Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
pawpaw (asimina triloba) is my all time favorite fruit and why they were the first fruit trees I planted on my homestead in 2016 (i think). Ditto blueberries being my favorite berry and why they were also the first berries planted (also in 2016 I believe). I planted 5 varieties of pawpaw cultivars, including wells, prolific, saa overleese, pennsylvania golden, sunflower. Each variety of paw paw has a distinct taste but many describe them as tasting like mango, papaya, banana, peach, and/or pineapple with an aftertaste of melon. The flesh is soft with a texture resembling that of an egg custard. Native varieties have many very large seeds, cultivars have less seeds.
Pawpaw is common along the east coast of the United States (Appalachia) and that is where they are natively from but they will grow about anywhere (a lot of people in California grow them, in some of the groups I am in on facebook people from all over the world grow them). Natively they grow in the wild along creeks and steams and hollars (valleys near creeks and streams for you city folks) and are often found among large patches of paw paw growth (this is because each fruit contains many seeds and they germinate and reseed well on their own). Pawpaw is the ONLY native tropical fruit in the United States. Also it is the largest native fruit of the United States. Most pawpaw varieties require another variety to fruit except sunflower is "partially self-fertile" so it will fruit by itself but not produce as many fruits as it would if there was another variety. Pawpaws also take longer to fruit than most other fruit trees with about 7 years or more to fruit from sapling and maybe closer to 9-10 years from seed. You can hand pollinate pawpaws using a q-tip or small paint brush (small like an artists paint brush, not window trim small lol). You will have a better success rate if you hand pollinate them. Pawpaws are very easy to identify in april or may by their unmistakable inverted purple flowers with yellow stigma or in the fall around august by their huge unmistakable fruit. Pawpaws are also one of the few fruit trees that are easily grown from seeds, although if the seed is from a cultivar variety, it won't hold true to the variety but still gives you an edible fruit. Pawpaw trees natively are understory trees, meaning they grow under taller trees and this doesn't really affect their fruiting. If you don't plant pawpaws as an understory tree, you need to shade the trunk as it grows for several years (many people have devised blinds they place between sunlight and the trees to block the sunlight from hitting the trunks or use a tree trunk wrap). The other interesting thing about pawpaws is they grow underground root systems long before they emerge above soil (if you are planting from seeds). Their roots form a symbiotic (beneficial) relationship with neighboring plants. Pawpaws are not particular about the type of soil they are grown in, they will grow in the heaviest clay to the loomiest loom (is that even a word) however they will grow best in soil that is not always wet and is well draining. They are pretty much a "do-nothing-to-them-tree" meaning you don't need to fertilize them or trim them, just let them grow wild and if a branch gets broken off, clean up the break with pruning shears. They grow in a classical christmas tree or pine tree shape, wide at the bottom and pointed at the top. If you have deer problems, pawpaws also have another trait I find interesting, if they have been in the ground a year or two and the trunk gets broken off near the ground, the roots will send up replacement suckers. This happened to me in 2017 and I have videos on it showing what happened. A deer either trampled on or tried to use it as a rub and broke the trunk off about 4" above ground. I kept waiting to see what would happen. The first year, no new growth on the broken trunk or near it. The 2nd year no knew growth on the trunk or near it. The same with the 3rd year. But the 4th year, 4 or 5 new pawpaw suckers appeared and those suckers were on some sort of expedited growth schedule ... they outpaced the established trees and are now taller than those other 4 trees. Originally I had planned to thin it back to just 1 sucker but they grew so fast and were doing so well I just left it be and I am glad I did because it is 4 or 5 separate trees now (although they originally shared a common root) - by the way, they also each fruited this year for the first time. This brings me to one more final thing about pawpaws, you can grow the trees as close as a foot apart no problem although mine, all but the one with the suckers, are spaced 36" apart in an L shape on the corner of the woods next to my garden. They are all thriving today and fruiting as you can see in this video.
I'm considering selling trees (beginning next year) and seeds (hopefully this fall) from these plants so if you want some, let me know.
pawpaw (asimina triloba) is my all time favorite fruit and why they were the first fruit trees I planted on my homestead in 2016 (i think). Ditto blueberries being my favorite berry and why they were also the first berries planted (also in 2016 I believe). I planted 5 varieties of pawpaw cultivars, including wells, prolific, saa overleese, pennsylvania golden, sunflower. Each variety of paw paw has a distinct taste but many describe them as tasting like mango, papaya, banana, peach, and/or pineapple with an aftertaste of melon. The flesh is soft with a texture resembling that of an egg custard. Native varieties have many very large seeds, cultivars have less seeds.
Pawpaw is common along the east coast of the United States (Appalachia) and that is where they are natively from but they will grow about anywhere (a lot of people in California grow them, in some of the groups I am in on facebook people from all over the world grow them). Natively they grow in the wild along creeks and steams and hollars (valleys near creeks and streams for you city folks) and are often found among large patches of paw paw growth (this is because each fruit contains many seeds and they germinate and reseed well on their own). Pawpaw is the ONLY native tropical fruit in the United States. Also it is the largest native fruit of the United States. Most pawpaw varieties require another variety to fruit except sunflower is "partially self-fertile" so it will fruit by itself but not produce as many fruits as it would if there was another variety. Pawpaws also take longer to fruit than most other fruit trees with about 7 years or more to fruit from sapling and maybe closer to 9-10 years from seed. You can hand pollinate pawpaws using a q-tip or small paint brush (small like an artists paint brush, not window trim small lol). You will have a better success rate if you hand pollinate them. Pawpaws are very easy to identify in april or may by their unmistakable inverted purple flowers with yellow stigma or in the fall around august by their huge unmistakable fruit. Pawpaws are also one of the few fruit trees that are easily grown from seeds, although if the seed is from a cultivar variety, it won't hold true to the variety but still gives you an edible fruit. Pawpaw trees natively are understory trees, meaning they grow under taller trees and this doesn't really affect their fruiting. If you don't plant pawpaws as an understory tree, you need to shade the trunk as it grows for several years (many people have devised blinds they place between sunlight and the trees to block the sunlight from hitting the trunks or use a tree trunk wrap). The other interesting thing about pawpaws is they grow underground root systems long before they emerge above soil (if you are planting from seeds). Their roots form a symbiotic (beneficial) relationship with neighboring plants. Pawpaws are not particular about the type of soil they are grown in, they will grow in the heaviest clay to the loomiest loom (is that even a word) however they will grow best in soil that is not always wet and is well draining. They are pretty much a "do-nothing-to-them-tree" meaning you don't need to fertilize them or trim them, just let them grow wild and if a branch gets broken off, clean up the break with pruning shears. They grow in a classical christmas tree or pine tree shape, wide at the bottom and pointed at the top. If you have deer problems, pawpaws also have another trait I find interesting, if they have been in the ground a year or two and the trunk gets broken off near the ground, the roots will send up replacement suckers. This happened to me in 2017 and I have videos on it showing what happened. A deer either trampled on or tried to use it as a rub and broke the trunk off about 4" above ground. I kept waiting to see what would happen. The first year, no new growth on the broken trunk or near it. The 2nd year no knew growth on the trunk or near it. The same with the 3rd year. But the 4th year, 4 or 5 new pawpaw suckers appeared and those suckers were on some sort of expedited growth schedule ... they outpaced the established trees and are now taller than those other 4 trees. Originally I had planned to thin it back to just 1 sucker but they grew so fast and were doing so well I just left it be and I am glad I did because it is 4 or 5 separate trees now (although they originally shared a common root) - by the way, they also each fruited this year for the first time. This brings me to one more final thing about pawpaws, you can grow the trees as close as a foot apart no problem although mine, all but the one with the suckers, are spaced 36" apart in an L shape on the corner of the woods next to my garden. They are all thriving today and fruiting as you can see in this video.
I'm considering selling trees (beginning next year) and seeds (hopefully this fall) from these plants so if you want some, let me know.
