Pawpaw, you're forever on my mind, nearly

I’ve been considering setting out a pawpaw tree for the past couple of years. The consideration is nearing fruition, I feel.

I have been tending successfully pears, peaches, figs, and pecans for years.

I would be thankful for your personal experiences at eating or tending pawpaws.

Do yours fit into your pocket?

Hello AA, why did you have to stick that silly song in my mind?

A year or two ago I asked a fruit tree advocate whether paw paws would live
in zone 7-a, and she said yes, they are cold hardy!

The fact that they grow 25 to 30 feet is what has stopped me-oh also I think I
recall that they need 2 to pollinate and give fruit. Check me on that.

Anyway if you have the space grow them-the fruit spoils too fast to ship,
that means the only way you get to eat them is to grow them.
cheers
Heather

Im speaking from borrowed experience here, but most Pawpaws DO need a pollinator, although one or two ("Sunflower" is one) are reputed to self pollinate in some limited way. I have heard that if you lack space you can try growing two varieties in one hole as a single plant.

I just planted my first two Pawpaws last spring. (Mango and Sunflower) Sunflower is doing fairly well, even though it had a run in with a big clumsy dog who broke the central leader mid season, but Mango didnt really do much her first season. I wasnt sure if she was dead or just sulking, but Im sure I will find out this season.

Even though they are grafted, I planted them in an area where they will get some dappled shade in the afternoon while they are small, but as they grow up they will eventually top the shrub providing said shade. They are said to prefer some shade in their younger years, but grafted ones you can skip this step, according to what I have read. I chose to provide them with the shade because I like that spot for them anyway.

Transplanting is the tricky part, apparently, and I do think they both survived that, although the Mango could be dying a slow death, too. She has me concerned.

“Hello” to you too, HY

MsSassy’, I thank you for the response.

I recently set out some peach and nectarine whips and some blueberries late last year. I don’t want to get too many irons in the fire at one time (I haul water to the young stuff) so the pawpaw iron will remain cold for another year, it seems.

I can’t really decide where they need to live. I’m not limited on space, but I can’t decide how much shade they need. There’s some outstanding soil, but probably a touch acidic, near a line of large pines where dogwoods and azaleas do well. The paws would never outgrow the pines; they would receive full sun to early afternoon and then shade the rest of the day. The pines and the undergrowth would offer protection from summer sun which, as you know, can be brutal day after day in the South.

We have a couple of large pear trees and a couple of large fig trees. I have given thought to setting paws fairly near (for some shade in the afternoon) and southeast of them. There’s good dirt there also. Our topsoil is sandy loam over a red clay base.

If full sun year round won’t hurt them, there are many spots available.

Did you plant from a pot or bare root?

I’ll Google the two cultivars that you set. Your mentioning mango nearly makes me have to reach for me hanky. Every chance I get, I put me in a juice-drenched taste test: trying to determine if I prefer peaches or mangos (the real deal).

Have fun.

An update on the Pawpaws......... Mango never did do anything. It never grew past the original one foot of growth the first season. (Actually more like 6 inches, as it came with ~ a six inch top.) It leafed out this spring but has dropped all its leaves but one and looks as if it is finally dying.

For the record, Mango was the more shaded of my two pawpaws. Sunflower, only three feet away but in more sunlight, (full sun, over 6 hours a day) is now a nice bushy 4 foot tree with three trunks. (The incident with the dog forced it to send up new shoots, which may actually be the root stock for all I know)

Anyhoo. I have one healthy thriving pawpaw tree and no one to pollinate it as it appears the other is not going to survive. (Although it sure took its time dying) Im going to try and order another one. I got my original two from Stark brothers, and they came in decent shape, but....... I knew in advance that pawpaws were very hard to transplant.

If what I have is actually the grafted plant, Sunflower, it is reputed to have some limited self pollinating ability. Who knows. I sure dont.

As for how much sun, the experts say if the pawpaw is a seedling, it needs shade for the first couple of years. If it is grafted, it does not. In my case, the paw paw in sun did better, but who knows why. It may have nothing to do with the sun and everything to do with the fact that tap rooted plants do not enjoy being transplanted.

I have two wild paw-paw and one bought and have never beat the critters to any of the fruit. The wild ones have big seeds in a small pod so not much there to eat.