Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Everybody is wanting to grow pawpaw these days which is great. However, finding root stock or already established saplings that are for sale might be difficult because they are in high demand. You can however grow them from seed too. You either need to buy seeds (some people turn to amazon or ebay or someone they know) or you can go hunt pawpaw fruit right now this time of year on the eastern united states along streams and creeks and find fruit on the ground (must be fruit on the ground and not picked off the tree because the seeds are not fully developed on the tree). Then eat the pawpaw fruit and save the seeds. I would encourage you if you buy your seeds online, to buy seeds from two different suppliers (very critical). Also, if you hunt and eat pawpaws, you will need pawpaw seeds from two different geographical locations (very critical) - more why on this two seeds down below.
Once you have the seeds, the recommended method is to sanitize them. You do this by washing them under a weak solution of bleach and water (10% bleach) and then rinsing them under pure water (preferably not tap water that has chlorine or other contaminants),
Once the seeds are sanitized, you simply cold stratify them in a refrigerator for a minimum of 120 days. Yes, pawpaw seeds require a super long stratification time and also a super long sprouting time.
Once they are stratified, you then plant them outside as an understory tree (meaning they are shaded by other trees overhead, planted under the canopy of taller trees - this is also the way they grow in the wild, under existing trees) or if you don't have other trees, you will need to buy shade cloth for them for the first 5 years or so (they can not get sunburned during their early growth years or they will either die or suffer and send up a lot of suckers). When you plant the seeds, usually around march or april, they should go about 2" in the ground. Mark the location you planted them but don't get impatient because you probably won't see any growth above ground until July, August, or maybe even as late as September (because when pawpaw seeds first sprout, they grow a really long taproot underground before they emerge above ground). If you plan to sow the seeds and start them in containers, they need to be extremely deep containers. I would shoot for something 15-20+ inches deep depending on how long you plan to keep them in there (you did read the part about really long taproots right before this, right?). Also, because of the really long taproot, I am not sure you could permanently grow pawpaw trees as a container tree (but I have not personally tried this or had a reason to look up if it is possible, I just know they have really long taproots and that seems impossible to grow in containers because of that)
So once they start growing, here is the kicker most people don't realize .... your single tree may not ever produce a single pawpaw regardless of its age unless you have a totally different second variety of pawpaw also (it can not be a daughter or sibling of the same tree as the seed you planted). If there is a pawpaw growing on the neighbors property or somewhere else very nearby, you might be ok that they would cross pollinate (unless you don't have space for 2 medium sized trees that might grow up to 20 feet tall each, you need to just plan on growing 2 separate pawpaw varieties - hence why I grow 5 varieties). This is the mistake most people make, they plant a single pawpaw tree and nothing ever happens, it never fruits or produces fruit. You need two different varieties.
Finally, during the first 7 years of above ground growth, remove any flowers in the spring. You want the tree to place all of its energy into growing a healthy root system and above ground growth able to support fruiting. On the 8th year of above ground growth, remove all but 3-5 flowers and hand pollinate them (see my videos on how to do that using a q-tip). If the tree does not struggle to grow that number of fruit, i.e. the fruit are all about the same size, the next year you can allow more to be pollinated. But if it does struggle, try to pollinate 3-5 flowers on the next year also. On the 9th year of above ground growth and assuming it grows the 3-5 fruits perfect, allow maybe 10-12 flowers to be pollinated. By the 10th year, your tree should be established well enough to allow it to grow as much fruit as it wants to grow, just be watching for signs it is struggling (it produces some fruit nice in size and other fruit tiny in size ... its struggling).
What about watering and fertilizing pawpaw? Pawpaw is one of the most hardy trees you can grow. I never fertilize or water them. I never have any pest problems on my property but I have seen others pictures of pest and disease that can be easily treated if caught early enough. So its mostly hands off fruit tree except for keeping an eye on signs of disease (brown shriveled leaves is a sure sign of disease)
Everybody is wanting to grow pawpaw these days which is great. However, finding root stock or already established saplings that are for sale might be difficult because they are in high demand. You can however grow them from seed too. You either need to buy seeds (some people turn to amazon or ebay or someone they know) or you can go hunt pawpaw fruit right now this time of year on the eastern united states along streams and creeks and find fruit on the ground (must be fruit on the ground and not picked off the tree because the seeds are not fully developed on the tree). Then eat the pawpaw fruit and save the seeds. I would encourage you if you buy your seeds online, to buy seeds from two different suppliers (very critical). Also, if you hunt and eat pawpaws, you will need pawpaw seeds from two different geographical locations (very critical) - more why on this two seeds down below.
Once you have the seeds, the recommended method is to sanitize them. You do this by washing them under a weak solution of bleach and water (10% bleach) and then rinsing them under pure water (preferably not tap water that has chlorine or other contaminants),
Once the seeds are sanitized, you simply cold stratify them in a refrigerator for a minimum of 120 days. Yes, pawpaw seeds require a super long stratification time and also a super long sprouting time.
Once they are stratified, you then plant them outside as an understory tree (meaning they are shaded by other trees overhead, planted under the canopy of taller trees - this is also the way they grow in the wild, under existing trees) or if you don't have other trees, you will need to buy shade cloth for them for the first 5 years or so (they can not get sunburned during their early growth years or they will either die or suffer and send up a lot of suckers). When you plant the seeds, usually around march or april, they should go about 2" in the ground. Mark the location you planted them but don't get impatient because you probably won't see any growth above ground until July, August, or maybe even as late as September (because when pawpaw seeds first sprout, they grow a really long taproot underground before they emerge above ground). If you plan to sow the seeds and start them in containers, they need to be extremely deep containers. I would shoot for something 15-20+ inches deep depending on how long you plan to keep them in there (you did read the part about really long taproots right before this, right?). Also, because of the really long taproot, I am not sure you could permanently grow pawpaw trees as a container tree (but I have not personally tried this or had a reason to look up if it is possible, I just know they have really long taproots and that seems impossible to grow in containers because of that)
So once they start growing, here is the kicker most people don't realize .... your single tree may not ever produce a single pawpaw regardless of its age unless you have a totally different second variety of pawpaw also (it can not be a daughter or sibling of the same tree as the seed you planted). If there is a pawpaw growing on the neighbors property or somewhere else very nearby, you might be ok that they would cross pollinate (unless you don't have space for 2 medium sized trees that might grow up to 20 feet tall each, you need to just plan on growing 2 separate pawpaw varieties - hence why I grow 5 varieties). This is the mistake most people make, they plant a single pawpaw tree and nothing ever happens, it never fruits or produces fruit. You need two different varieties.
Finally, during the first 7 years of above ground growth, remove any flowers in the spring. You want the tree to place all of its energy into growing a healthy root system and above ground growth able to support fruiting. On the 8th year of above ground growth, remove all but 3-5 flowers and hand pollinate them (see my videos on how to do that using a q-tip). If the tree does not struggle to grow that number of fruit, i.e. the fruit are all about the same size, the next year you can allow more to be pollinated. But if it does struggle, try to pollinate 3-5 flowers on the next year also. On the 9th year of above ground growth and assuming it grows the 3-5 fruits perfect, allow maybe 10-12 flowers to be pollinated. By the 10th year, your tree should be established well enough to allow it to grow as much fruit as it wants to grow, just be watching for signs it is struggling (it produces some fruit nice in size and other fruit tiny in size ... its struggling).
What about watering and fertilizing pawpaw? Pawpaw is one of the most hardy trees you can grow. I never fertilize or water them. I never have any pest problems on my property but I have seen others pictures of pest and disease that can be easily treated if caught early enough. So its mostly hands off fruit tree except for keeping an eye on signs of disease (brown shriveled leaves is a sure sign of disease)
