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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Paw Paw Pollination

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  • From: "Lamb Abbey Orchards" <lambabbey@gmail.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Paw Paw Pollination
  • Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 00:21:18 -0500

Heron:

I like your idea.  The idea of hanging roadkill in trees just doesn't hold a whole heck of a lot of appeal.

I've toyed for awhile with the idea of trying a few pawpaws here in Maine and actually looked into it.  I called Neal Peterson -- The Pied-Piper of Pawpaws -- to get his advice on whether they'd be possible up here.  The problem isn't so much the pollination problems or the fact that Coastal Maine is zone 5.  It's the fact that we're too limited in 'Growing Degree Days' here in Maine.  We're too far North here on the East Coast.   I think Neal said that a grower would need a good 2500 - 2600 Growing Degree Days to get practically any pawpaw to properly ripen.  The highest number of GDDs I've ever heard of in Maine has been around 2300.   Pawpaws could potentially work if you chose a very early-maturing variety (like NC-1 or Pennsylvania Golden), but you'd have to grow it against the South side of a building, preferably on a berm, and put black plastic beneath it to increase the heat absorbed by the soil.   Basically, you'd have to coddle the heck out of the trees.   Little too much for me just to have a couple of pawpaws.    It would be interesting to see if they can be espeliered though.

Your idea of planting Smilax herbacea nearby is an intriguing one for people in appropriate climates.   Unfortunately, it would be a moot point up here in Maine though if the necessary heat and GDDs couldn't be provided.

BTW, check out the Peterson Pawpaws site.  It's pretty cool:  http://www.petersonpawpaws.com/.  Neal's a great guy, too.

John


* * * * *

Lamb Abbey Orchards
lambabbey@gmail.com
http://tinyurl.com/7htst
Zone 5 / Union, Maine  04862
44° 15' 47" N / 69° 18' 42" W

Phone:  207-863-9309
Fax:  207-863-4540



Hello All,
Here is a little theory and a worthwhile trial for someone living in a climate that
can grow Paw Paws:
Many folks have commented on how Paw Paw are pollinated by flies that are attracted
to the smell of rotting flesh, but the problem is how to keep a carcass around etc.
Well, I think there may be a cooperative relationship between Paw Paws and a vine
in the Lily Family, Smilax herbacea, or Carrion-flower. It grows in the same
enviroments as Paw Paw thickets/trees and climbs to about six feet. It emits a
strong smell of rotting flesh. Whether this chemically registers in the insect
world seems worth testing. Carrion-flower is hardy into at least Southern Maine and
I think as far south as Virginia, maybe farther. Same genus as Greenbrier, Smilax
rotundifolia. Vines climbing your Paw Paws? Sounds nifty !!
Heron Breen
zone 4, MAINE




  • [NAFEX] Paw Paw pollination, Heron Breen, 03/12/2006
    • <Possible follow-up(s)>
    • Re: [NAFEX] Paw Paw Pollination, Lamb Abbey Orchards, 03/13/2006

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