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.