Does anyone have experience with growing Paw Paw trees from seed? Also,what is the fruit like? I 've heard it tastes similar to banana, but I've never seen them at the grocery store or the farmers markets. My husband bought some seeds for me and I would like to try to grow them. Any advice on their culture would be appreciated. We are in zone 6. Thanks, Sharon

-- Sharon (wswiii@worldnet.att.net), December 27, 2000

Answers

Sharon, Paw Paws growing around here(Were zone 5-6 tweeners) seem to do best as an understory tree, mixed in under the bigger hardwoods. Or at the edges of the big stuff. I've never seen a real big one, maybe 20 - 25' max. They are native tropical plants, but obviously hardy. Don't know what they do in the tropics. I'm told they spread easily and quickly. Paw Paws have really nice looking leaves. I think they look pretty nice and would look kinda neat in a landscape somewhere. As long as it was somewhere that you wouldn't step on the fruit.

The fruit does look like a small (3-4") banana. Kinda. There's nothing else I could compare it to. I brought a bunch home a few years ago, none of the kids liked 'em. They have to be compleatly ripe to eat. That means just about slimy, so you know why the kids didn't like 'em. You can use 'em in a pie like bananas I'm told. The racoons and other critters must like 'em, from all the different tracks around the trees.

-- John in S. IN (jsmengel@hotmail.com), December 27, 2000.

Pawpaw culture

Keep seed moist til planting.Wet sand or peat moss,stored in frig Plant in pots,sunk in garden,in fall and they will stratify naturally.

Grow in pots in part shade for a year or two.Pawpaws have a deep tap root,thus are fussy transplanters,which is why they need to be in a pot.Also why they need rich soil for a site.

Transplant in spring or fall.Partial shade Ok.Ky State U has them growing like an apple orchard though.After they are older,the are more tolerant of the sun.

This info is from KSU pawpaw reasearch program.They have recipes as well.I'll dig out their address,etc.

We have a grove below the house on a rich site one.Walnut,basswood,buckeye,tulip poplar are good indicators of a good site.Don't plant in full shade-will survive but not fruit much. These grew in an old pasture,under red maple saplings,now we removed the maple to expose to more sunlight.So far so good.

Pick when soft.You can smell when they are.Follow your nose is how you find them in the wild. At the 'they will break free if prodded gently' stage.We used an apple picker.

Once they drop, they dissapear!! Everything likes to eat them.We're hard pressed to find them if we don't get them before they drop.

Now,anyone have suggestions on seperating pulp from seed? They jamb up the foley food mill

We made cookies and took them in for our farmers mkt meeting.One woman said that they must be addictive,Said she craved the taste for weeks.Asked what us exactly what did we put in them cookies!I don't know what the deal was.Funny tho.

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), December 27, 2000.

OK-found the site pawpaws

In case it doesn work,that's www.pawpaw.kysu.edu

John-I don't like them when they are brown,either.I prefer them at the light green just going to yellow,just soft stage.Throw then in cookies or cake and they'll probably eat them.Check out recipes at above site.

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), December 28, 2000.

Paw paw, yum yum.

To my mind, paw paw are best picked before they fall, they should still be a bit green coloured but mostly yellow, sort of stripped. If you leave them too long they smell like chunder. Peel and cut in slices, cut out the middle bit that contains the black pips. Alternatively cut in half, scoop out the seeds then use a spoon to scoop the fruit out of the skins. Douse with lime juice, I guess lemon would be ok. We had a dog that lay under the tree for days waiting for a ripe one to fall.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), December 28, 2000.

OK what's chunder?

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), December 28, 2000.

Sorry, chunder is of course vomit in the down-under vernacular.

-- John (john@cnd.co.nz), December 30, 2000.

Oh,I see-upchuck-in the Pennsylvaian Dutch vocabulary

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), December 31, 2000.

Did anyone mention you must have two trees to get fruit? A friend of mine chucks the seeds in the geaneral directon he wants the plants.(We live in Va it may make a diffrence) Mine are growing out with the rest of my fruit trees. They taste like a kewei to me.

-- Becky (Becktora@webtv.net), January 02, 2001.

If some of you would be willing to send me some of those Paw paw seed, I sure would be grateful,.. Have some CRP land that is left out of pine plantation, and I am planting everything I can find for game.. Or for that matter any kind of tree that has fruit that animals like..

-- Bud Watt (budwatt@mississippi.net), April 28, 2002.