Pawpaw(Asimina triloba)Fruit Buds forming

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?OWPSW 9 May 2013 Pawpaw(Asimina triloba)Fruit Buds forming
Two Pawpaw trees are in the garden, planted three years ago, purchased bare root with about three years of growth. Fruiting buds are growing, the first time. The leaves are just starting to show.One tree is in partial shade during part of the day, and the other is in full Sun.

[ScottinAtlanta]

Thanks for the news - my appreciation to you for bringing back this traditional fruit tree that was so important as a food source to the original colonialists. Did you get your tree from the University of Tennessee paw paw program?

[Durgan]

Originally Posted by ScottinAtlanta

Thanks for the news - my appreciation to you for bringing back this traditional fruit tree that was so important as a food source to the original colonialists. Did you get your tree from the University of Tennessee paw paw program?

I drove to Niagara Falls Ontario and bought the bare root trees (two) from nuttrees@grimonut.com
http://www.niagaragreenbelt.com/list...t-nursery.html
This was about five years ago. I think the trees were about three years old.

[debles]

Great photos! I planted a few pawpaw trees a few years ago too, but something keeps topping them off in the winter. I have two that haven't been cut back and they're doing well, but not large enough or old enough yet to bloom and fruit.
Are you going to hand pollinate?
I look forward to any updates you share and hope to someday see mine bloom and fruit, even though the squirrels will likely steal all the fruit.

[Durgan]

Originally Posted by debles

Great photos! I planted a few pawpaw trees a few years ago too, but something keeps topping them off in the winter. I have two that haven't been cut back and they're doing well, but not large enough or old enough yet to bloom and fruit.
Are you going to hand pollinate?
I look forward to any updates you share and hope to someday see mine bloom and fruit, even though the squirrels will likely steal all the fruit.

I will attempt hand pollination. My excitement is high, since this year has been the first sign of fruiting. No animals except the odd rabbit and of course some birds appear in my garden.

[Vespertino]

I've heard so much about the pawpaws but never had a chance to try them. Does anyone know if they are able to grow in NE Texas?

[debles]

Originally Posted by Vespertino

I've heard so much about the pawpaws but never had a chance to try them. Does anyone know if they are able to grow in NE Texas?

I'm in NE Oklahoma and mine seem happy in partial shade, but they aren't grown enough yet to flower and fruit. It gets pretty hot and dry here for months each year. They'd probably grow fine for you if you give them a little shade and make sure they get some water.

[Vespertino]

Originally Posted by debles

I'm in NE Oklahoma and mine seem happy in partial shade, but they aren't grown enough yet to flower and fruit. It gets pretty hot and dry here for months each year. They'd probably grow fine for you if you give them a little shade and make sure they get some water.

Thanks! I'm hoping to find pawpaws at the farmers market so I can try one. Once I have a house I'll be deciding which fruit trees to grow. If hubs and I like the pawpaw I'll certainly try to grow the tree.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Vespertino

Thanks! I'm hoping to find pawpaws at the farmers market so I can try one. Once I have a house I'll be deciding which fruit trees to grow. If hubs and I like the pawpaw I'll certainly try to grow the tree.

You should easily grow them in Grapevine.
It requires around 400 chill hours to set fruit.
You have around 800 to 900 chill hours.

Just buy a tree put in big container and protect it for the first year or two.
In the forest they are an understory plant.
And you will love the fruit.

Worth

[Redbaron]

We used to call them Indiana Bananas and while I still prefer a good apple or peach, a paw paw is a good fruit. As kids it was a rare treat we only got once in a while, since we gathered them from the woods and didn't actually grow them ourselves.

[Deborah]

What's an understory plant?

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Deborah

What's an understory plant?

Some how I knew someone would ask that.
An understory plant is a plant that grows under the canopy of other trees in a forest.

I have seen these trees in the hardwood forest in eastern Oklahoma and the Ozarks.
You have to be fast and on time to pick the fruit as the critters will beat you to them.

Worth

[Durgan]

For what it is worth the Coffee bush/tree is an understory plant, so I was informed by a grower while touring his coffee plantation in the Dominican Republic.

[Redbaron]

So is cocoa tree. (Chocolate)

[Deborah]

Thanks.