My pawpaw trees

[Gogu]

I planted these trees sometime in March. All grafted varieties. Wanted to enlarge one of the cages I set up earlier as one of the trees was getting a little cramped in there. Felt it was a good opportunity to clear out some weeds and take some pictures to show the progress.

Mango


Overleese


Shenandoah - This one seems to be getting chewed on a little.


Potential suspect? Hard to get the camera to focus on this guy, but it seems like he was a little caterpillar. I meant to pick him off, but I ended up forgetting. Perhaps due to the heat frying my brain.


Here they are covered up with shade cloth. Satsumas in the background.


Besides potential leaf eaters, I've picked off one or two scale bugs from the Shenandoah. Probably not a big deal, but hopefully it doesn't start getting out of hand. Let me know what you guys think.

[Triloba Tracker]

The trees look quite happy, I’d say!
Can’t tell what that critter is but definitely there are a few caterpillars/worms that will munch on the leaves. Zebra swallowtail is one of the better known ones of course. Looks minor on your tree for sure. Just keep eye on it and squoosh the larvae when you see them.

Based on the appearance of the trees  I would say on the one hand you shouldn’t change anything! But I do wonder about your shade cloth. What type of material is that? It looks rather thick and possibly too shady. The pictures just make it look so thick....but again, trees appear happy.

Also just curious where you bought the trees and how much they’ve grown this year so far.

Thanks for sharing!

[Gogu]

The trees look quite happy, I’d say!
Can’t tell what that critter is but definitely there are a few caterpillars/worms that will munch on the leaves. Zebra swallowtail is one of the better known ones of course. Looks minor on your tree for sure. Just keep eye on it and squoosh the larvae when you see them.

Based on the appearance of the trees  I would say on the one hand you shouldn’t change anything! But I do wonder about your shade cloth. What type of material is that? It looks rather thick and possibly too shady. I wonder if it’s trapping excess heat. The pictures just make it look so thick....but again, trees appear happy.

Also just curious where you bought the trees and how much they’ve grown this year so far.

Thanks for sharing!

The shade cloth is some kind of plastic. I forget what percentage. I bought the trees from One Green World. When they got here they were just little whips probably half the height with no leaves, so they've definitely grown a lot.

Do you think I should be using lighter shade cloth? Thanks for the advice!

[SeaWalnut]

That cloth looks too opaque .Im regular shade cloth now after TrilobaTracker told me about it.Before i was using fiber glass mesh thats used for constructions .
They grow slow first year after transplant but i have a seedling( the only one that i didnt transplanted/ relocated) that grew 2 branches almost a meter long this year and it still grows.

[Gogu]

That cloth looks too opaque .Im regular shade cloth now after TrilobaTracker told me about it.Before i was using fiber glass mesh thats used for constructions .
They grow slow first year after transplant but i have a seedling( the only one that i didnt transplanted/ relocated) that grew 2 branches almost a meter long this year and it still grows.

Do you know what percentage your shade cloth is?

[Triloba Tracker]

Sweet!
I have a tree from one green world too (Tallahatchie) but it’s not grown much. It looks like a timely bush,very little vertical growth. My personal grafts have done much better but are also on rootstock with 14 inch taproot versus 4 inches on the Tallahatchie.

You may just want to stay the course on the shade. If you change it now in the middle of summer,  The leaves on the trees might be slightly shocked/burned since they’re used to the darker conditions.  As you probably know changing something quickly is usually not a good idea with plants. Maybe just leave it unless the trees start showing issues.
Next year you probably should not use shade at all since these are grafted. Technically they don’t need shade even the first year in ground. However, though thru trial and error i decided I think it helps in the first year.

[Triloba Tracker]

I use 50% shade cloth from greenhouse megastore.com (bulk version)
50% is the most often recommended opacity though shadier stuff can be used. After a certain opacity point the shade reduces growth.

[Gogu]

I use 50% shade cloth from greenhouse megastore.com (bulk version)
50% is the most often recommended opacity though shadier stuff can be used. After a certain opacity point the shade reduces growth.

Alright, next time I'll check that out. Thanks again.