With our early spring weather this year, pawpaws and other fruit are a tad earlier. Usually most pawpaws are just starting to ripen now in KY, but this year we’re already at the peak. And boy, is the quality GOOD this year! Wow. If you’re curious about pawpaws, read up on our pawpaw page and check out KSU’s (Kentucky State University) pawpaw site. Pawpaws are easy to grow if you follow a few basics. I’ll cover those briefly here:
1) Pawpaws do best on well-drained, fertile, full sun sites.
2) Pawpaws need sun protection until waist high or so. Grafted trees do not require sun protection and can be planted out (but still need hardening off if purchased leafed-out)
3) Pawpaws need a genetically different mate for cross-pollination. This means two or more seedlings or 2 or more different named cultivars (Sunflower and KSU Atwood, for instance).
4) Pawpaws need lots of mulch, water and fertilizer. These plants originated in very fertile, moist, mulched Eastern USA woodlands and waterways. Mimic this, except give full sun. They need zero weed/lawn/grass competition.
5) Pawpaws should be planted close together for good pollination. The more the merrier, and the more fruit production.
6) Hand pollination creates super high yields.
7) Many cultivars for sale in other nurseries are lousy. Ours are never lousy or low-quality. We only sell the best. Examples include: Wilson.
8) Pawpaws love rich compost and organic fertilizers like fish emulsion and manure. Only ever use these materials on top of the ground surface and never in the hole at planting.
9) While disease and insect-resistant, they are not IMMUNE. They do suffer from Phylosticta and other leaf funguses and some insects such as Ambrosia beetles, Japanese beetles and peduncle borers can be a problem. The best strategy? Start with excellent, healthy trees. Plant on a good site. Mulch, water and fertilize well. If you do these things your issues with them will be few, except finding space to fit just a few more pawpaws (after you taste your first fruits).
If you want great pawpaw trees, check in with us when our sales open each year in December or in June!
I’m interested in purchasing the largest grafted KSU Chapel that you have but I can’t find their plant hardiness zone. I’m in zone 5b, eastern Iowa. Are they hardy here?
Hi, thanks for the question! KSU Chappell Pawpaw is late ripening and not a good choice for Iowa. I would suggest Halvin and NC-1.
What do you mean by Ultra Select? Is it grafted? A wild Seedling? Or is it one of your named cultivars that lost its tag?
Hi Kay!
That is a great question. Our Ultra-Select Seedlings are started from seeds carefully selected from premium quality named cultivar fruits. Pawpaws started from seeds generally represent the genetics of the parent (unlike apples). So these seedlings should reliably become excellent quality Pawpaw Trees. We never sell wild seedlings because the genetic background is undetermined, and we only want to sell premium quality genetics. If you have any other questions, please feel free to email us.
Hello Kay,
That’s a great question. We call our superior seedling line of pawpaws “Ultra Select” because the genetics of the parent trees are extremely impressive and premium quality with large, high quality fruits. Unlike many other nurseries, we do not sell any wild seedlings whatsoever due to the inconsistent quality and questionable genetics. We do not sell online any trees that lose there label tags. Hope that answers your questions.
I was given a paw paw tree 30 years ago from a central Ky grower. Now I have 30+ paw paw trees and have never had any fruit.
I’ve read that I need a different type of paw paw tree to pollinate the trees that I have.
What do you suggest? I do not know the variety of paw paw tree that I have in my rather large paw paw grove.
I’ve seen on several sites that Sunflower Paw Paw self pollinate. Your site indicates they are not. Can you please confirm? I would really like to get one of these from you but it would be in an area where I could only put one tree. Also I i live in 8b zone in Washington. Thanks
Hello,
Our Ultra- Select seedlings are a great choice. Make sure your pawpaws are getting full or near full sun and are not in the shade, which reduces flowering and fruiting. See our pawpaw FAQ.
Sunflower pawpaw will not produce fruit by itself. Best thing to do would be to plant 2 pawpaw trees of different genetics but plant them very close, like 3-6′ apart. They will do fine like that and will cross pollinate.
Hello,
Our Ultra-Select line are from excellent pawpaw genetics, in fact some of the best in the world. They are not wild seedlings (we would say that clearly if they were). We never market pawpaws that lost their tags and are not identifiable. Please see our pawpaw FAQ and “Why Ultra Select Seedlings” page. Thanks.
I would like to add two pawpaw trees to my property. After reading about all the different varieties I’m having a hard time selecting just two. I’m thinking Maria’s Joy and Shenandoah sound good. If you had to choose two, which two would you pick and why?
Hello,
It really depends on where you are and why you want to grow pawpaws (home use, selling, etc). If you’re up north, NC-1, Overleese, PA Golden are all great choices. If you are Mid-South Nyomi’s Delicious, any Peterson cultivar, NC-1, Sunflower, Lehman cultivars are all good choices. It’s hard to answer this question without more important details.
Omaha, Nebraska, zone 5. The trees would be for my family. I’ve heard some pawpaw flavors described as mild and banana-like and some more intense and mango-like. It would be nice to have two varieties with a flavor difference like this. I haven’t eaten a lot of different pawpaws so I wanted to ask someone who has if they have any favorites.
In Nebraska your climate is not generally very well suited to pawpaw growing, but it can work, but selections are going to be limited to only the most hardy cultivars. NC-1, Pennsylvania Golden, Halvin and Sunflower would possibly work and ripen early.