In search of pawpaw varieties / recommendations

[vnomonee]

Hello all. Thinking about grafting at least one if not both of my pawpaw trees.

I'm in zone 7a north NJ. Some research mentioned doing it in May. Does this sound correct?

My two seed trees make small fruit, I don't mind the small fruit flavor wise but I'd rather have larger fruit, it's too hard to process such small fruit.

Varieties I'm interested in are Susquehanna or Overleese (spelling)?
Those are said to be sweet and the other mild (forget which is which).

I also like tropical flavors, more mango or pineapple than banana. Are there any varieties like this? Cherimoya flavors? What is "tropical delight" like?

If anyone has anything to offer let me know. I can trade as well, check my profile to see if there is anything interesting you'd like to trade for.

Thanks

[growinginphoenix]

I have never tried grafting them, but I did come across this post on another forum that mentions paw paw grafting conditions.

Pawpaw - 55-75F? Pawpaws are usually pretty easy as long as you are not really late… 1"-3" leaves should work.

[vnomonee]

Thanks for the link, that sounds about the temperature in May here. So that is probably best for grafting. We get warm days nows through April but nights can be upper 30s with possibility of frost.   

[MarktLee]

They say to graft when the rootstock has leaves the size of squirrels ears. I get 100 % takes this way.

[growinginphoenix]

They say to graft when the rootstock has leaves the size of squirrels ears. I get 100 % takes this way.

I don't have squirrels in my area. How big are their ears?

[Pau]

They say to graft when the rootstock has leaves the size of squirrels ears. I get 100 % takes this way.

I don't have squirrels in my area. How big are their ears?

  I had a good laugh with this one. Lucky you to not have destructive squirrels. I catch and released 3 so far within a month.

I dont even recognize their ears....next one i catch i will let you know.

[aaronn]

I think May is good here for grafting pawpaws. They need to be leafed out. It’s possible they could get scorched if grafting into summer, but I toss my grafted trees into shady conditions anyway.
I’m only just starting to get named varieties. Last year, my 2 favorites were Allegheny and KSU Chappell.
Maybe you mean “Tropical Treat”? I have this one, but no fruit yet. There’s a variety traded around on other forums called “Cherimoya West” that’s supposedly got cherimoya flavor. And an unreleased KSU variety referred to as “Piña Colada”. I hear Susquehanna is great, I haven’t tried it yet, KSU Chappell and Potomac are sometimes called similar and they’re both good. I only had a couple Overleese last year, maybe they’re first fruits and will change, but they weren’t particularly “tropically” tasting to my memory.
Generally, I find that freshly dropped pawpaws have a bit of a tropical vibe, but I actually prefer them counter ripened when they remind me more of a baked dessert.

[vnomonee]

Yes, "Tropical Treat" is the variety. It also sounds like "Al Horn's" is a good one, white flesh with cherimoya flavors. I get a bit anxious thinking about top working my trees only for the grafts to fail so I might just leave it alone if I can't find anything haha

[Madridje]

Jus chiming in here guys. For rootstock, is there a specific seedling variety recommended for SoCal or in general?

[vnomonee]

Madridje, not sure. Thought pawpaws don't come true to seed so I don't know if rootstock varieties exist.

Here are my trees. Would it be ok to leave the limbs I've marked with 1,2,3 if I top where the line is marked "g" that is where I'd put my grafts.
I just want some insurance in case my grafts fail. Those limbs have flowers.



The large trees will be bark grafts. The smaller tree will probably be a whip/cleft/ etc whatever I can do most comfortably.