I don't have any yet, but have been thinking about it for several years. Of all places, Smith & Hawken (the upscale household and garden decor catalog) was selling them a while back, and I was tempted to buy a couple.

From research I did to find more info, I learned that pawpaw can be kind of messy. The leaves apparently are leathery and slow to break down, so you'd want to plant them away from a drive or walkway, pool, or other spot where their messiness could cause a problem. Having seen what kind of mess magnolias make, I'm imagining that pawpaws are similar. Then there's all that fruit... :)

Beyond that, though, it seems like they are easy trees to grow, and would do fine in our climates (I'm in 6b). I was surprised at how hardy they're reputed to be.

Yes, I have PawPaws and they are indeed great for that 'tropical look'. I live on a wetland, though with thousands of magnolias that drop their big evergreen leaves in spring as new ones come out so leaf drop does not concern me. (great mulch)The PawPaw leaf litter might deter you? B.

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize that PawPaws can leave a lot of "leaf litter". I wanted to grow them for their tropical appearance and delicious fruit. However, if the leaves make great mulch, that's an added plus.

I have pawpaw seeds. If any of you would like to try growing some, you can contact me.

Jared67, you've got mail :~)

I also have fresh Paw paw (papaya) seed if you or anyone else wants: yellow and red fleshed. Taste delicious and super looking plants. They use the green leaves to bait fish traps with in the Caribbean..(a bit of trivia for you). I don't remember my plants being hasty to drop leaves and create a mess...but I do remember that If I didn't clear them away they would take a while to decompose by themselves.

Another interesting and beautiful tropical plant is the Noni plant. The Tahitians and Polynesians used the entire plant for medicinal healing and my Mom and her friends take the rather foul juice as a tonic. Dark green shiny leaves vaguely resemble rubber plants. I might be able to get my hands on some of that also.

Please contact me at cariblass@aol.com and make a reference to "seeds" in the subject bar (or I most likely won't open it).

In the carribean, they often refer to the tropical Papaya (Carica papaya) as "paw-paw". There is in fact no relation between the two plants. That's why it's beneficial to include botanical names along with common (local) names.

Chortle chortle...who knew?! You mean I actually have to do some research for botanical names? Wonder how you go about that exactly...

Lemme go look to see what the difference is between Paw-paw and paw paw... Thanks for the heads-up!

Hi all,
I, too, have thought about having a paw paw tree. Just because of the old kid's song... "where oh where is little (fill in the name)? Way down yonder in the paw paw patch."
Anyway, here's a site that sells them as trees (not seeds). They have lots of wonderful stuff here so it's worth it to request a catalog. They've gotten some of their plants from Siberia so a lot of them are quite cold hardy (for you non-tropical zone folks).
But, since this is the tropicalesque forum, let's clarify, are we talking about American Paw Paw (which is what's at this site) or Papaya?? If it's American Paw Paw, forget Smith & Hawkins... they're just too expensive!

Here is a link that might be useful: One Green World

American paw-paw. And... Smith & Hawken is really pricey. But, it was one of the few places where I'd seen paw-paws (American) for sale.

Raintree Nursery has a nice selection of Pawpaws.

Here is a link that might be useful: Raintree Nursery

I have seed from my (large-fruited) Asimina triloba trees. Takes about 7 years to bear from seed. Fruits are delicious.

if any of you are lucky enough to have pawpaw trees, save the leaves. they have value. I have just returned from a trip to arkansas and a friend there was diagnoised with cancer in the lung and neck. she looked very bad last april and I was shocked to see her a few days ago looking better than ever. her last visit to the doctor, last week, confirmed what she had felt, the cancer in the lung is in remission. she has started to drink paw paw tea which can be made from almost any part of the plant, leaves being the easiest.
anyone who has leaves and or seeds I would be interested.

Yes, you are absolutely correct regarding the medicinal value of PawPaw trees! I will link an article written at Purdue University, that verifies and validates that PawPaws "show promise in fighting drug-resistant tumors"!

Here is a link that might be useful: Pawpaw shows promise in fighting drug-resistant tumors

hey thanks but still looking for some leaves since I will not be able to find them here in michigan untill summer. i would love to try growing on indoors. any thoughts on the possibilites?

Can I just plant seeds from a store bought papaya or mexican papaya & grow a fruit bearing tree?

Papaya can be grown from store bought fruit. Not all papayas require tropical conditions - mountain pawpaw carica pubescens can tolerate some cold as can babacao. Papaya in my opinion looks a lot like tetrapanax. Remember paw paw is a common name and can relate to more than on species ie. Arasina

A source for pawpaw trees (asimia) is Fairweather Gardens, in Greenwich, New Jersey. I don't remember the price, but it's hard to imagine they'd be more than Smith/Hawken. Fairweather is a great source of interesting and unusual plants. You can do mail order, there's a web site, but the best way, to my mind, is an in-person visit on one of their Open House days.

Pawpaw isn't quite as rare as some of the posters seem to indicate. I did some searching, and there are quite a few nurseries offering this tree. Do an Internet search, and you'll come up with numerous potential sources of seedlings and seeds. I found several places near to me that offered trees, and I think any nursery outside of those trying to push Bradford pears on everyone might have some. Maybe I'm just located advantageously....

By the way, the pawpaw versus papaya thing in this post puzzles me. Pawpaw is quite clearly Asimina triloba to me. Pawpaw is a temperate plant native to about Zone 5, whereas papaya is a tropical plant that can endure Zone 9 (at best). They are not even in the same family....

TPL

Another midwest source of Paw Paw (asimina triloba) trees is Earthscapes, Inc. in Loveland, OH (suburban Cincinnati). They sell them containerized in several different sizes. I bought a 3-gallon for $12.50. Nice looking plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: Earthscapes, Inc.

I bought my trees from Nolin River Nursery in KY. They sell grafted trees of at least a dozen known varieties and have them up to 8 feet tall. I picked mine up in person -pretty drive- but they do sell by mail too.. I'd highly advise getting grafted trees over seedlings, as they don't come true from seed and not all pawpaws are especially yummy. Raintree nursery and One Green World sell grafted known varieties as well, though I don't know what size they are.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nolin River Nut Tree Nursery

My wife was diagnosed as colon cancer with metastais. She is very young. I would like her to try Pawpaw tree tea. If anyone collect some leaves could you please send me some?
I will pay the shipping.

oooh. Thank you for telling me about Asimina parviflora. I didn't know there was a dwarf variety of the PawPaw (Indiana Banana). I have limited gardening space and I want this plant. Thanks, and good luck with your research.

Isn't there a nursery in Northern Florida that sells different varieties? We really would like to buy some here in Central Florida, but the a. triloba does not grow well here; it's too far south.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Who has got some pawpawseeds(asimina triloba)for me?

I will in September of this year when I collect the fruit in the wild.

* Posted by galiper z9 Tampa (My Page) on
Mon, Jun 2, 03 at 10:13

Can I just plant seeds from a store bought papaya or mexican papaya & grow a fruit bearing tree?

You can try.. but alot of produce nowaways are irradiated to make the seeds sterile.. which means even if it does germinate, its not going to be a healthy plant. Agribusiness doesn't want you growing your own food i guess.

My university is planting several pawpaw trees on campus next week, so i've been doing some research on them. I've never eaten one, but i've been reading that they contain a neurotoxin that while is potentially an amazing anti-cancer treatment.. some studies also show that it can cause Parkinson's disease. Though I'm hoping you'd have to eat alot of them to cause that. The offending chemical is actually a natural pesticide, an alkaloid.. so I'm wondering if maybe you can cook the chemical out of it somehow. Pharmaceutical companies harvest it from the bark of the tree.. but it seems it is contained everywhere in the plant.

Can anyone comment on this?

Here is a link that might be useful: WebMD - study of parkinsons and pesticides