North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Rosholdt <rosholdt@erols.com>]

I'd like to put my two cents in.  Shenandoah is a great tasting Paw Paw, 
but I'd give the higher flavor marks to Susquehanna, another of Neal 
Peterson's.  Prolific is nice, too.

There are reasons other than taste why Prolific and Shenandoah are my 
favorite Paw Paws, and it has to do with precocity, reliability, and 
abundance.  Both of these bear early, often and reliably, and are quite 
good trees!  While the Susquehanna flavor is superb, I can't keep the 
tree alive in my orchard, though others can.  Shenandoah has big fruit!

I don't have NC-10 or Sunflower, but have heard they are nice.  My next 
questions: do they bear every year and how big is the fruit and how 
abundant?

No point in having a nice tree with no fruit (when you wanted fruit).

Barb

Subject:Re: [NAFEX] Any opinions on best pawpaw varieties?
From:"Ron Powell, PhD" <Botrytis@fuse.net>
Date:Wed, 3 Feb 2010 11:27:41 -0500
To:"North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>

Hi,
I'll muddy the waters a little bit more regarding pawpaw selection.  My 
Rebecca's Gold produced the largest fruit that I have harvested -  over 
17 ounces!  I seldom find a fruit on the ground from Rebecca's Gold that 
has not been chewed on by animals as well as the SAA Zimmerman, at lest 
the animals like the fruit.  I think that we also need to identify which 
PA Golden that we are growing.  I have PA Golden 1, 2, 3, and 4.  I 
believe that most of the PA Golden are number 1.  My best performing 
pawpaw trees in Zone 6 are NC-1, Sunflower, Sue (quite mild), KYSU 8-2, 
Shenandoah and Overleese.  I have not been impressed with Davis, Sweet 
Alice or Prolific.  In northern Alabama, Dale Brooks' favorite pawpaw is 
Sweet Alice.

I also have a Wells that produces large, excellent tasting fruit.  I 
have seen reports where Wells does not produce good fruit or has vigor. 
 An interesting research project for some one would be to see if the 
varieties being sold are true to name!  I don't know whether or not all 
of the variation can be explained by the root stock and growing conditions.

Ron

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Jwlehman@aol.com
    To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
    Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 9:45 AM
    Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Any opinions on best pawpaw varieties?

    In a message dated 2/3/2010 9:27:43 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
.fred.bruns@gmail.com writes:

>     Two good tasting varieties are Rebecca's Gold and Pennsylvania 
Golden.  RG is larger, but PG is earlier.  I bought both from Raintree.


    I don't write this to disagree with Fred, but rather bring out a 
point in my previous e-mail concerning this subject.  My Rebecca's gold 
produces small fruit, compared to most others, and the taste is only 
average. I don't have Pennsylvania Golden.

    My Rebecca's Gold, Davis, Prolific, Sweet Alice, Sunflower, and two 
other sessions sent to me for comparative testing are in the same 10 x 
10 foot area. Sunflower and Prolific are the two best

    Jerry