North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Richard Moyer" <ramoyer@gmail.com>]

Miekal wrote:

"Anyone know if grafted paw paws will make it in zone 4? Are there any selected varieties that are particularly short season & extra hardy? I've got a bunch of PA Golden Seedlings in the ground."

 

It's important to pay attention to both adequate summer heat and winter hardiness.  There is a pawpaw planting at the Germplasm Repository in Corvallis, OR, where many of the cultivars there have trouble ripening due to lack of summer heat.  It's USDA Zone 8 (or so) for winter cold.  So you need enough summer heat to ripen pawpaws.  Much of the northeastern US is in pawpaw native range, including southern Michigan and NY, if I remember correctly.  Hence cultivars proven by growers in your region are vital to succeed with this fruit, particularly if you are at the margins of the native range.

 

They are easy to graft.  So if you have seedlings whose fruit does not ripen after a couple of years of trying, you can topwork those trees in short order.

 

Richard Moyer

SW VA

Muscadine juice with Christmas dinner