Pawpaw

Asimina Triloba

North America's largest native fruit is truly a wonder. This tropical looking tree produces thin skinned fruits with yellow flesh that tastes somewhat like bananas or mangos. The fruit bruises easily and often tastes best when over-ripe with blackened skin. This makes it quite difficult to sell commercially. Regardless, it's a perfect fruit for the backyard grower!

I sell pawpaw seedlings grown from local wild plants, as well as local select varieties. The wild seedlings tend to produce smaller fruit with more seeds. The select varieties of trees often produce larger fruit with less seeds. Since pawpaws don't grow true to seed I can't promise what kind of fruit your seedlings will produce. However, the seeds grown from select varieties of trees have a high likelihood of still producing better-than-wild fruit. Both select and wild varieties should be pretty easy to care for. They tend to be quite disease resistant (no need to spray gross chemicals!) and even deer resistant.

When you purchase the plant it will be bare root (no soil around the roots.) The tree has gone into dormancy for the winter at this point, so it can be dug up and transplanted with almost no stress to the tree. You just have to make sure the roots stay moist. You'll receive the tree in a pot with moist woodchips or in a bag with moist paper towels wrapped around the roots. It could stay like this for weeks (as long as the roots are kept moist) but I strongly suggest planting in the ground soon after purchase. 

Note: You will need two varieties for pollination.

Size/Spacing: 

At maturity these will be somewhere between 15' and 25' high with a 6-8' spread. Plant them about 8-10' apart. 

Site Preference:

All of the wild trees I've found are understory shade trees. Even in deep shade I've found these trees producing fruit! That being said, pawpaws will also grow in full sun and will produce much more. Plant in full sun if you can. Rich well drained soil is best, but they will produce even in harsher conditions. (I often see them producing on rockier hillsides.) Be sure to keep first year plants well watered during times of drought. After their first year they should be fine, especially if you provide them with 6-12" of mulch. A shovel-full of compost spread at soil-level around the tree each spring is probablly all they will need for fertilizer. You could do some further research and find a more specific fertilizer schedule for your trees. Personally, I try to do as little as possible. Especially with wild trees that are quite used to no care at all.

Hardiness:

Hardy in zones 5-9.

Note: You will need two varieties for pollination.