Here is the whole plant:

As I said, it is a seedling, so there is not much go on.

Ahhhh I see. Not much indeed. But it doesn't look like Asimina triloba to me

You may find out if your sapling is a pawpaw after you transplant it - they hate to be dug up. The best way to propagate them is by seeds planted in tall pots.

In my limited experience with this species, local wild seedlings always grow better than named cultivars BUT the flavor the named varieties is far superior. I just ate some purchased from a farmer's market that tasted just like Cherimoya, rich, sweet and tropical.

Thanks to my sloppy gardening, my yard is covered with Passionvine and the fruits are dropping right now. In a good year they can taste as rich as any of the tropicals. This year they are a bit mild (we never got very hot) but still good. You have to wait for them to drop on the ground to get the most flavor.

Good info! I've never personally tried the "maypop" passion fruits yet, but there are some near our church parking lot that I've been keeping an eye on. I wasn't 100% sure when to harvest them - someone said not until after the first frost . . .

Wishing you lots of good luck in your PawPaw hunting, very exciting, and thanks for the very nice pictures.

Thanks!!

The leaves smell like pea pods. What might this mean? BTW this tree is unique to the forest, there are no older specimens to observe. I may as well dig it up while it is young, and eliminating surrounding competition.

Hmm you've got me on that one. .. . if you are able to post a less up-close picture I could probably tell you if it's a pawpaw or not, but beyond that I'm probably no help!

Also remember, there are many triloba species...

I think you meant Asimina species - but yes, that is correct.  However, triloba is the dominant species in our area while the other species are more uncommon and have different geographic distribution, if I understand correctly.

I'm always on the lookout for pawpaw trees, so it goes without saying that on our recent trip to Gatlinburg, TN, my eyes were peeled.

We hiked over 6 miles in the mountain woods (Newfound Gap to The Jump Off) without spotting a single A. triloba.

The next day while we were strolling along the Vegas-style Gatlinburg strip, my daughter and I decided to ride the "Skylift," a leisurely ski lift that takes you up the moutainside and back down again.
On the way down, 100 yards or so from the bottom, I happened to look down at some landscaping behind the Gatlinburg Inn.
20 feet below us stood a pair of pawpaws among some other random bushes and rocks.

Once we got off the lift, I grabbed Mr. Caimito and we went down Maple Lane, beside the Skylift, then crossed into the Gatlinburg Inn parking lot. From there, we had to hop a little stone wall to get into the garden where the pawpaws were. There were no warning signs or anything, even though we were directly below the ski lift.

We inspected the 2 trees. They were healthy by all accounts, about 10 feet tall and full of leaves, some of which were turning golden. We stuck our heads into the foliage, looking for fruit on the undersides of the branches. Sadly, there was no fruit to be found. Of course, it's quite late in the pawpaw season, so it could be that the fruit was gone or perhaps they never fruited anyway.

The trees surely were planted intentionally, given their location among a landscaped area in an "urban" setting.

I guess if we ever return to Gatlinburg we'll have to check on the trees to see if they've fruited. And now any forum member who visits this tourist trap of a town will know where to find the trees!

Hello everyone,

A delayed self introduction.

My name is Rock from Taiwan. I'm interested in tropical and subtropical fruits. Collecting new fruits is my hobby and job. if you have special ones, please let me know.

Welcome!!  What part of Taiwan are you in, and what is your job?  Pretty cool to have a fruit-related job. ...

Very nice, Ed!

So you essentially self-pollinated this tree, right? You're right that all the experts say you must have 2 varieties. The implication to me even extends to hand-pollination:

From the KSU website:
11. Do I need to plant more than one tree to get fruit?

Yes. Pawpaws are generally self-incompatible, so you need two trees for cross-pollination. Plant at least two different cultivars or seedlings. Two grafted trees of the same cultivar will not cross-pollinate. (One cultivar, Sunflower, has been reported to be self-compatible, but this has not been verified scientifically.)

Kuini and lakoocha, I looked them up, interesting. I never heard of Yum Yum  just kidding, but it would make a good fruit name. The fruit would have to be really good though.

Hey, don't forget the Yumberry! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrica_rubra

Mr. Caimito was telling me about these the other day.

Quote from: Triloba Tracker on October 01, 2013, 06:47:19 AM

Right - a reaction to pawpaws is a legitimate thing. I just can't believe I have to be one of the unlucky ones!
I wonder too if it has anything to do with the ripeness of the fruit. The ones I've had have all probably been on the overripe side. Maybe if I ate a perfectly ripe one it wouldn't bother me.

Due to your paw paw digestive issues, is a username change in order? Maybe you can track a fruit that sits well with your stomach. 

HA!!!  I know!! 

Please i nead one advice regarding pawpaw. I want to plant two plants and don't have much space... how much meters they should have between them? Thank's!

The experts at Kentucky State University suggest 8 feet between trees.

Thanks!  Yeah, I am still planning to germinate some of these seeds to plant next spring. We'll see how it goes.

Nice!  We ordered some monsteras from Robert a couple of months ago and I REALLY liked them. Made my lips tingle though.

Over the past several months I've located several pawpaw trees hither and yon in the Middle Tennessee area. Like most wild pawpaws, none of the trees had fruit. But earlier in the summer I finally located a few mature Asimina triloba trees with fruit. A good bit of fruit, in fact. These trees are on the edge of a forest that abuts a farmer's field, so they get a decent amount of sun. I also think there is a more abundant fly population for pollination due to horse manure dropped on a nearby horse trail (the place smells pretty foul actually.)

I checked on the trees a couple of weeks ago and the fruit was still not ripe.  This past Saturday I had time to go back.

The first tree I checked was totally bare and the leaves were starting to turn yellow. I was afraid I'd missed the boat - that the possums and 'coons had beaten me to the goods.

I kept hiking to the spot where I knew some other fruiting trees were, but upon initial inspection these were also bare.
I kept hunting the canopy visually and finally I saw a good sized fruit, but it was about 10 feet off the ground. Channeling my inner Richard Campbell from The Fruit Hunters film, I managed to climb the tree by bracing my feet on a thicker nearby trunk, grabbing the trunk of the pawpaw, and "walking" up almost parallel to the ground until I reached the fruit.  It was soft - success! 

I still couldn't see any other fruit.  I started looking deeper into the woods, and BAM - I spotted several clusters of fruit in a thicket of trees surrounded by dense briars. I worked my way back to the trees. They were too thin to climb and the fruit was far overhead. I shook the trees and several fruits tumbled to the ground. Surprisingly, most of them were still rock-hard, but a few were soft and undamaged. I even spotted a half-eaten pawpaw on the ground - some critter had enjoyed a healthy snack.

I waited to eat the fruit until I got home so that the rest of the fam could try them. Unfortunately I am recovering from a nasty cold, so my sense of taste is a little dulled. But the fruits were tasty - not as bold as the ones we got from KYSU, but the same general flavor profile. I would add that all the pawpaws I've tasted have just a hint of gaminess - untamed and wild. It almost makes me think "Should I be eating this?" At least, to me (see below for a possible explanation of this

I noticed that they ripened even further in the 24 hours since I brought them home - they were quite a bit softer. I also discovered that they're tasty to eat chilled.  I haven't found the best way to actually eat them.  there are so many seeds that spooning-out the flesh doesn't work great. Slicing like a mango or something doesn't work too well. I found that peeling them works ok, and you can just bite off a mouthful and spit out the seeds.

Unfortunately I think I have confirmed what I suspected after our first pawpaws from KYSU - my digestive system does not appreciate pawpaw. I can't think of any other food on this planet that makes me "sick,", but apparently pawpaws do, of all things! I will keep eating them as I have the chance though.

Egads!!  Very sorry to hear about that. The tree looks gorgeous along with the others in the background. I'm the ultimate procrastinating cheapskate myself, so sounds like something I would have done.
I guess it takes a slap in the face every now and then for us to learn our lessons