Author Topic: Asiminaholics Anonymous  (Read 106173 times)

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #175 on: November 20, 2017, 10:13:20 PM »
Thanks, Bush!
Here’s hoping they make it through the winter. I m keeping them in the pots over winter and planting in spring. That had always been my plan but briefly considered planting this fall. Several folks said to plant in fall but more and more authoritative ( if that’s possible) people said spring gives highest degree of success.
Can’t remember if I mentioned that I’m adding 5 grafted trees: Atwood, Benson, Shenandoah, Maria’s Joy, and Lehman’s Chiffon. Probably going to save a spot or two for selected seedlings of Overleese, Jerry’s Big Girl, Al Horn, or Summer Delight which I plan to start in February.

Luisport

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #176 on: November 21, 2017, 09:09:42 AM »
Thanks, Bush!
Here’s hoping they make it through the winter. I m keeping them in the pots over winter and planting in spring. That had always been my plan but briefly considered planting this fall. Several folks said to plant in fall but more and more authoritative ( if that’s possible) people said spring gives highest degree of success.
Can’t remember if I mentioned that I’m adding 5 grafted trees: Atwood, Benson, Shenandoah, Maria’s Joy, and Lehman’s Chiffon. Probably going to save a spot or two for selected seedlings of Overleese, Jerry’s Big Girl, Al Horn, or Summer Delight which I plan to start in February.
That's great! Your pawpaw orchade is growing fast!  ;D

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #177 on: December 21, 2017, 01:45:38 PM »
I'm addicted to collecting more cultivars....if I had the space, I would be bent on getting every available cultivar, I bet!

I just ordered 2 more:
KSU 4-1
Susquehanna

Ordered from Nolin River Nursery in Kentucky. nolinnursery.com

I'm extremely excited about KSU 4-1. This was by far the best pawpaw i tasted at the International Pawpaw Conference in 2016. Distinct pineapple notes on top of rich caramellyness. Wonderful texture to boot.
This is not without some risk, though - a commercial grower in Ohio that I know is trialing several 4-1 trees. He was ready to chop them down this year after every one of the fruit split. So.......????

Not sure why the cultivar has not been named. A bit of mystery around its availability and lack of formal name.

Susquehanna was the second best fruit I tasted at the conference and one actually won the best pawpaw contest there. (if I remember correctly). Can't go wrong with it (though many say it's susceptible to phyllosticta).

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #179 on: January 17, 2018, 06:15:02 AM »

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #180 on: January 17, 2018, 12:11:44 PM »
Very interesting, Luis! So cool to see her so excited about pawpaws. Based on her other videos, she’s quite into growing exotics!
One of her most recent videos shows her trees looking gorgeous- I hope I can match that someday.
Also interesting that she apparently successfully transplanted from the wild. Though I believe other forum members have reported success with this.
I’ve been to pawpaw orchards but her trees look so big that It almost makes me concerned about my planned spacing of 6 feet

But man, pawpaws are just gorgeous trees!

Luisport

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #181 on: January 17, 2018, 01:26:57 PM »
Very interesting, Luis! So cool to see her so excited about pawpaws. Based on her other videos, she’s quite into growing exotics!
One of her most recent videos shows her trees looking gorgeous- I hope I can match that someday.
Also interesting that she apparently successfully transplanted from the wild. Though I believe other forum members have reported success with this.
I’ve been to pawpaw orchards but her trees look so big that It almost makes me concerned about my planned spacing of 6 feet

But man, pawpaws are just gorgeous trees!
Hi! Yes they looking great! Pawpaws are so beautifull... and have delicious fruits is just amazing!  ;D

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #182 on: February 03, 2018, 12:53:37 PM »
2017 was a discouraging year for my pawpaws. My huge crop of seeds from fall 2016 had abysmal germination rates. 8-10 successful germinations out of at least 200 seeds. I suspect this was because I left the seeds in the fridge too long, spending 5-6 months in the refrigerator while I went to Spain last winter. And during the fall this year, those few trees that grew were cut down by a hungry squirrel who was looking for nuts among my baby pecan trees. I was left with a single surviving pawpaw seedling, which I have used as a guinea pig for an experiment.

I took my lone survivor inside and grew him on the windowsill away from any savage squirrels for the remainder of the 2017 growing season. When his leaves fell off, I put him in the refrigerator for 6 weeks in order to simulate winter and achieve the 1000 chill hours required to break dormancy in deciduous trees. The lone survivor went into hibernation in mid November and on Christmas evening I took him out. For a month, nothing happened despite his pampered existence sandwiched between bright growing lights and a toasty heating mat. I thought his stint in the fridge might have killed him after two weeks of nothing, but I soon saw an encouraging glimmer of green life underneath the thick pubescence of his terminal bud. Now that bud has finally broken, giving proof that the last pawpaw of 2016 still lives. This fridge-induced hypersleep cut the seedling's dormancy down to about a third of its normal duration, giving him a 2-3 month head start on the 2018 growing season over the wild pawpaws here. This was a resounding success and I'm going to have to try it with all of my fruit and nut trees.

https://i.imgur.com/j8Jb9bw.jpg

My 2017 seed have finished stratifying, and so far their germination rates are very encouraging. I'm already seeing 40% germination on my first batch of pawpaw seeds. Looking forward to a much better year for pawpaws in 2018.

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #183 on: February 03, 2018, 04:08:55 PM »
Goog,
Sorry to hear about the issues you had. That’s quite a lot of adversity to endure! But sounds like you are bouncing back quite admirably.
I can relate somewhat- I think I posted here somewhere that last year my germination was awful too. I lost so many seeds that were really important to me.
I like what you did with your lone survivor. Not surprising to me that he survived the fridge. That’s what nurseries do. If you were able to give it 16 hours of light daily, it may’ve woken up sooner.

My current dilemma is with my stratified seeds. The “business end” of the seeds where the root emerges (where the seed sac was attached) has darkened and to varying degrees “decayed” or receded. This happened last year too. In previous years I can’t say I noticed one way or the other, but it caught my eye last year. I had the aforementioned bad germination so thought it may be related (though I had other major issues last year too).
After thinking and experimenting a bit, I am nearly convinced the issue is partial or early stage desiccation.
I have the seeds in moist peat moss in ziplocks, but maybe it’s not moist enough. I was worried about rotting the seeds with *wet* peat but maybe I went too far. ...


Guanabanus

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #184 on: February 03, 2018, 08:30:35 PM »
Making sure that the trees that produce the seeds are well mineralized--- fertilized with plenty of Calcium and Potassium and Boron and Zinc, and everything else that they need, could, theoretically, produce a higher percentage of viable embryos.

And, definitely, avoid dessication of the seeds.
Har

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #185 on: February 04, 2018, 02:08:00 PM »
Thanks, Har! Makes sense.

Also for the record, here is what my seeds mostly look like after a few months of stratification:



I've had a couple of pros tell me they've never seen the likes of it! hahahha Doesn't make me feel too good.
For this year obviously there's nothing i can do but hope for the best.
But I would like to solve the issue for future years. Still my best hypothesis is not-moist-enough peat moss in the baggies.

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #186 on: April 22, 2018, 04:32:56 PM »
My bigest sunflower pawpaw tree is full of flowers now, and the other sunflower pawpaw have flowers too! I'm so happy, just hope to have fruit for the first time and eat them for the first time ever!  :P
It's the second year they flower...
« Last Edit: April 22, 2018, 05:06:03 PM by Luisport »

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #187 on: April 22, 2018, 10:47:02 PM »
That’s awesome, Luis! Good luck getting some tasty fruits.
Well, my “orchard” is finally in the ground after a few years of planning and preparation.
I converted a scrubby area of my yard that was covered in privet and bush honeysuckle.
I cheated a bit and planted about 6 feet apart in 2 staggered rows. Maybe 8 feet between the rows. I just had to plant as many trees as possible.
Here are the trees:
Grafted:
KSU - Atwood (hidden springs nursery)
KSU - Benson (hidden spgs)
Lehman’s Chiffon (hidden spgs)
Maria’s Joy (England’s Nursery)
Shenandoah (England’s Nursery)
KSU 4-1 (Nolin River Nursery)
Susquehanna (Nolin River)
Seedling trees I grew:
Sunflower (3)
Susquehanna (4)
Wabash
KSU 4-25 “Pina Colada”
KSU 4-1
“Old Hickory” (wild selection)

The trees from Nolin River we’re by far the healthiest and most impressive of the grafted trees. Great value considering the size too. Would definitely buy from them again if I had more room.

I had originally planned to plant all seedlings (I have more in pots) but decided to go 50/50 grafted to ensure I have at least some exceptional fruit.
However, I am more excited about the seedlings and waiting to see what they do. All but the Old Hickory are open crosses of top cultivars so they should be pretty good, and possibly phenomenal.
The trees I didn’t plant will be used as rootstock - I’m trying to find room to plant around 6 more trees.
I also have seedlings just getting started from Lehman’s Delight, Al Horn, and Old Hickory. These were started as insurance against losses over the summer.

I put crude shade structures around all the seedlings but have left the grafted trees in full sun.
 So far everything looks pretty good except one seedling tree which seems a bit unhappy. Time will tell.

Luisport

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #188 on: April 23, 2018, 03:44:26 AM »
WOW! Impressive my friend! Congratulations.
The flowers on my tree are starting to fall. I think i have to start to make hand pollination...  :-[

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #189 on: April 23, 2018, 05:48:54 AM »
The flowers are falling, even some that are not open... maby it's because it's hot weather...  :'( :'( :'(

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #190 on: April 23, 2018, 07:54:22 AM »
Oh I'm sorry! I don't know much about flowers dropping. It may be that they are still "practice-flowering" and just aren't ready yet to set fruit.
Or as you said it could be heat or dryness. Generally speaking pawpaws don't like to be dry....

Luisport

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #191 on: April 23, 2018, 11:08:22 AM »
Oh I'm sorry! I don't know much about flowers dropping. It may be that they are still "practice-flowering" and just aren't ready yet to set fruit.
Or as you said it could be heat or dryness. Generally speaking pawpaws don't like to be dry....
He is not dry because it rains a lot on last two months... She is so big and gives a lot of flowers... maby too much. But if i don't get fruit from my trees i will buy fruit from Switzerland or Check Republik!  :-[

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #192 on: April 29, 2018, 09:04:16 AM »
 ;D ;D ;D I don't want to jump too soon, but i think this time i will be lucky with my pawpaw! I already have 6 flowers that were polinated. They already loose the petals, mantain the green part in the middle of the flower and continue in the tree without falling. I'm very happy and praying to get pawpaws for the first time!  :P :P :P

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #193 on: April 29, 2018, 10:02:53 AM »
;D ;D ;D I don't want to jump too soon, but i think this time i will be lucky with my pawpaw! I already have 6 flowers that were polinated. They already loose the petals, mantain the green part in the middle of the flower and continue in the tree without falling. I'm very happy and praying to get pawpaws for the first time!  :P :P :P

Sounds awesome! Best wishes for success this time.

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #194 on: April 29, 2018, 10:07:56 AM »
;D ;D ;D I don't want to jump too soon, but i think this time i will be lucky with my pawpaw! I already have 6 flowers that were polinated. They already loose the petals, mantain the green part in the middle of the flower and continue in the tree without falling. I'm very happy and praying to get pawpaws for the first time!  :P :P :P

Sounds awesome! Best wishes for success this time.
Thank's! This time i put the fruit and vegetable fiber that result from my morning juices to atract fruit flies and spread sugar on tree branches and soil to atract ants and i think this was important to make the polination...

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #195 on: July 24, 2018, 02:38:19 PM »
Welp, so much for the Nolin River trees being anything to write home about. My KSU 4-1 tree from them has died. The Susquehanna (like the 4-1 before it died) has about 2 inch leaves and has been stuck in that state for 2 months.

Seems like all the literature is true - bare-root pawpaws just is NOT the way to go.

All my container-grown trees are doing well, especially the seedlings.
One of my Sunflower seedlings has grown over 3 feet since being planted. Others are not far behind.

I will replace the dead 4-1 with some of my grafts this year which have done very well. I have 2 Jerry's Big Girl (winner 2017 Best Pawpaw at the Ohio Pawpaw Festival), 2 Rebecca's Gold, the aforementioned "Old Hickory" and another semi-wild selection (planted tree of unknown origin).
I also have a seedling of Lehman's Delight and Al Horn i hope to plant next spring.

Then I think i will finally call it quits!

P.S. I think after my experience so far, I would recommend shading all newly-planted trees, seedling or grafted, with 50% shade cloth for the first year.
I kept my grafted trees in full sun - they are alive and have new growth, but they don't seem as happy as the seedlings in the shade.
« Last Edit: July 24, 2018, 02:40:31 PM by Triloba Tracker »

Luisport

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #196 on: August 17, 2018, 12:15:23 PM »
My Sunflower Pawpaw trees. They are big but no fruits yet...




Triloba Tracker

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #197 on: August 17, 2018, 01:40:28 PM »
My Sunflower Pawpaw trees. They are big but no fruits yet...




Oh wow those look great! Especially the big one, you’d think it’d have fruit based on its size. Do you have other cultivars that flower, for cross pollination?

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #198 on: August 17, 2018, 04:10:37 PM »
My Sunflower Pawpaw trees. They are big but no fruits yet...




Oh wow those look great! Especially the big one, you’d think it’d have fruit based on its size. Do you have other cultivars that flower, for cross pollination?
Hello my friend! No for now just this two sunflower, but they are self fertile and i got several small fruits that falled with some time. It was the first time she fruited so i think next year they will get fruits to mature. The other pawpaws are small for now...  ;)

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Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« Reply #199 on: August 17, 2018, 05:50:46 PM »
Ok, right....i thought you would mention the self-fertile quality of the Sunflower.

I think there is some doubt as to whether it truly is self-fertile. That could be part of the issue with the fruits failing.