I bought three pawpaw trees from the Georgia State Botanical Garden plant sale. They looked very healthy, about 1.5' tall, with no signs of disease. They were planted in those black pots that have slots on the sides, for air-pruning I think.
I didn't realize until I got them home that on all three of them, the taproot was poking through the bottom of the pot about a quarter of an inch. I was able to get one of the trees out of the pot without damage to the taproot, but two of them required cutting off that little tip to get them free of the pot. Still, it took a little tugging.
Have I killed them in doing this? I put them all into well-loosened soil, clay amended with
compost and a little sand, and mulched them well with hardwood chips. $20 holes, I made sure of it. So far, after a few days, they look the same as they did before. I've got my fingers crossed that they are going to be okay. (Michael Judd, reassure me?)