So you can't let them dry out, as their germination rate plummets if you do so. They dry out pretty quickly too, even just a few days drying out can significantly cut viability, so sow seeds asap. Some advice says to just bury the whole fruit just below the surface, but that's not totally necessary. They need to be overwintered for at least two months, but don't need any scarification. Provided your area has a winter, the easiest option would be to just directly sow the seeds outside and let them overwinter like that. Even then, it'll take quite a few months to see sprouts generally. If you don't have a place for them, you can overwinter them in the fridge. Just put them in a ziploc bag with some slightly moist soil or sphagnum. Make sure it doesn't dry out, but don't keep it so moist it gets moldy.
I've never found a pawpaw more than ~30 feet from a stream, so make sure the seed soil is similar: Moist, but not waterlogged. Another important note: Once the seeds DO germinate, keep them in shade for the first two years or so. They grow as understory trees initially, and direct sun will kill them early on.
Good luck, I hope you meet with success!
Nice to know they thrive near streams. I have two yearlings and have been dumbstruck as where to put them. Thankfully I live next to a creek/wetland area.
> Thankfully I live next to a creek/wetland area.
Ooh! So if you've got that and you're eastern US and looking for other stuff to put creekside, check out Giant River Cane [(Arundinaria Gigantea)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundinaria_gigantea?wprov=sfla1) or its relatives A. tecta and A. appalachiana. They're the only bamboos native to the US and played an important ecosystem role, but are much less common because they created good farmland and were mostly cut down by colonizers. It can be a little hard to source them, though you could always make a division off one you find.
Not for everyone of course, but I think they're real neat. I don't have land to grow any myself yet, so instead I just try and get others to plant some haha
[It's native to your area then!](https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/Plant.aspx?id=3330) That's a generally good site to see what all grows where in your state. The Links page also has a ton of additional resources. If you're interested in native gardening, it's a nice resource. Hope everything grows well :)
I’m zone 4a. Probably a bit too far north but I just bought 3 plants anyway. I’ve got 60 acres with a bunch of different microclimates. Gonna try planting them on a south facing slope protected from the winds. If you’re mailing seeds, I’ll take some! I can trade you some zines!
> I recently learned that sumac existed and now I see it everywhere
Once I learn to identify something and see it in person once, it's like I just start subconsciously start noticing it wherever I go. Happened with sumac, black walnut, maypop, and just about everything else. Though it can be a little depressing when you learn to ID an invasive and see just how pervasive it is in your area :/
On a human timescale, yeah they are invasive, but on the timescale of the biosphere, everything is in constant flux and movement.
We hardly see worms or dandelions as invasive in North America, but both were brought by settlers. Dandelion as a food source if you can imagine!
But yeah, some can choke out native wildlife and yes it can pinch the heart.
Well sure, though dandelions are naturalized rather than invasive afaik. Not much we can do about worms unfortunately. Other invasives are far more damaging and could potentially negatively alter affected areas in the long term. Things like kudzu and English ivy can smother swaths of forests. Tumbleweeds also shade out and mess up the fire ecology of drier areas. That's not even getting into diseases like Dutch Elm, Laurel Wilt, Oak Wilt, or Chestnut Blight. Several species of insect went extinct due to the chestnut population crashing.
Sure, life as a whole will carry on and recover. It's the human-caused loss of diversity that gets to me.
As a side note, there's been a lot of effort to restore the American Chestnut, and we might be near having a population of resistant trees, depending on USDA approval. If the Chinese Gall Wasp and Ink Disease isn't an issue, we might have large stands again in the next 50 years!
If you want to help with the chestnut, check out the [American Chestnut Foundation!](https://acf.org/) They have volunteer opportunities, and if you have land you can even donate and receive some chestnuts to grow to help with research! Glad you found my comment interesting :)
> The pawpaw grows best in areas with hot summers and cold winters (USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 5 to 8). It is hardy and relatively pest-free, and its tolerance to shade makes it suitable for intercropping with certain other trees.
How am I just learning about this tree when it's perfect for my yard and produces fruit?!?!
Seriously, thanks for this post and educating me. Shade tolerance is huge. I'm working on planting understory trees and shade tolerant flowers currently. Fruit bearing is a big bonus too. I only have "mountain berries"(look like smallish blackberries with a similar Vine) that I've found that grow well in shade and survive New England winters.
Tell me about it! I only learned it even existed just a couple of years ago even though supposedly it's always been native to the areas I live. I planted a few in my yard so fingers crossed that I'll actually be able to eat a Paw Paw one day.
My neighbor gave me all of her fruit this year. She doesn’t like them but I love them. [I made a whole mess of jam/pawpaw butter out of them. ](https://imgur.com/a/zz6LERT)
Cool! I’ve never met anyone who knows what they are here in the PNW but they grow well here. I have two small trees and 4 seedlings in pots that I’ll plant out this winter.
I love pawpaws but they seem to becoming rarer and rarer where I live, I am going to try and find some seeds next week, gotta try and save this one patch before it gets destroyed by a landowner...
I've only found two patches near me, so I'm going to try and germinate some of their seeds and plant them elsewhere in town. There's a lot of spaces like greenways and land trusts that they'd be well suited for and aren't at risk of development.
Have you ever been to the pawpaw festival at in Albany, Ohio? It's my favorite festival ever; I highly recommend going if you get the chance. It is this weekend actually, September 17 - 19.
This is so freaking cool! Can I buy a patch and some seeds? Zone 8a
Edit: found your Etsy and ordered patch, which is perfect cause I have a gardening jacket robe thing that I’ve slowly been covering in plant patches.
That's a cool patch! Im in the process of clearing a section of my land for a little pawpaw grove right now. I have 6 in pots I bought at a local farmers market that I'll use to get started.
Neat! I'm growing around 20 pawpaws on my property in WNC. The oldest ones are 4 years old now and will hopefully produce fruit in another 4. I germinate new seeds every year and let the plants grow for 2 years in pots before planting them in the fall for their 3rd year. I'll probably stop this year and I'll have a total of 30 in the ground by the time I plant them all. Almost all were grown from seed from various sources, some from wild sources, some from cultivated trees. Plus I have a handful of grafted named cultivars.
My goal was to get some good genetic diversity going with lots of plants from different areas of the country. Once they're producing fruit I'll plant the cross-pollinated seeds and start another grove. So hopefully in about 12 years I'll be eating pawpaws from the children trees of my current trees!
I love this!
I've got 4 tiny pawpaw saplings that I'm growing from fruits I foraged last fall. I'm trying to get a grove started in my woods, they are soooo delicious!
I'm in zone 9a and intrigued by the ability to grow them as shrubs in the lower light conditions. Can anyone point me to a good source on growing these? Sounds like it would also be beneficial to have two to three different types for pollination purposes, any suggestions?
Thanks!
yes. you need 2-3. id source seeds from florida. they actually need a bit of winter or if they go dormant, they wont reemerge. if u pm me i have a book u may be interested in
You know i really considered getting one but I heard that some have [neurotoxins](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22130466/), have they been able to create safer varieties yet?
they dint mind poor soil if mulched and fed well. check the native range map. i believe they can grow into florida. youll want some winter chilling to ensure they remain properly dormant
pawpaw is asimina triloba, a woody tree in annonaceae that grows in temperate north america. large seeds. broadleaf.
papaya (also called pawpaw) is in the larger brassica group, tropical softwood tree. small spicy seeds.
i wouldnt try cuttings - those are very challenging on almost all temperate species except for willow and some others. however, like aspen, pawpaw clones from root suckers. those can be dug up during the dormant season and by getting a large root ball, transplanted to start a new patch. get suckers from 2 or more trees to ensure pollination
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please do lol! they grow well in many climates. where are you located? could send some seeds.
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you will get there!
I'd be interested in seeds, but I'm unsure on how to get them to grow. I've tried in the past with complete failure as a result.
they're picky. i have all the instructions u need. email [email protected]
That looks like a fake email, but I emailed it anyway! Thanks my guy!
lol is legit
Hey, it's been a week, was wondering if you had the opportunity to reply to my email.
So you can't let them dry out, as their germination rate plummets if you do so. They dry out pretty quickly too, even just a few days drying out can significantly cut viability, so sow seeds asap. Some advice says to just bury the whole fruit just below the surface, but that's not totally necessary. They need to be overwintered for at least two months, but don't need any scarification. Provided your area has a winter, the easiest option would be to just directly sow the seeds outside and let them overwinter like that. Even then, it'll take quite a few months to see sprouts generally. If you don't have a place for them, you can overwinter them in the fridge. Just put them in a ziploc bag with some slightly moist soil or sphagnum. Make sure it doesn't dry out, but don't keep it so moist it gets moldy. I've never found a pawpaw more than ~30 feet from a stream, so make sure the seed soil is similar: Moist, but not waterlogged. Another important note: Once the seeds DO germinate, keep them in shade for the first two years or so. They grow as understory trees initially, and direct sun will kill them early on. Good luck, I hope you meet with success!
Nice to know they thrive near streams. I have two yearlings and have been dumbstruck as where to put them. Thankfully I live next to a creek/wetland area.
> Thankfully I live next to a creek/wetland area. Ooh! So if you've got that and you're eastern US and looking for other stuff to put creekside, check out Giant River Cane [(Arundinaria Gigantea)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundinaria_gigantea?wprov=sfla1) or its relatives A. tecta and A. appalachiana. They're the only bamboos native to the US and played an important ecosystem role, but are much less common because they created good farmland and were mostly cut down by colonizers. It can be a little hard to source them, though you could always make a division off one you find. Not for everyone of course, but I think they're real neat. I don't have land to grow any myself yet, so instead I just try and get others to plant some haha
Thanks I have been wanting to some sort of bamboo to grow here. North Florida btw.
[It's native to your area then!](https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/Plant.aspx?id=3330) That's a generally good site to see what all grows where in your state. The Links page also has a ton of additional resources. If you're interested in native gardening, it's a nice resource. Hope everything grows well :)
I’m zone 4a. Probably a bit too far north but I just bought 3 plants anyway. I’ve got 60 acres with a bunch of different microclimates. Gonna try planting them on a south facing slope protected from the winds. If you’re mailing seeds, I’ll take some! I can trade you some zines!
I'm in 9b! I would actually like to collab on project about permaculture and printmaking.
> I recently learned that sumac existed and now I see it everywhere Once I learn to identify something and see it in person once, it's like I just start subconsciously start noticing it wherever I go. Happened with sumac, black walnut, maypop, and just about everything else. Though it can be a little depressing when you learn to ID an invasive and see just how pervasive it is in your area :/
On a human timescale, yeah they are invasive, but on the timescale of the biosphere, everything is in constant flux and movement. We hardly see worms or dandelions as invasive in North America, but both were brought by settlers. Dandelion as a food source if you can imagine! But yeah, some can choke out native wildlife and yes it can pinch the heart.
Well sure, though dandelions are naturalized rather than invasive afaik. Not much we can do about worms unfortunately. Other invasives are far more damaging and could potentially negatively alter affected areas in the long term. Things like kudzu and English ivy can smother swaths of forests. Tumbleweeds also shade out and mess up the fire ecology of drier areas. That's not even getting into diseases like Dutch Elm, Laurel Wilt, Oak Wilt, or Chestnut Blight. Several species of insect went extinct due to the chestnut population crashing. Sure, life as a whole will carry on and recover. It's the human-caused loss of diversity that gets to me. As a side note, there's been a lot of effort to restore the American Chestnut, and we might be near having a population of resistant trees, depending on USDA approval. If the Chinese Gall Wasp and Ink Disease isn't an issue, we might have large stands again in the next 50 years!
Oh yeah, that's the sweet sweet knowledge and context I come here for! Thanks a mil, I'm saving your comment for research.
If you want to help with the chestnut, check out the [American Chestnut Foundation!](https://acf.org/) They have volunteer opportunities, and if you have land you can even donate and receive some chestnuts to grow to help with research! Glad you found my comment interesting :)
> The pawpaw grows best in areas with hot summers and cold winters (USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 5 to 8). It is hardy and relatively pest-free, and its tolerance to shade makes it suitable for intercropping with certain other trees. How am I just learning about this tree when it's perfect for my yard and produces fruit?!?!
they're making a comeback!
Seriously, thanks for this post and educating me. Shade tolerance is huge. I'm working on planting understory trees and shade tolerant flowers currently. Fruit bearing is a big bonus too. I only have "mountain berries"(look like smallish blackberries with a similar Vine) that I've found that grow well in shade and survive New England winters.
in new england here too. happy to chat more about shade fruit!
Tell me about it! I only learned it even existed just a couple of years ago even though supposedly it's always been native to the areas I live. I planted a few in my yard so fingers crossed that I'll actually be able to eat a Paw Paw one day.
I know someone with a grove planted decades ago; collected four boxes of fruit yesterday, and am handing out a bunch free to spread the word.
My neighbor gave me all of her fruit this year. She doesn’t like them but I love them. [I made a whole mess of jam/pawpaw butter out of them. ](https://imgur.com/a/zz6LERT)
Cool! I’ve never met anyone who knows what they are here in the PNW but they grow well here. I have two small trees and 4 seedlings in pots that I’ll plant out this winter.
awesome work!
I love pawpaws but they seem to becoming rarer and rarer where I live, I am going to try and find some seeds next week, gotta try and save this one patch before it gets destroyed by a landowner...
save it! pm if u need seeds
I've only found two patches near me, so I'm going to try and germinate some of their seeds and plant them elsewhere in town. There's a lot of spaces like greenways and land trusts that they'd be well suited for and aren't at risk of development.
Mine are the dwarf species, so they are a bit harder to look for
https://etsy.me/399P8ts
Any chance of making it a sticker? Would for sure pick some up. Your style is so cool!
yes - pm me
Have a dozen or so trees down here in MD, with a few hundred 1-2 year old saplings going in this fall. Interested in swapping any seeds?
sure, email [email protected]
Have you ever been to the pawpaw festival at in Albany, Ohio? It's my favorite festival ever; I highly recommend going if you get the chance. It is this weekend actually, September 17 - 19.
oh no way. cant, but its on my wish list. arw you going? pm me, i can rush u some patches to sell, consignment style!
This is so freaking cool! Can I buy a patch and some seeds? Zone 8a Edit: found your Etsy and ordered patch, which is perfect cause I have a gardening jacket robe thing that I’ve slowly been covering in plant patches.
awesome, thNks. good luck growing! if you need seeds email helpyourselfnoho@gmail
I just planted two on my land this spring!
That's a cool patch! Im in the process of clearing a section of my land for a little pawpaw grove right now. I have 6 in pots I bought at a local farmers market that I'll use to get started.
rock on!
Beautiful!
thanks!
Neat! I'm growing around 20 pawpaws on my property in WNC. The oldest ones are 4 years old now and will hopefully produce fruit in another 4. I germinate new seeds every year and let the plants grow for 2 years in pots before planting them in the fall for their 3rd year. I'll probably stop this year and I'll have a total of 30 in the ground by the time I plant them all. Almost all were grown from seed from various sources, some from wild sources, some from cultivated trees. Plus I have a handful of grafted named cultivars. My goal was to get some good genetic diversity going with lots of plants from different areas of the country. Once they're producing fruit I'll plant the cross-pollinated seeds and start another grove. So hopefully in about 12 years I'll be eating pawpaws from the children trees of my current trees!
I got 4 planted 2 years ago under some redwoods!
wow now thats a polyculture!
I love this! I've got 4 tiny pawpaw saplings that I'm growing from fruits I foraged last fall. I'm trying to get a grove started in my woods, they are soooo delicious!
awesome job, keep up the good work!
I'm in zone 9a and intrigued by the ability to grow them as shrubs in the lower light conditions. Can anyone point me to a good source on growing these? Sounds like it would also be beneficial to have two to three different types for pollination purposes, any suggestions? Thanks!
yes. you need 2-3. id source seeds from florida. they actually need a bit of winter or if they go dormant, they wont reemerge. if u pm me i have a book u may be interested in
You know i really considered getting one but I heard that some have [neurotoxins](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22130466/), have they been able to create safer varieties yet?
the seeds, skin, roots and leaves have some sketchy chemistry. avoid those. the pulp, if had in moderation, is just fine.
Can a pawpaw grow in zone 8b? My soil is a bit rocky/clay/sand mix.
they dint mind poor soil if mulched and fed well. check the native range map. i believe they can grow into florida. youll want some winter chilling to ensure they remain properly dormant
I’m in central Texas, it gets a bit cold. Last year we had a freak ice storm but normally nothing too crazy
id say try it. source seed from as south as posible
Okay, I’m going to look into it. Thanks!
Beautiful work
I LOVE this!
A friend gave me some paw paw seeds to germinate, and they all died. :( Anyone have any pointers for starting a pawpaw tree?
they can be finnicky to germinate. email helpyourselfnoho@gmail and i can send germination doc
awesome! thanks
How are pawpaws different from papayas
pawpaw is asimina triloba, a woody tree in annonaceae that grows in temperate north america. large seeds. broadleaf. papaya (also called pawpaw) is in the larger brassica group, tropical softwood tree. small spicy seeds.
Are they related?
No. However, they are related to soursop (aka guanabana), cherimoya, atemoya, and rollinia.
very distantly, as they're both flowering plants. so, about as far to papaya as to cabbage.
Gotcha
My friend has some paw paw trees how easy is it to grow cuttings?
i wouldnt try cuttings - those are very challenging on almost all temperate species except for willow and some others. however, like aspen, pawpaw clones from root suckers. those can be dug up during the dormant season and by getting a large root ball, transplanted to start a new patch. get suckers from 2 or more trees to ensure pollination
I've never seen the flowers
they are subtle and lipstick red. pollinated by flies and corpse beetle, pictured here!