Subject: Re: PAW PAW POLLINATION????

From: John Lobingier <[email-masked]>
Date: 16 May 1996 04:21:26 GMT

I don't know much about the Paw Paw, but I do have two that are only a 
foot or so high.  Everything that I read said that one tree will produce 
fruit, but it's better to have two of them.  You don't need a specific 
pollinator.  Or, am I wrong?  For hand pollinating I think you want to use 
a camels hair brush.

John

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From: [email-masked] (Dennis Yonke)
Date: 15 May 1996 15:12:24 GMT

Any hints to hand pollination of paw paw blooms?

I have two young paw paw trees in S.E. Michigan.  This is the first year 
for one to bloom.  The other has flowered for several years.  So far, 
>from  the first tree, dozens of blooms each year have yielded NO fruits, 
despite hand pollination.  However, it is my understanding that the 
plants are self-sterile, so with both trees finally blooming, I hope to 
get fruit this year.  The trees are about 20 feet apart in full sun.

I understand that pollination even in the wild is "iffy" -- most of the 
fruits don't set.  I have read that hand pollination will up the odds of 
getting fruit, and I just wondered if there were any tricks to it, such 
as a certain time of day when pollen is released or when the stigma is 
receptive?

Also, since I am barely in the native range of the paw paw, and I know of 
no others in my area, I wonder if any of its native pollinators will find 
it?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Dennis Yonke
West Bloomfield, MI

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From: [email-masked] (Peter Benjamin Sharvy)
Date: 15 May 1996 09:26:01 -0700

This is from the Hypercard stack Edible Landscaping:

Harvest & Use
Like banana, the delicate custard flavor is easily destroyed by cooking. 
Pawpaws can be substituted for bananas in most recipes, and are unusually 
(for a fruit) high in protein. The fruit is highly perishable due to its 
thin skin. The inner bark is fibrous and Native Americans once used it 
for rope and cloth. The tree is probably a good candidate for slopes: it 
needs well-drained soil, a long taproot helps reduce erosion, and the 
flowers point downward (nice if you're situated on the downside). The 
pawpaw is the larval food plant of the zebra swallowtail butterfly.
Appearance
Long, droopy leaves, somewhat reminiscent of magnolias, change to yellow 
in the fall; flowers are purple and drooping. The fruit is oval, ranging 
>from  three to six inches long, and from eight to twelve ounces. The skin 
is green when unripe, yellow or purplish when ripe. Pawpaws become a 
thicket if left  unpruned.
Cultivation
Soil pH from 5.0 to 7.0 is acceptable. Bare-root paw-paws prefer to be 
planted in spring, and must have shade as saplings. The flowers interest 
bees not a whit (hand pollination, with an artist's paintbrush, will 
improve productivity). Supposedly, deer show no interest in the twigs or 
foliage. Pawpaws grow roughly true to seed: the seeds need to be 
stratified at sub-40 F temperatures for 90-120 days (don't let them dry 
out). The organism spends the first two months after germination 
developing a nearly foot-long taproot, after which which it sends up a 
shoot. Because its roots are brittle and the taproot long, pawpaws are 
very difficult to transplant.
Comment
The pawpaw is native to the region of the United States roughly east of 
Nebraska, from Michigan to northern Texas and Florida. It bears the 
largest fruits of any North American plant, and was being cultivated by 
Native Americans of the Mississippi valley when Hernando de Soto explored 
the region in the 16th century. The papaya, a completely different plant, 
is occasionally called a "pawpaw" in horticultural literature. The pawpaw 
has a fan club:
   The PawPaw Foundation 
   P.O. Box 23467
   Washington, DC 20026 
   (202) 484-1121.
   Membership is $15 annually (as of 1995).
Cultivars of Repute
 Fairchild: early ripening.
 Mitchell: large fruit with top flavor.
 Overleese: late-ripening and flavorful with large seeds.
 Sunflower: self-fruitful, late blooming and ripening.
 Taylor: productive and tasty.
 Wells: very large fruit.
-- 
"Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, who permits the forbidden."
--Rabbi Shabbetai Zevi 1626-?

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From: John Lobingier <[email-masked]>
Date: 19 May 1996 06:01:36 GMT

[email-masked] (John Stewart) wrote:
>[email-masked] (Dennis Yonke) wrote:

>In John Gordon's book on nut growing in southern Ontario, he suggested
>placing a few dead animals around the trees and the carrion insects
>will do the pollinating at night.

>Best regards,

>John Stewart
>Commercial Association of Nut Growers of Ontario

Are you serious?  I don't belive it.  What are the insects on dead animals 
that would do this?
Would hamburger work instead of a dead animal?  Hmmm...  a new business 
maybe?... Picking up road kill for Paw Paw growers?  Don't try it, I 
thought of it first!

John

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 21 May 1996 05:30:44 GMT

John Lobingier <[email-masked]> wrote:
>>will do the pollinating at night. John Stewart

>that would do this? Would hamburger work instead of a dead animal? John

... yes, hamburgher would work.. there is even an orchid (and skunk
cabbage) that smell like dead things to draw the carrion flies that
pollinate.. Ingrid

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From: [email-masked] (Peter Benjamin Sharvy)
Date: 21 May 1996 19:05:50 -0700

[email-masked] (Pollinator) writes:

>    Let me know, if it works.  The carrion flies will certainly come to
>the meat.  But will they come to the FLOWERS.

I also wonder if some harmful insects would be attracted to the meat. 
It's not exactly good hygiene.

>    McGregor's pollination "bible"  notes that paw paw is self sterile;
>therefore there must be pollinizers (other plants with compatible pollen,
>blooming at the same time), and notes that honeybees are the main
>pollinators.

Everything I have read states very explicitly that honeybees are NOT the 
main pollinators--hence the frequent need for hand-pollination.
-- 
"Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, who permits the forbidden."
--Rabbi Shabbetai Zevi 1626-?

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From: [email-masked] (Pollinator)
Date: 21 May 1996 08:24:43 -0400

Goldenrod nectar stinks to high heaven, and blow flies will visit,
thereby accomplishing some pollination.  Maybe you want to spray the
flower with rotten meat "juice?"

    The flower makes pollen available before nectar.  Insects seeking
nectar are forced to contact the anthers, therefore younger flowers are
pollinated from older ones.

   We have the text of some of McGregor's chapters on our web page, but no
one has ever asked for paw paw.  Do we want it?

Back to the original post:

>Subject:	PAW PAW POLLINATION????
From:	[email-masked] (Dennis Yonke)
Date:	15 May 1996 15:12:24 GMT

   I'm sorry, I have no personal experience with paw paw.  But there is
general info on hand pollination in links on our web page.

[email-masked]    Dave Green,  PO Box 1200,  Hemingway,  SC
29554

Practical Pollination Home Page            Dave & Janice Green
http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html

[email-masked]                                   Dave Green
Practical Pollination Home Page    
http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html  
PO Box 1200, Hemingway, SC    29554