I recently found (and devoured) a wonderful pawpaw fruit from the biggest pawpaw (asimina triloba) I've ever seen and thought I would use those big beautiful seeds to try and start a few seedlings. From what I understand, if you start them in a pot, they're going to need at least 100 days of refrigerated moisture before you start them. Does anyone have any advice/experience with these trees?
Papaw are best started from seed which is taken from the fruit as soon as it is ripe, and planted at once. Otherwise, stratify for three to four months at 40F , and plant in the spring. They are best grown in partial shade, and take a long time to start. They should be planted in their permanent location at an early age, because the long taproot they develop makes them hard to move later on. - Millet (1,190-)
Hi, Just a note, I grow paws paws here in the tropics, removing the fresh seed and drying them out for 2days and sow, and get 100% germination rate, maybe its because there a different type of paw paw, they srtrike straight away and grow very fast.
Are you growing custard apples? I've enjoyed them in the Carribean before on Hispanola, I think they're related to Pawpaws. From what I can tell, pawpaw require a cold stratification before planting, but that's not typically a requirement in the tropics I don't think. Thanks for the advice!
custard apples, are no problem to grow here. we can also grow with out any problem; pineapples mulberrys dragon fruit passionfruit citrus miracle fruit guavas mangos curry bush bananas and many other differnt varietys
the pawpaw he is talking about is the fruit native to america asimina triloba not the papaya (carica papaya) that is also in some countries called pawpaw
Interesting. I assumed we were talking about two different fruits, but I did not know that papaya also went by pawpaw. Thanks for the info.
My 27 year old trees produce fruit and seeds every year and once you understand the prodedure they are fairly easy to grow from seed . Every Oct. after removing the fruit pulp I clean the fairly fresh seeds by washing them in water then soaking them until 95% of the seeds sink (usually 7 days + ) . I have found the seeds keep for a decent period of time but I always cold moist store them in the fridge in a baggie filled with sandy peat mix until the min. 120 day 39F cold strat period is complete . Upon removal from the fridge they germinate best in a warm 75 to 80 F temp ; as they seeds germinate I pluck them from the bag and mass sow up to 30 of them in a large pot where they are content until the transplanting desire hits me ( up to two years max. ) Fall sowing will also work but the results are much slower and the seedlings put on less than half the growth of the fridge stratified seeds . I have been performing my method with a reliable 95%+ germination for the last 10 years with 1000's of seeds . The Dayton and Cinci , Ohio area have some very progressive unique vegetation to enjoy and that area has influenced many of my planting decisions over the last 10- 15 years .
Chooch, Thanks very much the specific help. Your info seems to be what I'm hearing all around. I'm trying this method currently, they're stratifying now. I did not soak them for that long unfortunately, that's a good idea. Thanks again. I'll let you know how they do.
