# Paw paw trees anywhere?



## hunt6x6elk1

Am looking for short starter paw paw trees to transplant for bears. cant dig up any that are much taller than 2 feet because the tap root is really long fast on these trees.  Can anyone help? 
Thanks
Mark


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## Vernon Holt

The Paw Paw which is native to GA is hardly a tree.  It is a small shrub, generally three feet tall with some specimens on better soils getting somewhat larger.

They do not bear fruit uniformly.  During any one year, some shrubs will bear light crops and others will bear none at all.  One would have to plant many of the shrubs in order for the bear to have any significant benefit.  If you planted an acre of Paw Paw, one bear would clean you out in three or four nights.

With your living in N. GA, bears would benefit more significantly from the planting of apple trees.


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## rip18

I've seen some pretty impressive thickets of paw-paws.  The bad thing about small paw-paw plants is that they are EXTREMELY slow growing.  There are some folks that sell containerized paw-paw seedlings that I have bought in the past.  The only place that comes to immediate mind is Edible Landscaping up in Virginia - you should be able to Google their web site.  Good luck finding some paw-paw seedlings.


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## Jack Ryan

Paw paws are one of the more difficult trees to start from seed or transplant. If you research it on line you will soon be back to these options.

http://www.tytyga.com/

http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/producttype.cfm?producttype=PAW

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/CropFactSheets/pawpaw.html

http://www.burntridgenursery.com/fruitingPlants/index_product.asp?dept=9&parent=7

This is where every one I know get's seedlings for planting. I use Vallonia. Paw paw seedlings are about $29 for a hundred if I remember correctly but those seeds are a real hassle to get them to RELIABLY germinate so buying seedlings that you know have germinated is a bargain.

http://www.fnr.purdue.edu/inwood/seedling.htm


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## hunt6x6elk1

ok, 2 of you think they are bushes and Jack thinks they are trees, They are trees and the sites that Jack provided show the fruit very well. We found a tree of them on Dawson Forest that is 35' tall and loaded with fruit but there are no small trees around and couldnt dig up on wma anyway. That said if anyone looks at the nursery sites that Jack mentioned will see the fruit and maybe that will help
 Thanks all


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## Vernon Holt

Obviously you are free to call them what you feel most comfortable with, so the choice is yours.

I have eaten Paw Paws since I was a lad roaming about the woods doing what I loved to do.  The native fruits that I have picked were plucked from shrubs growing as understory plants.  I have picked the fruit from shrubs as low as three feet tall.

Commercial nurseries that advertise are notorious for their practice of doctoring photographs in effort to deceive.  They commonly bait and switch.  They do this selling exotic species which came from China and tell you they are native.  Buyer beware.

PS: That 35 foot tree in Dawson Forest may very well have been a Buckeye Tree.  The fruit of the two species is very similar as they develop.


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## The AmBASSaDEER

They were just talkin bout paw paw trees on the beverly hillbillies.

Does anybody remember that song somethin like "pick up paw paw and put'em in your pocket" my Granny used to sing it.


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## Jack Ryan

Vernon Holt said:


> Obviously you are free to call them what you feel most comfortable with, so the choice is yours.
> 
> I have eaten Paw Paws since I was a lad roaming about the woods doing what I loved to do.  The native fruits that I have picked were plucked from shrubs growing as understory plants.  I have picked the fruit from shrubs as low as three feet tall.
> 
> Commercial nurseries that advertise are notorious for their practice of doctoring photographs in effort to deceive.  They commonly bait and switch.  They do this selling exotic species which came from China and tell you they are native.  Buyer beware.
> 
> PS: That 35 foot tree in Dawson Forest may very well have been a Buckeye Tree.  The fruit of the two species is very similar as they develop.



I don't think he would be here to tell the story if he were eating very many buckeyes.

I can personally verify that vallonia nursery in Indiana is NOT selling the China variety.

Paw paws are trees. How big they are depends like any other tree, on the light and nurshment they recieve and how old they are. Call 'em roses if any one wants, they are still what they are and I've picked fruit off the 6' ones growing right next to 20 foot ones.

When they are young they need protection from too much sun there fore they look like a low  light, under story type bush. The more mature they are the better they with stand a lot of sun and grow faster that's when you get people argueing they are a 30 foot tree.

Just google growing paw paw trees and it's not rocket science to come to a reasonable decision what the smart thing to do is if you want paw paw trees.


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## Jack Ryan

The AmBASSaDEER said:


> They were just talkin bout paw paw trees on the beverly hillbillies.
> 
> Does anybody remember that song somethin like "pick up paw paw and put'em in your pocket" my Granny used to sing it.



Sure do. Sang it many times my self.

http://gulahiyi.blogspot.com/

_Picking up paw-paws; put 'em in your pocket.
Picking up paw-paws; put 'em in your pocket.
Picking up paw-paws; put 'em in your pocket.
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch._
– American Folk Song












You won't find a better description of paw paws, paw paw patches or what it's like to find them for the first time than the blog at the link listed above.

I won't cut'n paste the whole thing out of respect to the writer's property and work but it's worth a read if you have any interest in paw paws.

It's the last story on the page.
http://gulahiyi.blogspot.com/


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## Vernon Holt

I congratulate you for your broad knowledge of Indiana.

The real question is, What do you know about shrubs and trees of Georgia other than what you might read on Google.  You comments seem to reflect that you know very little.

A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.


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## Jack Ryan

Vernon Holt said:


> I congratulate you for your broad knowledge of Indiana.
> 
> The real question is, What do you know about shrubs and trees of Georgia other than what you might read on Google.  You comments seem to reflect that you know very little.
> 
> A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.



Do they magicly change their DNA at the  state line? 

If so you have my apology. My mistake.

They ain't called the Georgia banana for a reason.

How the heck does an effort to freely share some research work I have just coincidently happen to have already put a little effort in to turn in to some kind of egotistical squirt match?

Do you really think it matters to me if you grow a few extra paw paw trees in Georgia or not?

I googled it so you could read the full links in case there was more you wanted to know than I was willing to sit here and type.


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## Jack Ryan

Ya know, I just don't get this thread.

We've been discussing this paw paw think for a month here at work among 3 or 4 of us. I've been eating paw paws since I was about 8 and we've made a dozen loaves of paw paw bread here at the house just this season. We've been researching what it takes to get the seeds to germinate and where to best plant the things between us all for at least a month and then all agreed the easiest thing was to just buy the already growing seedlings from Vallonia State Tree nursery.

Now I happen across a thread with some one interested in the same topic and not only offer to freely take time to share the information we've gathered for use how ever you care to or not. I also go to the effort to find nuseries in Bum Up Georgia who offer them and post the links so ya don't even have to look for them.

What response does that get?

A tin hat wise guy who thinks paw paws drop off the edge of the world at the Georgia state line.

Sorry I tried to do ya favor peachy. Ya ever hear of just trying to have a little conversation? It's not always about trying to be the Paw Paw King of Georgia ya know.


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## Resica

In Pa. the record Paw Paw is 33 feet tall with a spread of 31 feet and a diameter of 1 foot 9 inches.


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## Confederate_Jay

I don't know about Pa  or Indiana but here in Georgia and mainly on this Forum,  Mr. Vernon is the "go to" guy for information about native trees and plants. His knowledge comes from a  long career of hands on experience in our forests and swamps... 

A record tree is not necessarily representative of the majority of a particular species... That's why it is a record.


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## bestbucks

If your real serious about digging some up we have pure stands of Paw Paw on the Oconee river swamp south of Milledgeville. There are areas where this tree is the only understory plant you will see.


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## gandaw

*Not just shrubs*

There must be more than one type of Pawpaw that grows in Georgia.  The ones in my yard (in Dahlonega) are 30+ feet tall.  They grow rapidly and grow easily from seeds.


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## win280

gandaw said:


> There must be more than one type of Pawpaw that grows in Georgia.  The ones in my yard (in Dahlonega) are 30+ feet tall.  They grow rapidly and grow easily from seeds.



Can you post pics. All i have seen are schrub type paw-paws.


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## 35 Whelen

Walter Reeves information on Paw Paw:

http://www.walterreeves.com/food-gardening/pawpaw/


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## albridges

Confederate_Jay said:


> I don't know about Pa  or Indiana but here in Georgia and mainly on this Forum,  Mr. Vernon is the "go to" guy for information about native trees and plants. His knowledge comes from a  long career of hands on experience in our forests and swamps...
> 
> A record tree is not necessarily representative of the majority of a particular species... That's why it is a record.



Buddy he wrote down the paw paw song and Mr. Vernon was definately being a vulture for no reason. If he thinks noone can post their own opinions or advice then we should just call this forum ask Dr Vernon food plot forum.


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## albridges

Or the ask Dr. Vernon and Confederate Jay's trees of georgia forum


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## garnede

I have seeds from the improved tree variety.  Native trees can be shrubs, but the improved varieties can be 15-30' tall.  They like shade the first couple of years, but can take full sun after that.


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## garnede

There is a guy at the Saturday Market in Columbus, ga that sells the tree type Paw Paws.  I have 2 in my yard.


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## NCHillbilly

The common pawpaw (Asimina triloba,) is certainly more of a tree than a shrub for sure. They grow all over here in western NC, and probably average 15-20 feet tall, and grow in dense clonal thickets. They are also definitely native and widespread in the northern half/two thirds of Georgia. There is also a dwarf pawpaw (Asimina parviflora,) that is a much smaller plant. It is also native and common to most of Georgia. That's the one that Vernon is talking about, but the one we have up here in the mountains and northern Piedmont is usually more of a tree form. I have grown quite a few of them, and they're easy to transplant if they were grown in containers, but very hard to dig up and transplant. Most of the ones I've planted have taken several years to start bearing fruit after planting. There are some cultivars being raised now that will fruit quicker than the straight native variety.


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## Resica

The AmBASSaDEER said:


> They were just talkin bout paw paw trees on the beverly hillbillies.
> 
> Does anybody remember that song somethin like "pick up paw paw and put'em in your pocket" my Granny used to sing it.



Remember the song well!!


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## dick7.62

The AmBASSaDEER said:


> They were just talkin bout paw paw trees on the beverly hillbillies.
> 
> Does anybody remember that song somethin like "pick up paw paw and put'em in your pocket" my Granny used to sing it.



This reminds me of an incident involving my 4 yr. old grandson.  We were at Ison's Nursery buying some fruit trees and were waiting at the front of the store for them to get up my order.  An old man(at least as old as me) was looking at their rack of fruit tree brochures and particularly the pawpaw brochure.  He started singing the pawpaw song out loud(to himself, to everyone around, to no one?)   "pickin up pawpaws puttin 'em in your pocket, way down yonder in the pawpaw patch"
Then my grandson asked me  "paw paw, how does he know your name?"


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## hardwoodshall

will paw paw live well in south georgia


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## garnede

hardwoodshall said:


> will paw paw live well in south georgia



Yep.  They can take the heat into zone 9.


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## hardwoodshall

would a thicket of paw paw live well with wild plum and persimmon.  I want to make a safety\bedding area and thought this combo might be a winner if they can all coexist, at least for a while.


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## redneck_billcollector

I know this is an old thread...but paw paws are trees that can stay in a shrub stage until there is a break in the canopy.  Young paw paws are very sensitive to UV and they need shade for the first couple of years of their life.  They are trees and not shrubs, though they can appear as shrubs until there is a growth spurt when there is a break in the canopy.  I do not know where the idea of Chinese paw paws came from except that in the old world, the tropical papaya is often called paw paw.  They are the only temperate variety in a tropical family of fruiting trees in the family Annonaceae.  Paw paws are only native to North America.  If you want to find them you need old growth or virgin flood plain  forests for your best results (in south GA).  They regenerate from both suckers and seeds.  They do reach heights of over 30 ft.  Interestingly they are pollinated by green flies, so if you want a good crop, you want a couple of trees for cross pollination and I will put some freezer burnt meat near there to attract their pollinator, their flowers have a faint to strong rotten flesh smell.  Each patch of paw paw trees will have a significant genetic difference so they will cross pollinate with nearby patches to produce lots of fruit, very little is produced without cross pollination.  I have seen some huge paw paw trees when doing hardwood cruises back when I was a forester many years ago.  Clear cutting is what has led to their scarcity but they are around.  Their fruit is much better after it falls from the tree and is only ripe then, they are hard to keep more than a couple of days without refrigeration, hence them never being commercially grown.  The do not ripen if unripe when picked, believe me, I have tried. Oh yeah, I have grown paw paw for years....both grafted varieties and from seed, the seeds will not sprout if dry  by the way, the best way if you want to propagate by seed is to let coons or whatever eat the paw paw, and when they go to the do their business the seeds will sprout in their feces.  I have set paw paws out in the woods to get them in my hunting land and I am assuming it was coons or possums who spread them, because they started showing up in my woods a couple of years later.


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## Stan de Riel

*Paw paw notes*

Many fine comments here -- we have them up north (NJ) also. I find seeds sprout reliably if they're planted immediately out of the fruit, after cleaning. Drying is deadly to them. Then they need to overwinter stratify in the ground, and they emerge late in spring, and very weakly -- leaf by leaf. They prefer indirect light, straight midday sun will kill them. They can be transplanted for a couple of years, but their roots are stubby, sparse and delicate. I transplant mine to 12-oz disposable water bottles, with holes in the bottom, with a compost fill for a couple of years more (I suspect they require micorrhyzae to thrive). These can be scissored open and the now compact root ball transferred gently into the planting site. They are still sun-sensitive until waist-high or so.
The advantages of cultivars are the much greater % of edible flesh; the disadvantage, that the cultivars (that I've tried so far) lack that piquant pineapple seedling flavor bite. Either way, they're great! If you do freeze the flesh (before it gets overripe!) in tight-capped jars, make sure you use it promptly when thawed. It bitters if it sits even one extra day in the 'fridge.


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## misterpink

This thread again...


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