PawPaw Problems

Hey all, I'm having some paw paw problems. I've planted 6, all at various times and in various places. I thought the last batch survived as I planted them next to my livestock pond. Unfortunately they did not. I want to try again, because I'm an idiot, and am thinking about location again. I have an orchard going in our yard. It connects to our big barn. In fact a fair bit of area is completely shaded by the barn for all but morning sun. I had been putting covers around my paw paws to protect them from sun burn but I'm wondering if I put them here if I need to do that and if they'll have a better chance of survival. Opinions?

I would say transplant your pawpaw in the fall. As long as the soil isn't frozen get them in.
Make the holes as big and deep as possible but don' amend the soil, you can top dress.
They love water, and compost, I just place a wormbin there and added compost daily.
I shaded mines, with white trash bags that I ripped.
Get the 12inch skiny pot when you buy them vs a regular (short pot).

I have another set (9plants) that I planted and they didn't get much babying.
Nice mulching, top dress with biochar, and they have natural afternoon shade.

There is another batch that is struggling/dead due to the wildlife (deer, critters)
They were not planted in the shade or in the fall either.

Pawpaw are only hardy to zone 5 so, look for a cultivar that was developed in a zone 5 area, and also provide it with some winter wind protection at least for the 1st year. It is also okay to prune them even while they are super short

Another idea is to plant a couple hundred seeds and then STUN

First and foremost pawpaw is an understory tree, do not try to plant one less than four years old in even almost full sun, they will get sunburned and die.

Look for: deep shade with evenly moist soil that stays that way even in draught times (not at the surface but within a foot of the surface).
This is where you want to plant either seeds or young trees, and no where else.

In Nature pawpaw trees are found along streams, not next to them but along them, usually around 20 to 50 feet from the stream bank.
There will be an over story that provided deep shade until the tree is old enough to reach some dappled sunlight, as the tree gets taller it will seek out more and more sun.
This is why most nature grown pawpaw trees are tall with only crown branches.

Redhawk

S Bengi wrote:I would say transplant your pawpaw in the fall. As long as the soil isn't frozen get them in.
Make the holes as big and deep as possible but don' amend the soil, you can top dress.
They love water, and compost, I just place a wormbin there and added compost daily.
I shaded mines, with white trash bags that I ripped.
Get the 12inch skiny pot when you buy them vs a regular (short pot).

I have another set (9plants) that I planted and they didn't get much babying.
Nice mulching, top dress with biochar, and they have natural afternoon shade.

There is another batch that is struggling/dead due to the wildlife (deer, critters)
They were not planted in the shade or in the fall either.

Pawpaw are only hardy to zone 5 so, look for a cultivar that was developed in a zone 5 area, and also provide it with some winter wind protection at least for the 1st year. It is also okay to prune them even while they are super short

I'll be buying more in as I only have dead trees :P

I'll try to mulch them more. I haven't done that barely at all.

Wind. Now that's my problem! Perhaps a snow fence around them or some pallets to block the wind. Hmmm

Bryant RedHawk wrote:First and foremost pawpaw is an understory tree, do not try to plant one less than four years old in even almost full sun, they will get sunburned and die.

Look for: deep shade with evenly moist soil that stays that way even in draught times (not at the surface but within a foot of the surface).
This is where you want to plant either seeds or young trees, and no where else.

In Nature pawpaw trees are found along streams, not next to them but along them, usually around 20 to 50 feet from the stream bank.
There will be an over story that provided deep shade until the tree is old enough to reach some dappled sunlight, as the tree gets taller it will seek out more and more sun.
This is why most nature grown pawpaw trees are tall with only crown branches.

Redhawk

I planted the last 3 on the berm around my livestock pond. Far enough from the water they wouldn't be in it but I'd heard they liked humidity so I was trying to provide it with the pond.

The place I have to plant them is the north side of a big tall barn. It'll be shaded almost completely except for mornings.

When I planted mine, I put 4 posts in the ground around each and made a "roof" from old white sheets.  I nearly lost a couple before that to sunburn, the leaves turned almost completely white.  The sheet cover saved them, but then rabbits girdled them and killed them.  I have 8 more I started from seed this year to try again.

I do mulch mine heavily with wood chips.

I got some seeds about three or four years ago for our place in Wyoming. I planted them in pots at the house in Denver. They all came up in the spring and "died" in the winter. I buried them pots and all in fall leaves. Next spring they came back up from the roots. They "died" and regrew three times! So maybe mulch the dead ones really well and see if they come back up next spring ?

I finally planted them, near a newly dug pond up at our Wyoming place , this fall, so we will see if they make it.

Supposedly paw paw are difficult to transplant. Mine did ok, but i think this next spring will tell the tale.

Using a building (neighbor's barn) for shade, plus a walnut tree in the south - resulting in morning sun only, is fine for pawpaws at our place.

The shade automatically means that the location will tend to have more moisture in the soil, unless of course for some reason your soil has a very different structure in the shady areas than in the full-sun ones.

The crop from deepy shaded trees (closer to the barn) does not seem any worse than that grown on trees which get more sun.

Miles Flansburg wrote:I got some seeds about three or four years ago for our place in Wyoming. I planted them in pots at the house in Denver. They all came up in the spring and "died" in the winter. I buried them pots and all in fall leaves. Next spring they came back up from the roots. They "died" and regrew three times! So maybe mulch the dead ones really well and see if they come back up next spring ?

I finally planted them, near a newly dug pond up at our Wyoming place , this fall, so we will see if they make it.

You'll have to update to see if they live!

I transplanted 2 pawpaw in each hole.
1) I was worried about pollination, also why I setup a wormcompost literally 1 inch from the trunk.
2) 2 in 1 hole, makes each one sun&wind shade the other in a 1+1=7 sort of way.