Does anyone have experience growing pawpaw trees?

Robert Marr wrote:So I was all gungho about getting some of these. Then I found information on the web where it has been linked to Parkinsons disease. I never found any solid medical/scientific studies. Can someone comment on this or provide more information. I'm on the fence about getting them.

I know nothing about this, but my only comment would be that I can find "information" on the web that says just about anything. Not saying there's nothing to it, as again I do not know, but I am super skeptical about such claims, especially when it comes to causation for disease.

Everything causes everything according to the internets Pawpaws are making a huge comeback amongst folks like us, although I'm not looking forward to waiting for the productive years, I'll be planting a few soon. I'm really excited to find a fruit that will enjoy being under grape arbor.

for those interested in such things

the Ohio Pawpaw Growers Association is holding a workshop on grafting pawpaws (plus other fruit and nut trees)
at their annual meeting

location Fox Paw Ridge Farm in Adams County, Oh
Saturday, May 19, 2012 9:00 am
$12 members
$15 nonmembers
registration May 7
call Ron Powell @513-777-8367 or email Botrytis@fuse.net to register

I planted paw-paws last year here in north central Texas, and they did okay until the height of summer and the grasshopper plague. This year I will wrap the cages in scraps of row cover leftover from last year's winter garden, and I trust that will help.

There is some city in Ohio that hosts a paw-paw festival every year. They grow well in Michigan as well.

I planted thirteen paw-paws this past weekend. I'm pondering planting another dozen or so. I've seen discussion about direct summer sun killing them off in the first year or so, or at least setting them back severely. So the ones I have in the open I will certain wrap as I mentioned before. In any case, I'm happy to be back in the paw-paw trade.

I never saw any bears with Parkinson's Disease, haha.
I had pawpaws thriving in sun, in the middle of a wet hollow facing due south. I now have a new grove in the shade, facing east.
Try making pawpaw jelly, using SureJell. It is the food of the gods! KSU keeps looking for ways to market pawpaws. This is it.

I hope they never discover a way to market paw-paws. The last thing I want to see if truckloads of paw-paws. It'll be the beginning of the end of them.

The most unappetizing thing you can do with food is put it in a grocery store.

I would, however, love to carry them into town and sell them myself, however.

Yes, you may be right. Next thing, they will turn a pawpaw into some awful GMO with a flat taste and skin like leather!
I did buy a pawpaw at a food co-op in Lexington, Ky. last month though. They were not brown, so they must have just been hand-carried in there right after falling.
I don't especially like them. A little bit. Bt I LOVE the jelly on bagels.

If anyone still has a few seeds that they would part with I would love to try growing them in Colorado or Wyoming.

If you want to see an intelligent, but sometimes angry discussion of the possibility of Parkinson's like disease from Paw paw's, check out the Cloudforest Cafe web site, and look for pawpaws.

Sunflower and Wells are the only two known varieties to be low in that substance that may cause that disease, so I am growing them.
John S
PDX OR

In the southeast, pawpaws are strictly under-story and only dappled & morning sun. They want boggy areas as hot dry summers will kill them quickly. Easy to find on creek or river edges but transplanting is unlike other fruits- never when they are dormant and only when they are very small and in early spring. Another important thing of note, you harvest fallen fruit and the super ripe fruit should be left on the ground; best fertilizer is their own fruit. Their shelf life is unbelievably short which is why you rarely see them anywhere other than a few weeks at farmers markets or local produce stores. Happily we don't have pig issues, but the bears love them although they will not destroy the tree - just sit on the ground and gorge themselves.
Blackberries are a perfect companion plant - the bears also agree.

Matt Smith wrote:

Robert Marr wrote:So I was all gungho about getting some of these. Then I found information on the web where it has been linked to Parkinsons disease. I never found any solid medical/scientific studies. Can someone comment on this or provide more information. I'm on the fence about getting them.

I know nothing about this, but my only comment would be that I can find "information" on the web that says just about anything. Not saying there's nothing to it, as again I do not know, but I am super skeptical about such claims, especially when it comes to causation for disease.

To balance what you found 'on the internet' is also this link (http://www.pawpawresearch.com/pawpaw-intro.htm), speaking of possible cancer curing properties....... at least it is (supposedly) coming from a research facility...

Oooooops! after rereading the posts on page one of this posting, I see my input was/is redundant as Chris had posted a similar response earlier....

D'OH!

recently was told that the best way to start paw paw is to get someone in your area that grows them to dig you up a runner..and then do that with someone else from another crop of paw paws, as they require a pollinator from another variety..so finding some in your area might be key

I know this is old... But would anyone be willing to senD me seeds? I'm glad to pay postage.

Paw paws, like citrus, won't grow if they dry out. They're from summer rain places, so they generally don't need it. Old paw paw seeds aren't going to germinate unless they were taken care of very carefully.
JOhn S
PDX OR

pawpawresearch.com does not seen like a credible source of information. The links to research read like essays or suggestive theories. Too add, the author copied the material as no direct links are provided so it is unknown the extent of its modification.

I am not a doctor so I cannot say with certainty, but "superfruit" cures are a dime a dozen. What really raised my alarm was the recommended links where http://www.alternativecancer.us/pawpaw.htm was recommended as a reliable source. This link is without doubt a scam!

I think a fair amount of skepticism in regards to that site is admirable. However, mocking the concept of the possibility of the use of paw paw in cancer research is not helpful. I've had a lot of people in my family with cancer, and if they found some sources of anti-cancer products, they might not have gotten cancer. The site does have some real information and it does link to actual other sites that do have real information. I am also skeptical about the funding of the site and what the goal is of the site.
John S
PDX OR

pawpaw seeds: People keep asking for them. If I ever find any seeds under my trees, I will save them and distribute them to anybody who wants them.. I never find fruit or seeds now. I think the bears are super efficient at eating them, or coons. I have trees big enough to have fruit, but if I see one pawpaw, it is gone the next
I picked up lots of seeds in a N.C. park, but the seeds did not come up. Next time I get some seeds, I want to try starting them in a pot with chicken wire over it. I think maybe animals will eat the seeds.

Can anyone tell me where I can get some paw paw seeds from nativeTexas trees? I will be glad to pay you for them. Please email me eohnrhodes@yahoo.com

Be careful on paw paw seeds. Like citrus, if the seeds dry out, they will never germinate.
John S
PDX OR

Thanks for the info. I was hoping to grow native Texas seedlings for grafting. I saw where Chris Cromeens said they grow in Texas where he lives but I don't know how to contact him.

Isaac Hill wrote: They're shade tolerant, they're delicious, I don't know why more people aren't planting them.

Because they are very picky about soil conditions, and conditions that cannot be easily replicated in a commercial orchard setting; and because the fresh fruit does not store nearly as well as more commonly known fruit such as a common supermarket apple. The flowers also stink something awful while in bloom, so they aren't a particularly attractive tree. There exist some uncommon variaties of apple and pear that are as finicky as the paw paw, that some people grow in their back yards, but a paw paw won't grow in a well drained lawn, so most people really have no experience with them. I have very little myself, even though I live in Kentucky where they grow quite wild.

I don't find them finicky about soil conditions but they do have a tap root so moving a large one probably won't work, especially in the dormant season.
John S
PDX OR

John Saltveit wrote:I don't find them finicky about soil conditions but they do have a tap root so moving a large one probably won't work, especially in the dormant season.
John S
PDX OR

Well, I'm no expert, but I've never seen one fruit that wasn't pretty close to a body of water. Again, my own experience is limited, so I may be full of manure.

My great-grandmother's favorite fruit. I've never tasted one. I've planted them several times but never had any survive, usually due to my neglect or the grasshoppers. I'll blame the grasshoppers. I'm thinking of planting them from seed down on the river acre this time and along the edges of some of the oaks and pecan trees perhaps. I'll never stop trying.

Okay, one more time. I planted a dozen this go-round, all in the shady backyard in a rough circle around where the greywater pond is sited. I also have mayhaws back there as well. They're all seedlings and caged with remesh. They're right outside the back door, more or less. If I can't take care of these through the first year, then perhaps I should consider staying inside and reading books til I check out.

Or at least stick to wild plums.