Article 12962 of rec.gardens:
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From: davidr@davidr.mentorg.com (David Ransier)
Subject: Re: Pawpaws
Message-ID: <1993Jan15.181511.1346@news.mentorg.com>
Sender: davidr@davidr (David Ransier)
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1993 18:15:11 GMT
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In article <1993Jan15.152538.27451@cbfsb.cb.att.com>, djd@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (david.j.daulton) writes:
|> Anyone want to talk about pawpaws?
|> 
|> I have loved pawpaws ever since I was a kid and picked them on my
|> grandfather's farm down along the Ohio River.  They taste something like
|> bananas but with firmer flesh.  French explorers compared them to custard.
|> 
|> If you have tried them and don't like them, I suspect your sample was
|> unripe, or from an inferior tree (there is much variation).
|> 
|> I also like pawpaws for how they look in the garden--adding an odd
|> tropical aspect to northern landscaping.
|> 
|> I have a small sapling I brought back from the family homestead near
|> Portsmouth, Ohio, and I am trying to figure out a way how to ask for
|> a start from a friend of a friend, who (according to various sources
|> in Scioto county) has some trees that bear the biggest fruit anyone down
|> there has seen.
|> 
|> (The place these grow is the site of past Indian villages, judging from
|> the great number of arrowheads and other artifacts collected there.  So I am
|> wondering if these trees were not to some degree inadvertently "cultivated",
|> selected for better traits by native Americans who brought the fruit to
|> their homes--perhaps over centuries.)
|> 
|> I can find very little at the library on pawpaws, and things I wonder
|> about include the following:
|> 
|> 1. Why are they so little cultivated?
|> 2. How far north do they grow?
|> 3. Since they are native to the North America, and there is less and less
|>    left wild here, are we going to loose some good genes for good pawpaws?
|>    (Good genes means, most cold-hardy, best/most fruit, nicest habit,
|>    hardy for various adverse growing conditions, and maybe even fall
|>    color, which I have never seen.)
|> 
|> Dave Daulton, Columbus, Ohio

-- 
There is a place called Northwoods Nursery in Molalla (Near Portland, OR)
that does a lot of mail-order.  They have a very infrmative catalog and seem
to specialize in the more unusual fruit plants, in addition to all the standards.
Each spring they advertise pawpaws.  I've often considered trying but haven't
yet.  

I'm sure they could answer some of your questions over the phone.  Their
number is (503) 651-3737.  At least get heir catalog.

+++++++++++++
David Ransier  davidr@mentorg.com              These comments are my own. I paid for them. I own them.
               (503) 685-1528  Fax: 685-7704   They're not my employers, and you can't have them.
+++++++++++++


Article 12971 of rec.gardens:
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From: hank@well.sf.ca.us (Hank Roberts)
Subject: Re: Pawpaws
Message-ID: <hank.727145749@well.sf.ca.us>
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Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
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Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1993 00:55:49 GMT
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I grew up with wild pawpaws in North Carolina, though none ever
very large or fruitful, and will be looking for some to plant in
No. California next summer.  I'd be most interested in more info as
folks collect them; maybe we can do some conservation of interesting
types, if there's no nursery or group of people doing that already.


Article 12972 of rec.gardens:
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From: bbeer@stein.u.washington.edu (Bob Beer)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Pawpaws
Date: 16 Jan 1993 02:58:08 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
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In article <C0x5HG.MrK@fs7.ece.cmu.edu> snyder@henry.ece.cmu.edu (John Snyder) writes:
>In article <1993Jan15.152538.27451@cbfsb.cb.att.com> djd@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (david.j.daulton) writes:
>>Anyone want to talk about pawpaws?
>>

>>I can find very little at the library on pawpaws, and things I wonder
>>about include the following:
>>
>>1. Why are they so little cultivated?
>>2. How far north do they grow?
>>3. Since they are native to the North America, and there is less and less
>>   left wild here, are we going to loose some good genes for good pawpaws?
>>   (Good genes means, most cold-hardy, best/most fruit, nicest habit,
>>   hardy for various adverse growing conditions, and maybe even fall
>>   color, which I have never seen.)
>>
>>Dave Daulton, Columbus, Ohio
>
>
>I've always wondered what pawpaws were, ever since learning that children's
>song:  "Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch"
>
>To Dave's questions, I would also like to add:
>
>4.  What is the natural range of the pawpaw?
>5.  Do racoons like to eat them?  Is this a problem for cultivation?
>
>John
>snyder@henry.ece.cmu.edu
>

I can answer a couple of these questions.

1. Why are they so little cultivate?

Unfortunately pawpaw trees must be grown from seed.  I don't remember where I
read this but it was part of an explanation for the often high prices asked
for them from nurseries which offer them.  It follows that the best way
to get a start from your friend is to ask for some seeds, and be prepared
to wait a while...

2. Do raccoons eat them?

Yep.  My mother lives in Arkansas, where pawpaw trees grow everywhere.  She has
always like them, but in the Ozarks where she lives, there are so many raccoons
that eat the fruit before it has a chance to fall, that she has still never
gotten ahold of one!  (She has been there 6 years and spends a *lot* of time
out in the woods - also the wild trees in the forest tend to grow quite high
and fruit way up on the tree, so it can be hard to get them before they 
fall). I have never tried one...:(

But you can always tell pawpaw season by the large seed content in the raccoon
droppings!  (This is true of persimmon season as well...though I *did* manage
to get some of them the last time I was down in autumn!) 


Article 12974 of rec.gardens:
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From: snyder@henry.ece.cmu.edu (John Snyder)
Subject: Re: Pawpaws
Message-ID: <C0x5HG.MrK@fs7.ece.cmu.edu>
Sender: news@fs7.ece.cmu.edu (USENET News System)
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In article <1993Jan15.152538.27451@cbfsb.cb.att.com> djd@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (david.j.daulton) writes:
>Anyone want to talk about pawpaws?
>
>I have loved pawpaws ever since I was a kid and picked them on my
>grandfather's farm down along the Ohio River.  They taste something like
>bananas but with firmer flesh.  French explorers compared them to custard.
>
>If you have tried them and don't like them, I suspect your sample was
>unripe, or from an inferior tree (there is much variation).
>
>I also like pawpaws for how they look in the garden--adding an odd
>tropical aspect to northern landscaping.
>
>I have a small sapling I brought back from the family homestead near
>Portsmouth, Ohio, and I am trying to figure out a way how to ask for
>a start from a friend of a friend, who (according to various sources
>in Scioto county) has some trees that bear the biggest fruit anyone down
>there has seen.
>
>(The place these grow is the site of past Indian villages, judging from
>the great number of arrowheads and other artifacts collected there.  So I am
>wondering if these trees were not to some degree inadvertently "cultivated",
>selected for better traits by native Americans who brought the fruit to
>their homes--perhaps over centuries.)
>
>I can find very little at the library on pawpaws, and things I wonder
>about include the following:
>
>1. Why are they so little cultivated?
>2. How far north do they grow?
>3. Since they are native to the North America, and there is less and less
>   left wild here, are we going to loose some good genes for good pawpaws?
>   (Good genes means, most cold-hardy, best/most fruit, nicest habit,
>   hardy for various adverse growing conditions, and maybe even fall
>   color, which I have never seen.)
>
>Dave Daulton, Columbus, Ohio


I've always wondered what pawpaws were, ever since learning that children's
song:  "Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch"

To Dave's questions, I would also like to add:

4.  What is the natural range of the pawpaw?
5.  Do racoons like to eat them?  Is this a problem for cultivation?

John
snyder@henry.ece.cmu.edu



Article 13004 of rec.gardens:
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From: pharvey@quack.sac.ca.us (Paul Harvey)
Subject: Re: PawPaws
Message-ID: <fYaPY#8@quack.sac.ca.us>
Organization: The Duck Pond public unix: +1 408 249 9630, log in as 'guest'.
References: <1993Jan16.165003.26137@math.ucla.edu>
Date: 19 Jan 1993 18:54:30 UTC
Lines: 32

In article <1993Jan16.165003.26137@math.ucla.edu> 
ramirez@julia.math.ucla.edu (Alice Ramirez) writes:
>David had also expressed desire to get hold of a superior variety belonging
>to a friend (I meant to say SCION of a superior variety)  Accordcing to this
>same article, PawPaws send out root suckers.  Perhaps David's friend/
>acquaintance would be happy to part with a few of these, he could pot
>them up and plant the healthiest.  

Root suckers of Pawpaw are difficult to transplant and are the origin of
the belief that Pawpaws are difficult to transplant. The typical wild
patch of pawpaws would be one seedling mother and hundreds of root
suckers. It's a strange plant in the wild.

>What little knowledge I have of PawPaws comes from articles out of 
>fruit or general horticulture magazines.  If anyone has first-person
>knowledge, please post.  (I'd plant some seeds, but I figured that anything
>that thrives in Indiana and places like that isn't going to like the 
>low-winter chill climate of So. Cal.  If I am wrong, if anyone out there
>in So. Cal is growing and fruiting PawPaws, please post or email me.

I believe I remember either hearing or reading of a public garden in
Santa Barbara that was growing several cultivars for ten years with no
flowering resulting. But that location had no winter chill to speak of,
avg. winter lows above 45oF, and cool maritime summers with little heat
accumulation, so it's hard to say if it was the lack of chill or lack of
a definite summer. I've never seen or heard any info on Pawpaw chill
requirement. Since they are found native in USDA Eastern zone 8, they can't
require a lot of chill, if any, unless there are northern and southern
varieties with high and low chill requirements respectively. Pawpaw do
require some summer heat accumulation as they fail to flower in the
Eastern Maritimes which have more than sufficient chill but cool
maritime summers.


Article 13019 of rec.gardens:
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
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From: pharvey@quack.sac.ca.us (Paul Harvey)
Subject: Re: Pawpaws
Message-ID: <fYbqlPn@quack.sac.ca.us>
Organization: The Duck Pond public unix: +1 408 249 9630, log in as 'guest'.
References: <fX4JPEu@quack.sac.ca.us> <1993Jan18.152559.19229@hemlock.cray.com>
Date: 20 Jan 1993 00:01:41 UTC
Lines: 19

In article <1993Jan18.152559.19229@hemlock.cray.com> dadams@cray.com writes:
>In article fX4JPEu@quack.sac.ca.us, 
pharvey@quack.sac.ca.us (Paul Harvey) writes:
>|>>2. How far north do they grow?
>|Nebraska.
>Goodness!  Nebraska!  I've been through Nebraska in the middle of Winter
>and it can be cold there.  I can't see that Minnesota is much worse.  If
>pawpaws can grow there, then with a little coaxing I ought to be able 
>to grow them here.  ;^)  Like if I surround the entire tree with re-bar
>and plastic and fill it with leaves durring the cold winter.  I would 
>need a small tree.  Are there any dwarf varieties?

Now that I think about it more, the limitation in the north is probably
the length of frostfree growing season (date of average last spring
frost to date of average first fall frost) rather than cold tolerance.
Everything I've ever seen says 150 days and I've never heard of shorter
season cultivars, but it might be in the genes if you were willing to
experiment with seedlings. What's your average length of growing season
where you are?


