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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Paw Paw species propagation

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  • From: Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>
  • To: breen@fedcoseeds.com, North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Paw Paw species propagation
  • Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:07:03 -0600

At 02:07 PM 11/9/2005, you wrote:
I understand there is two other species of Paw Paw native to the US besides A.
triloba. Has anyone used these as dwarfing or early fruiting rootstocks for A.
triloba? Both are smaller trees or shrubs. Also, has anyone eaten their fruit or
selected any seedlings?

Heron,
I have an A.parviflora(small-flowered pawpaw) selection, "Trash Pile", which I made from plants growing on my parents' former farm, in Lee Co., AL - just outside of Auburn. Heavy fruit production is what caught my attention initially - the small fruits, 2-2.5" in length, were festooned all along the length of its branches, rather than in 'hands', as is the case with A.triloba. Fruits are quite seedy, with a pretty thin rim of pulp surrounding them - certainly nothing to write home about. Additionally, I suspected that this particular plant might be self-fertile, as there were no other pawpaws of either common species(triloba or parviflora) within several hundred feet - and my graft of it here in KY has fruited well, with no other blooming pawpaws located within several hundred yards.

My graft of "Trash Pile" (on A.triloba rootstock - so it's evident that they're graft-compatible) has been fully winter hardy here in southern west-central KY, and Gordon Nofs has been growing it for several years at his Flint, MI location. A couple of years back, Gordon told me he had a late freeze that burned the new leaves off all his A.triloba trees, but the A.parviflora leaves were virtually unscathed.

I'm growing this selection mainly for nostalgia's sake, but it's possible that A.parviflora seedlings *might* work as a dwarfing rootstock for A.triloba. The "Trash Pile" ortet was less than 10 ft tall, growing out in the open on a terrace on top of a droughty old red clay hillside; may have now been overtaken by encroaching kudzu & sweetgum trees, and if it is still alive, I have no doubt the developers who purchased the property will, at some point in time, bulldoze it.

If anyone cares to play around with this selection, I can supply limited amounts of scionwood - and may be able to find some seed from this year's fruit crop in the litter around the base of my grafted tree.






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