Growing Pawpaw (my experience)
It is remarkable how easily can pawpaw be cultivated in our region, even though it originates in a completely different part of the world. The most important characteristics are relatively low amount of annual vegetation warmth (only around 1500 warm hours) and excellent frost hardiness (down to
Pawpaw likes deep, well-drained soils full of nutrients and water (usual irrigation is necessary if you want to harvest high yields of delicious pawpaw fruit).
Asimina requires 140-160 days with temperatures above freezing to fruit and grow properly. Late spring frosts aren’t problem for these plants either. Pawpaw tree usually shoots and blooms late enough to avoid any and all frosts. Flowers usually appear and disappear within 2-3 weeks and are fairly resistant even during flowering.
Flowers of asimina are waxy purple and very unattractive for bees and therefore they are pollinated by flies, wind or in the worst possible case your hands :-). Pawpaw is heterogamous and one of only few self-pollinating varieties - 'Sunflower' – is only partially self-fertile (it is however very rare that it would fruit without any genetically different asimina variety).
If it goes so far that you will need to pollinate the flowers by hand, you should know several key information. The first and most important thing to know is the precise moment, when the stigma inside the flower is active.
Flower with active stigma changes the color from green to purple, so during this important transition it is distinctively purple-green. Active stigma is shiny and sticky and the pollen ball in the centre of the flower is still green and compact.
Male stage of the flower occurs in the final flower development stage. Stigma is dry by then and the pollen ball color changes to brown. The pollen ball breaks up into small pieces as soon as the tip of the brush touches it and pollen stays on the brush.
After the flower has been successfully pollinated the first small fruit is formed in the peduncle. One blossom can change into 1-9 individual fruits that quickly grow to 2cm at which point the fruit drop occurs. Pawpaw tree will keep only as many pieces of fruit as it can safely nourish to the full ripeness. Remaining fruit that isn’t dropped will then continue to grow until late July, when the tree stops nourishing the fruit and starts the second growth period.
The fruit resumes growing and ripening at the end of the August (in our climate) and ripens from late August to late October.
Ripe fruit softens and is very intensively aromatic. It has delicious flavor (pawpaw is often referred to as “the banana of north”) and creamy, yellow-orange pulp that can be spread on the bread as butter :-). It is also often eaten with spoon and the seeds are not edible. The fruit has one great disadvantage; it must be processed or eaten very quickly, because it will start rotting within 2-3 days in room temperatures (20-
Ideal spot: Asimina trees should be planted into full sun, although they grow better in half-shade in their natural environment.
Young plants should be sheltered from direct sun; the best protection is wax paper used in forests as a trunk protection. It is always better to give extra protection than to lose the plant (even during cloudy days), because young leaves very tender and can easily get burnt by the sun.
The seeds can last fresh for a long time, but it germinates very unpredictably (weeks or months), it depends on relative humidity and temperatures. Young seedlings prefer half-shade or dispersed light (polycarbonate or folia are ideal) and grow very slowly, because they form extensive root system (it can grow as deep as 22-30cm during the first season).
Germination in the ground is not advised, because transplant would damage roots and that’s one thing that pawpaw trees don’t take well. One 10 years old plant in the container can yield 5-7kg and 15kg in the soil. Asimina stops its vegetative growth earlier than our fruit trees – its leaves are already yellow or have fallen off the tree when the leaves on pears, apples and other fruit trees are still nice and green. This lets me believe, that even late varieties can safely fruit and go dormant in our climate.
'Convis' is one of those varieties that too originate in the fields of Corwin Davis in
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'IXL' is a cross of Overleese and Davis (Overleese x
This cultivar produces bigger fruit that weighs 300g.
'Luigi' comes from an Italian seedling selection. It produces smaller fruit with high resistance to varying weather. It is commonly cultivated in Alp regions with elevations above 600 and
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'Mango' is a selection from the Major Collins wilderness, 1970, Tifton (Georgia). It has typical big fruit with yellow pulp and thin skin. It tastes similar like mango. 'Mango' is a robust and very vigorous variety
'NC-1' is a hybrid of Davis and Overleese (
'Overleese' was discovered in selection of the seedlings that was made in 1950 by W. B. Ward,
'PA Golden 4' comes from the collection of Georgie Slate that was discovered in 1982 by John Gordon,
'Prima 1216' is an Italian self-pollinating cultivar from the big-fruited asimina selection. It contains few seeds.
'Rebecca's Gold' comes from a selection of pawpaws made in 1974 by J. M. Riley in
'Sibley' is a sibling of Sun-Glo. It produces big fruit (400g) with golden pulp and rind.
'Sunflower' is a selection from the collection of Milo Gibson, 1970, Chanute (
'Sweet Virginie' is a '
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'Taytwo' is sometimes called Taytoo and comes from the Corwin Davis’ collection, 1968, Eaton Rapids (
'Tollgate' produces fruit with yellow rind and excellent flavor. It has big, oval fruit (450g) that ripens early in October (
'Wells Delight' comes from the collection of Davis Wells, 1990,
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Growing Pawpaw in
Probably the earliest varieties, PA Golden 1 thru 4 were discovered in
I was told by a
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