Pawpaw planting questions

So I ordered a couple pawpaws from a nearby nursery, one is Campbell NC-1 in a 3 gal pot, the other Shenandoah in a 1L pot. The instructions that came with the order say that the small plants in 1L/1 gal pots should be up-potted rather than planted.

"In most cases we recommend planting bare root fruit trees as soon as you get them. If you have picked up a pawpaw in a 3 gal pot it should be ready to plant out. However, the small trees in 1 litre or even 1 gal pots will often benefit from spending a few more years in a pot. This applies to pawpaws, persimmons and jujubes. We suggest you repot in a 2 or 3 gallon and grow them for several seasons. Pawpaws, in particular, will appreciate this, as the tender young trees do much better if you can keep them out of direct sunlight. This way you also have the option of overwintering them in your garage until they are bigger and stronger."

I'm in zone 5, and it's a local nursery that mostly ships to zone 4-6 (I think). Maybe part of the concern is winter survival of grafted trees, thinking that a thicker trunk will fare better? Do you think it's really advisable to grow them in a 2-3 gal pot for several seasons though?

I also have some seedlings I germinated from seeds of farmers market fruit in late spring 2023 that are in 0.5-2 gal containers that I overwintered in the garage and was considering transplanting this year, but maybe I should reconsider and keep them in pots?

Is the shade really that important for seedlings? What happens if they're in the sun? Maybe it matters more in the core of the native range where it's hotter? I'm a little beyond the native range, so our sun angles are lower (69deg at the summer solstice), and summers are quite mild, with daytime highs mostly in the 70s to low 80s - last year the hottest day was 86F. Summers tend to be cloudier than in much of the US too, not that they're constantly overcast or anything, but it's much more "mix of sun & clouds" here than uninterrupted blazing sun. My seedlings weren't really shielded from the sun and had no visible issues. Or would they have been bigger if I had them in the shade? They sprouted in late May and only got to about 6-10" before the weather turned cold in October.

Purchased trees - Shenandoah in small pot (~20" tall), Campbell NC-1 in larger pot (~4ft tall)


My seedlings starting to leaf out for their second season.

my experience is that the needing shade when very young thing is somewhat overstated for pawpaws, and struggles when very young are more likely to be either from damage to the taproot at transplanting, or the abrupt moving from shaded to sunny after leaves are out. so if it were me, and they haven’t leafed out yet, i wouldn’t worry about sun exposure much. i wouldn’t be too worried about planting the younger tree in the ground, with, for that matter - though the overwintering protection thing they mention may be more of an issue for you than me down in appalachia.

source: 8+ years growing pawpaws, 30+ trees.

One summer I lost a third of my Pawpaw seedlings by waiting too long to put under shade.  However, I live in the southeast and by June it gets very hot here and the long hot days will cause the leaves to scorch.  
I use 30% shade cloth positioned so it only shades from noon to dusk.
When transplanting make sure no to damage the very fine hair like roots.  They are critical for the trees survival.

I planted 2 pawpaw's from bare roots that I ordered online last spring. They were like 12" tall. We had -15 degree temps for a couple nights this past winter, and they're still alive. We also get some 100+ degree days in the summer, and lots of days well over 90 degrees.

I read somewhere that they need shade for the first couple years. I put a square tomato cage around them. Last year I had it wrapped in landscaping fabric, so the shade was pretty dark. This year I have them wrapped in window screen material so it's brighter for them. Next year they'll be in full sun.

(I promise there's a 2' tall tree in there, it's just hard to see with the grass).

James Bridger wrote:I planted 2 pawpaw's from bare roots that I ordered online last spring. They were like 12" tall. We had -15 degree temps for a couple nights this past winter, and they're still alive. We also get some 100+ degree days in the summer, and lots of days well over 90 degrees.

I read somewhere that they need shade for the first couple years. I put a square tomato cage around them. Last year I had it wrapped in landscaping fabric, so the shade was pretty dark. This year I have them wrapped in window screen material so it's brighter for them. Next year they'll be in full sun.

(I promise there's a 2' tall tree in there, it's just hard to see with the grass).

Last winter was very mild here, it only got down to 0F, which makes it the mildest winter on record. Normally we'd get quite a lot of <0F nights, and a couple <-10F. A few times per decade it'll even drop below -20F. The worst case scenario would be a repeat of 2015, when we had 29 days with lows below 0F, 9 days below -10F and a coldest of -24F.

The planting guide the nursery gave me recommended shade cloth for the first 2-3 years, followed by full sun. They also recommended putting mulch around the trees to block out competition from grass.

greg mosser wrote:my experience is that the needing shade when very young thing is somewhat overstated for pawpaws, and struggles when very young are more likely to be either from damage to the taproot at transplanting, or the abrupt moving from shaded to sunny after leaves are out. so if it were me, and they haven’t leafed out yet, i wouldn’t worry about sun exposure much. i wouldn’t be too worried about planting the younger tree in the ground, with, for that matter - though the overwintering protection thing they mention may be more of an issue for you than me down in appalachia.

source: 8+ years growing pawpaws, 30+ trees.

Update - I've been continuing to grow out seedlings from any fruit I get my hands on and the sun doesn't seem to be a problem. The sun can get pretty high in the sky here, up to 69deg with 15+ hour days at the solstice, but the climate is moist and humid, soils are clay rich (ie not prone to drying out), and it doesn't get hot much, which probably mitigates any issues that too much sun could cause (if that's even an issue in the south). The warmest we've gotten this year is 83F, and we might not go higher than that until July. Sometimes we can get into the low 90s, but some summers max out around 85-87F for the hottest day, and the average high in July is only 78F.

I haven't had any issues with seedlings surviving the winter in-ground so far. Even a damaged seedling I used as a guinea pig in 2024 survived the past two winters (which had -13F and -17F seasonal lows), although it's growing slower, maybe it's still recovering from the damage. Slugs can be a problem however, they'll eat the seedlings leaves, and even damage the bark on the stems.

The up-potting advice for small pawpaws is worth following honestly, especially for a 1L pot. The taproot on pawpaws is fragile and they really hate being disturbed twice in quick succession. I'd get it growing strongly in a larger pot first, then plant out in autumn or early next spring when it can establish without the heat stress on top.

Joao Winckler wrote:The up-potting advice for small pawpaws is worth following honestly, especially for a 1L pot. The taproot on pawpaws is fragile and they really hate being disturbed twice in quick succession. I'd get it growing strongly in a larger pot first, then plant out in autumn or early next spring when it can establish without the heat stress on top.

Wouldn't up-potting disturb the roots just as much as transplanting though? Might get more heat stress in a pot too, since it can heat up from all sides (unless I keep the pot in the shade)? In-ground soil is usually not too hot here, currently it's 65F in the mornings/shade during our mini "heatwave", it could drop to 60F next week.