Anyone else get pawpaw fruit in the Vancouver, BC area? Would love to know other's experiences with them. I was thrilled that with our fantastic 2014 weather I finally not only got some, but had a great crop of about 40. I did have major problems with rodents. The rats were eating all my tomatoes, apples, and figs but around Oct 15th they seemed to forget all about these when they discovered the pawpaws. This led me to believe that they were starting to ripen despite no change in appearance. My season seemed to be Oct15-Nov3 if I could keep the animal kingdom away from them. Any tricks to preserving them (the fridge usually extented them to about a week for me)? The varieties that had fruit were a seedling and a Wilson that are about 7 years old. I also have these varieties; Mango, Peterson's Shenandoah, and an NC-1 but they are all only 1-4 years old. Also I've skimmed various articles on the web that go the full range from stating you shouldn't eat them because of their toxins, to articles stating that they are studying them for their possible cancer fighting properties. I think I'm still fine after eating 40 but would like to know if I should be visiting the Doctor?
I look forward to seeing what others have to say - my NC-1 flowered this year and then died, but it was only about 2ft tall. It's replacement and the 'Mango' are growing rapidly so I look forward to fruit sometime in the future. FYI, I found some good recipes for pawpaw jam.
It appears that cooking paw paws (Asimina triloba, not the papaya one) in the presence of an acid, say when making fruit leathers with lemon juice added, increase certain toxins quite a bit. The Paw Paw Foundation newsletter linked below simply says "don't do it." See: http://pawpawfoundation.net/uploads/Fall_2013_Pawpaw_Newsletter.pdf Clemson University has this planting guide, if you don't already have it: http://www.clemson.edu/hort/Peach/pdfs/pawpawplanting.pdf I'd like to grow them, but I'm too far north- although a new variety has been developed that grows in the Ottawa area now. Cheers, Chris Green.
Hi there - if you are still looking for a solution to the rat problem, this might help, tho it's rather labour intensive. Fruit sox, which are nylon footies, are meant to control codling moth and apple maggot, but they also help with the squirrels and rats - make the fruit less noticeable to them. A bit labour intensive to put them on, and they need to be done early enough, but you will find the necessary info on their website: http://fruitsoxsandmore.com/
