Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - [NAFEX] Asimina parviflora "Trash Pile"

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Asimina parviflora "Trash Pile"
  • Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2003 13:18:59 -0500

Gordon mentioned my "Trash Pile" A.parviflora(dwarf pawpaw) selection in his listing of pawpaw varieties he's got growing.
Thought I'd give some details on this one:

I selected this one from plants growing on my parents' farm, in east-central AL - it's growing on top of a red clay hill, at the edge of an old trash pile, where bricks, discarded lumber, etc. had been piled in a gully through the years - at one time it was in the open, but kudzu and sweetgum trees are rapidly encroaching on it, since they sold off all the beef cows. I don't know how old the plant is, it's about 8 ft tall. There are no other pawpaws within 100 yards of this one, but it bears heavily every year, making me suspect that it may be self-fertile. Branches are festooned with little fruits all along their length, not in 'hands' like A.triloba; fruit is nothing to write home about, 2-inch fruits - mostly seed, with a small rim of pulp surrounding them.
A.parviflora is pretty common on upland sites in that area, with A.triloba more prevalent along the creekbanks and river bottom forests.

I brought scions of "Trash Pile" back to KY 2-3 years ago, and have a graftling of this one growing in the orchard, grafted on seedling A.triloba understock. I don't have any hopes of it being anything great from a production standpoint - I propagated it mainly out of curiosity, and for nostalgia's sake. It bloomed and set a few fruit this year - but I haven't looked at them since Robert stopped by here on his way to the SFF meeting, back in late July.
Sent Gordon scions a couple of years ago, and if I recall correctly, it seems to be doing just fine in Michigan; seems like I recall Gordon telling me he had a late freeze last year that burned the leaves off his A.trilobas, but the A.parviflora was unscathed.

Lucky Pittman
USDA Zone 6
Hopkinsville, KY




  • [NAFEX] Asimina parviflora "Trash Pile", Lucky Pittman, 09/08/2003

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page