Who can tell me anything about paw paws.Their unknown up here in northern Michigan,but its been discovered they'll grow up here.I'm starting an orchard on part of the property and these sound interesting but have no experience with them.Nobody here has ever even heard of them let alone grew them.

Pawpaws need at least one other pawpaw tree in the area to produce fruit, that's not a clone spread by the roots. They are pollinated mostly by flies, this time of year.

There are wild type pawpaws and selected cloned and grafted varieties. They are all easy to grow. In forests, the trees get tall and lanky. In full sun the trees get wide and thicker. Young pawpaw trees can have issues with to much sunlight. Mature trees handle it better. You can grow younger trees in more shade, either natural or with shade cloth.

Pawpaws are hard to transplant, unless you sever the feeder roots with a spade in the Spring, so they develop their own roots and transplant them in the Fall. Most pawpaw trees near each other are one continuous plant, that has spread by the roots.

Hartmann's Plant Company is probably the cheapest place to purchase them from as seedlings, this time of year, because the Missouri Department of Conservation is sold out.

Keith

I brought home some wild Mo stock and it self pollinates just fine! The root sprouts seem to be doing OK too. Fruit is delicious, cut in 1/2 when ripe and eat with a spoon, spit the seeds into a cup for planting. They will grow into a thicket if you let them.

Will the young grow in shade?We have 5 acres where I plan the orchard is wide open but we do have sections that have good shade

I planted six seedlings last year only one has leaves on it this year. They only get a few hours of direct sunlight a day.

Paw Paw's like to be overhung, mine are in the fairly deep woods, and the real producer is under a Walnut tree.

The young plants need partial shade. Full shade is to much. Adult pawpaw trees can take full Sun.

If you planted the saplings in partial shade in a forest and cleared around them when they were big, some of the studies show, they do very well

Keith

Cathryn had a thread last year about them. She was doing her best to sell a bunch. 8/31/24

Pawpaw is the only tree that I know that will grow in a manner so as to seek the shade rather seek an opening created by cutting down a nearby tree.
I have one of the largest pawpaw tree in Virginia in my backyard where I have observed this interesting phenomenon.
They clearly do best as an understory tree.

They grow heavy along the edges of woods like in fence rows, just in fence rows between fields too... They aren't in the center of my woods just the edges or just inside the edge. They have a leaf kinda like a banana tree and are kinda easy to spot. Fruit is ripe and about all ate up by coon by the time they start running corn here. Thats about when you can find the trees with a couple still hanging. Look weeks before that for quantity. If we have them here you must have them there... if I didn't know to go find them when they start running corn I wouldn't know they were there either. I don't talk to many here that know much about them. There must be 50+ of them back there in that patch woods. More of a novelty than they are a good fruit to eat. Theres too many seeds to just a rip a bite out of one and they aren't exactly good either. If deer mess with them its too early in the year for me to notice really. I mean if the corn is ready at the same time I think the deer are more interested in it but I might be wrong but maybe you aren't surrounded by corn like I am.

Theres a video on youtube about pulsing them through a blender and then extruding the seeds out but I half forget how it worked. Turning it into an ingredient like that and then making something with it may be the ticket. Plain out of the woods its just ok if even. They are soft when they are ripe. Like finding a ripe mango or avacado.

Good luck.

Had tsi work done and my timber thinnned about 6 years ago. Paw paws are likely my number one encroaching tree in my bottomland timber - so much so I brush hog many down yearly. Their clump type growths will outcompete other trees slower to establish

Not native here.Too far north

There's none I know of wild in my area of NY Just the ones planted in peoples yards.
Great info thanks for sharing

According to the map we should have them here, but I have never seen or heard of them...

I have 2 pawpaws growing in my yard. They're in a spot where they receive full sun. For the first year, I put a square tomato cage around them, and wrapped the cage with cheap landscape fabric, to create shade. The 2nd year, I swapped out the landscape fabric for window screen, to still keep it shaded, but less shady than the landscaping fabric. This year they're in full sun and doing well so far. They've grown more already in full sun than they did the first two years being shaded, but from my research, for what it's worth, they almost have to be shaded for at least the first two years. It's a pain to keep the grass cut inside the cage, so I just let it go the first couple years.

I have a few wild spots where pawpaws are in all locations of the woods.

Best time to start looking for pawpaw fruit around here is the week after labor day to about mid october. Some areas ripen up earlier than others.

You do NOT want to just "take a bite" out of a pawpaw. Gotta peel them or at least cut them in half, or break them in half and scoop out the pulp. The skin is not good for you. Nor is the seeds.

Im leery of the blender method of separating out the pulp from the seeds. Even using the plastic blades in the blender I am getting some black specks from the seeds. I think using a stand mixer might be the better option for mechanically separating out the seeds. Or just mash them up in a bowl with a potato masher or spoon. Take the softened pulp and use a salad spinner to filter out the seeds.

Heres the youtube blender seed removal method.

https://youtu.be/91hedTCnCsc?si=YD0nYhmZ8YeL3u0k

I have 2 pawpaws growing in my yard. They're in a spot where they receive full sun. For the first year, I put a square tomato cage around them, and wrapped the cage with cheap landscape fabric, to create shade. The 2nd year, I swapped out the landscape fabric for window screen, to still keep it shaded, but less shady than the landscaping fabric. This year they're in full sun and doing well so far. They've grown more already in full sun than they did the first two years being shaded, but from my research, for what it's worth, they almost have to be shaded for at least the first two years. It's a pain to keep the grass cut inside the cage, so I just let it go the first couple years.


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MoDOC studies have shown that keeping secondary vegetation from growing around new trees will help the trees grow with added vigor by reducing water loss. Keep that grass sprayed and dead.

Good mulch or bale of hay around the trees helps. Comfrey if you can find it is great to plant around it. All grass is bad for trees