pawpaw from seed without stratification - possible?

Hello all!

I have some paw paw seeds from a friend (all from same fruit) but I was not able to stratify them over the winter due to some family crises. I am in zone 5a-b in eastern Canada.

What would happen if I tried to plant them now anyway?

Can I stratify now and plant later in the summer or early fall? What would that look like in terms of care, and would it mess them up for adapting to our local seasons?

Do I just have to wait until next spring? If so, can I stratify now and leave them there for almost a full year?

Anything else I am overlooking?

Thanks!

are you planting in a pot(s) or in the ground? if it's easy to keep them watered long-term, i'd plant them now and not expect to see much action until next spring...or fridge-stratify them from now until next spring. i'm concerned about the seed itself. my experience with pawpaws is that you don't really want the seed to dry out - i tend to fridge the seed from removing them from the fruit until i get them outside to overwinter.

greg mosser wrote:are you planting in a pot(s) or in the ground? if it's easy to keep them watered long-term, i'd plant them now and not expect to see much action until next spring...or fridge-stratify them from now until next spring. i'm concerned about the seed itself. my experience with pawpaws is that you don't really want the seed to dry out - i tend to fridge the seed from removing them from the fruit until i get them outside to overwinter.

Thanks for your input, Greg!

The seeds were cleaned and put in a ziplock type baggy with a damp paper towel before they were sent to me. The towel seems to still have some moisture in it, just enough to still be pliable and not like a hard dried up paper towel.

Maybe fine?

They spent some time in the trunk of my car like that over the winter as well, but very hard to tell how long. Maybe they were stratified, just not sure, ha.