings. I plan to plant a few of the seedlings near the patches in the woods and maybe in a few years I'll have some wild fruit up there.
Susan

I emailed a guy in the local CRFG group, and he wrote back, "Yes I Have grown pawpaws.  I had one tree that grew quite well, but my dog dug it up after 6 months.  I did not replace it, but it did not present any problems." So, it looks like my figs will have a another "roommate" if I can decide on a variety and find a good source! Hopefully Pawpaw and Jujube varieties will both be less prone than figs to being mislabeled by the nurseries.
 
John--what variety of Jujube are you growing?

It's been a few years since I made it out, but the Ohio Pawpaw Festival is a lot of fun. You can taste a bunch of different cultivars and wild fruits, and there's a local brewer who makes pawpaw beer every year. I bought a few seedlings in the mid-2000s and planted them in 75% or so shade at my parents' house. The two oldest (maybe five years old) are about 15 feet tall and the three younger ones (three or four years old) are about 8 feet tall. No fruit yet, but one tree had a few flowers this year. They really weren't that stinky. I'd say they have more of an intense bread dough smell. I could only smell it when I was up close. But I have heard that some commercial and college growers tie turkey necks to the trees to attract carrion flies. One piece of advice for planting/transplanting: choose a spot carefully. Pawpaws have a very long taproot that breaks easily, and the trees are very sensitive to transplanting. Still, they're beautiful trees and the fruit tastes fantastic.

Very well my dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

PawPaw it will be! To the nursery!

All Jokes aside, I had debated in whether or not to purchase one or two because of the smell. I guess I should be my own judge. Won't hurt anything to try right?

I will keep you posted.

Matt,

The Carrion Fly.
Is that the same fly the Birch tree attracts?

Rafed,

Most Pawpaw are not self-fertile, so you should plan on 2 trees. There a only a few that are self-fertile. The Sunflower cultivar that Bass is one of the self-fertile ones, but it is said to produce better with another cultivar planted as well. I have 4 cultivars that are young and not fruiting yet, but have access to some wild trees as well that fruit and the question about if a patch may not produce becuase they have all developed from same root system and are all one clone is very possible. If someone is intrested in some seeds to start I probably can still find a few. My wild trees don't produce very big fruit and are seedy, and I have been told Pawpaw come closer to coming true than many fruits from seed so unless you plan to graft them over. I would start with seed from a selected improved cultivar.

I wonder if multiple varieties could be grafted to one tree like Bass' jujubes. It would be nice for someone with limited space.

You can certainly graft different varieties just like any other tree. I know a guy who has 40 different ones into one tree. 

Not for just the East,
I have seen pawpaws fruiting here too, up and down the West Coast, from the San Juan Islands on the Canadian border, to Santa Barbara and Fullerton in Southern California.

Jon, you must try to grow a couple in San Diego!

Bass, although I have not tasted the 40(!) varieties you mention from the Midwest/East, the flavor is excellent here in California. I am active in the California Rare Fruit Growers, lived in Hawai'i for 15 years and traveled quite a bit from Mexico to Central America, and have tasted many fruits-

Pawpaw is one of my favorite fruits- ever!

Tell me- do the various named cultivars vary substantially?
Flavor, size, ripening dates, drought hardiness, cold hardiness, subtropical adaptation, etc. ????

John, Flavor certainly vary with different cultivars, for example Sunflower has more creamy taste and it's an orange flesh. The "mango" variety is milder and and white flesh, resembling the cherimoya a little. 

Hey Bass,  just to let you know, we have native pawpaw all the way down in South Louisiana.  You can find them along the Mississippi river.  LSU also does alot of work with pawpaw.

hey, i live and philly and am looking for a place to go wild paw paw picking - any suggestions??

Hey Jeff, how you been. A long time since I've seen you post anything. I thought maybe you gave up on figs. I hear you're into feathers now. How is that going. The trees I got from you are doing great.
"gene"

I went picking pawpaws this last weekend, My tree is loaded with pawpaw this year...  My first pawpaw of the year with from a variety I have called Taytoo. Here's a photo, this one tasted as good as a tree ripened mango...

Bass my question is when they are young and inground do you wrap them or do they start out cold hardy enough?

I have some PawPaw trees that were new seedlings last year. I protected them w/ a short piece of Tree Tube, and they came through the winter just fine in z5/z6.