May Lotito

Does the spot get ice melt in winter? Or do you put a snow pile there? Just wondering if the corner gets soggy due to the weather.

Nancy, it's interesting you get reading o molybdenum in the soil test. Here in US, molybdenum is usually not included since the level would be near the equipment detection limit. Midwest lab, Cornell, or multiple University extensions don't have the option. A few universities have offer tissue test with Mo as add-on. I feel it is something overlooked, maybe because of the survivor's bias, soils good enoughto support agriculture have sufficient molybdenumto begin with, and the removal is restored from treated seeds. My soil order is ultisol and your is histosol and they're both acid with low fertility. I probably went on organic gardening for 2 years and had to switch to regenerative mode with outside mineral input. As you see the Mo-deficient buckwheat is weak with small pale leaves and goes to flowering early. Other sensitive plant families from my experience included: legume, brassicas, mint and umbel. Sensitive plants can have reduced yield, low quality seeds or even die. Less sensitive plants also show lower stress resistance. If your soil Mo is so limiting as the test shows, harvesting lots of organic matter especially the seeds without returning humanure can deplete it quickly. Since you have access to sheep manure and seaweed, maybe you would be able to address the imbalance organically.

I just swallowed the pulp with seeds altogether. It will take huge amount of fruits to make a cup of juice. Wild fruits have much bigger seeds than the cultivated one. I tend to find elderberry bushs and passion fruits coexisting with poison ivy along fences by the ditch. I figured they are more of the bottom land plants so I haven't tried growing any yet. I can save the seeds of the purple-flowered ones, haven't seen any white ones.

How are your Maypop doing? I found some vines growing along a chain link fence amidst lots of poison ivy. It was loaded with egg-sized fruits and still pumping out those pretty flowers. I carefully picked a few ones and opened them up. Slightly under ripe one tasted sour but the fully ripe ones were so good and they reminded me of mangosteen. Another wonderful wild fruit to add to the list.

I don't know, the roots of mature trees around them can take everything away.
I haven't been to the state parks to check out the pawpaw trees and their surroundings. Tree species are definitely different by the water and upland. If you have a variety of terrains, it's better to start the pawpaw tree where it's similar to its native habitat.

Couple years ago I had very bad Harlequin bug infestation on my kale and I asked about it here
https://permies.com/t/259244/control-harlequin-bugs#2471591

At that time I was trying to deal with various type of pests individually: aphids, mites, squash bugs, borers, weevils, beetles, etc. Later I changed to a more holistic point of view of providing plants with nutrient they need so they are healthy and won't attract pests in the first place. It doesn't mean lots of NPK, a lot of time, it is the opposite. This year my garden is largely bug free now, but pollinators are abundant. There are still some around and they are only attracted to sick plants or part of the plant tissues and are not enough to cause damage.

Everyone's situation is unique so I don't think my mineral management is applicable to others, maybe except certain part of the Ozarks and Appalachian Piedmont. In your case, I probably would check soil pH. Over the growing season, organic matter breaks down and soil pH lowers. Brassicas in general like soil to be neutral to slightly alkaline. If you have multiple plants, test on one with lime water. If that's the cause, bugs will leave that plant alone in a few days.

A bit more info on my pawpaw from seeds. I saved some of the farmer's market pawpaw seeds, plus online ordering 5 seeds and they got mixed up. I planted the seeds in the pots in February 2021 and several seedlings didn't come up until late June. I transplanted one in a raised garden bed, one in a less fertile spot and two by the edge of the woodland. I have to say fertility matters a lot for pawpaw trees. The one in garden bed is the tallest and flowered in 2025, next one up has flower buds developing this year, making it 7 years starting from seed. And the two under mature trees barely grow bigger than pencil size.

I did save the seeds. But this fruit is totally self pollinated, I am not sure if it's a good idea to plant those seeds. By next year I will have two flowering pawpaws for cross pollination and that will help with fruit setting as well.

Finally I got my one and only ripe pawpaw from a seed started in 2021!  Two days ago it started to turn a light yellow-green. The night before I was reminding myself to take a picture and the next morning it had fallen on the ground! Skin was slightly soft to touch and I could smell the aroma. It had some missed pollination giving the peanut shape and there were 7 seeds inside. And it did taste like mango! So sweet and flavorful! I only had pawpaws once and wasn't impressed. A local farmstand sold them for $2 a lb but it was pale, insipid and full of seeds. Now I doubt those were picked unripe.

Pawpaw is such an amazing fruit tree it's totally worth the wait growing one.

Where are you at? Many factors can play together: timely rain, warmth, CO2, sunlight, previous years drought killed off some vegetation for nutrient to be recycled, wildfire smoke, duststorm, volcano eruption etc all bring minerals around to have an effect.

I took two dozen cuttings and stuck them in a tub of play sand in ghe shade. I only water a few times when it's dry. I check today and about half have rooted! 6 turned brown and anther 6 green but no root yet. I can't believe it's steady. Thanks all!