I have three small yearlings in my shady yard. They are doing quite well but it will be years before I see a fruit. I know that two of them came from a catalog that specialized in pawpaws (can't remember the name of the place nor where I put the catalog but I believe it is that guy in like Ohio that is doing all the genetics work on them) The third one I bought locally at Niche Gardens and I believe they said that it was a cultivar from this area being grown and tested by some big name in the local pawpaw scene.

Mine are regular dark green in sandy loam soil. My whole yard slopes gently to the back boundary where there is a small creek - the pawpaws are the last row in the garden towards that creek so they are pretty much always moist.

I grew wild ones back in Oklahoma and though pretty, the fruit tasted like a bar of soap. Getting a taste before the squirrels and raccoons took a bite out of it was next to impossible.

I could count maybe two hundred native paw-paws just beyond my back yard in a riverine forest that floods maybe twice a year.
Despite all the flowering and fruiting, I've yet to find a ripe one on a tree. The squirrels are more aware of when the fruit is ripe I guess. These aren't cultivated, the fruits only get less than 2" long before I realize they've disappeared. Trees are spindly and easy to bend so the raccoons might be getting them too.
They grow in dappled light and are the first to bloom in the forest usually just as the oaks and elms are breaking bud.
Never find the berries on mayapples which, according to what I read, are edible but the seed and plant is poisonous. Forest food for the critters.

I have one for butterfly larval food (leaves), but I hear other critters make seeing a fruit darn-near impossible.

Interesting comments. Mine in the yard are never bothered by squirrels, who bother everything else. And I eat lots of fruit in Congaree River bottomlands, where hogs or possums get them if they fall, but they don't seem to be touched in the trees. I didn't even know squirrels liked them.

In all of my years tromping around the woods, including working as a field biologist doing plant surveys, I have seen lots of pawpaw trees -- but I have never seen a single pawpaw fruit on any of them. They must make fruit or there wouldn't be any pawpaw trees, but I sure haven't seen any.

Many or most of the trees you typically see where they are common are said to be rootsuckers, so seed set may not be as important as it might seem. Pawpaw fruit is usually not abundant on a tree in any event and is greenish color (until fully ripe, but even then subdued) so you usually have to really look for them, you wouldn't just notice them too often (until on the ground, in the short time before animals get them). Finally, they have a short season. A few weeks in August here in central South Carolina, not the most fun time to take a walk in the woods. I see when mine in the yard are ripening, and then start "going to the swamp" (Congaree Swamp, really bottomland rather than swamp).

I had one that I bought from one of the plant sales at NCSU Arboretum maybe 3 years ago. I have no idea what (if any) cultivar it is...I planted it at the edge of the wooded area of my back yard and gave it a good start (amended soil, Osmacote, plenty of water the first year and...Miracle Gro to light a fire up under it) and it took off. This year, it flowered for the first time. Probably 20 flowers and the tree is around 5 feet tall. I bought a partner for it this spring from Raintree Nursery, and the cultivar is 'Wells'. I planted it in the same general area, about 8 feet away from the other tree, pruned off a section of the tip that got broken in shipping, and did the same send off for it that the first tree got, minus the Miracle Gro (because I'm busy in other parts of the yard, and I've become sort of opposed to MG in the past few years). It's been about a month, and the little thing has really taken off. I'm really impressed with the vigor of this one, especially compared to its neighbor. Even if you weren't going to be anticipating fruit at some point (I am!), these are really handsome, small trees. I am also hoping for some zebra swallowtails at some point. These two trees are in the understory of a really large American persimmon, and I've finally figured out that's where the luna moths that appear in the summer are probably coming from...I digress. :)

luna moths feed on sweet gum. not sure about persimmon. tam

I got hold of pawpaws last year, stratified the seed and now have lots of little plants going here in CT. The tree-rats were a real problem with the seeds, and I had to defend them!

These are not a named variety of course, so I hope the fruit doesn't taste like soap! The fruits that these came from were very pleasant... If anyone wants a bare-root seedling, check the swap page, or email me directly.

--Rick

There was a Paw Paw festival last year in Winston Salem and they had a good turn out. People were selling trees and one could sample baked goods as well as icecream made from the fruit. Here are a couple of links to check out.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5074042_grow-pawpaw-tree.html

rf.org/pubs/ff/pawpaw.html

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/trees-new/asimina_triloba.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Links for Paw Paw

I got a pair of starter trees that are 4 years old. One has put out a few flowers the last two years. They are probably not getting enough water in this environment.

I got them from a local small wholesaler in Chatham County, NC. It is called 'Full of Life Farms'. He carries a large supply and his own trees are producing lots of fruit that unfortunately ripens and overripens quickly. you have to eat or freeze or something quickly.