Micro forest

The little pawpaw seedlings are now a micro forest. They have years of growth ahead before becoming a mature trees, but I appreciate the fact that they have germinated and are growing.  Some seedlings have begun developing vegetative buds in the leaf axils.

Officially seedlings

My little pawpaws have broken through the soil.  Most are now erect and starting to grow their first leaves. 

Pushy Pawpaws

The first seedlings are pushing through the soil.  The exposed stems are red.

Breaking through

It's been a month and one week since I took the asimina triloba seeds out of cold storage.  The seeds are trying to push up through the soil.  I predict by this time next week some of the plants will have broken through. This gives me 2-2.5 months to get them under grow lights and bulk them up.  My hope is that they will be large enough to sell by the first week of April.

I definitely need to leave all seeds in cold storage at least 90 days next year.  The germination rate of the earlier seeds with only 75 days stratification is significantly lower.

Pawpaw Seed Germiation

It has been almost a month since I put all my pawpaw seeds in tree pots with soil.  Although they were all placed in the tree pots at the same time, they were not taken out of cold storage at the same time.  The seeds were in cold storage anywhere from 75 to 90 days.  The first seeds to germinate were the ones removed from cold storage first.  However these seeds seem a little sluggish to germinate.  Five days after the first set of seeds started to germinate, the seeds that were left in the refrigerator for the full 90 days started to burst forth.  Now the 90-day seeds seem to have out-germinated the 75 day seeds.  This leads me to conclude that the key factor to germination speed is cold storage.  The longer the seeds are in cold storage, the faster they seem to germinate (up to a point).  Of course I do not advocate leaving seeds in the refrigerator for 5 years to speed up the germination process.

Additionally, the 90-day seeds seemed to have germinated well even though the seed coat was left intact.  I don't know how crucial the removal of the seed coat is to germination.  I think a properly stratified seed with optimal environmental conditions will germinate just fine with or without the seed coat.  I may do some experiments next year with seed coat v.s. Non seed coat germination.  But I believe I will leave most of the seed coats on for next year's germination.

In summary, thus far my best practices for asimina triloba seed germination are as follows.

1. Immediately clean seeds removed from fruit.

2. Immediately wrap seeds in moist paper towel.

3. Double-bag seeds/paper towel in plastic food storage bag to conserve moisture.

4.  Leave seeds in refrigerator for 90 days minimum, changing the paper towel every few weeks to prevent mold and fungus.

5.  Place seeds in 10-inch tree pots containing moist soil.

6.  Keep tree pots in a plastic tote with lid to increase moisture and humidity.

Asimina Seed Germination Observations

I checked on my pawpaw seeds again.  Before, only 3 seeds had germinated.  Today, there were 9 germinated seeds.  All but one of the germinated seeds had the seed coat removed.  This makes me think that removing the seed coat hastens germination.  Lord willing, next year I can do some controlled experiments or trials with germination of seeds without the seed coat versus seeds with the seed coat.  I have concluded that cold storage for 82 or more days is sufficient to break seed dormancy.  Wrapping the seed in a wet paper towel and then a plastic bag is sufficient to maintain the moisture levels of the seed while in cold storage.  The sweet spot for seed germination is 37 to forty days, at least for seeds without a seed coat.  The roots have grown 1 inch in 2 days.  I wonder when the plants will push through the ground.

Asimina Triloba Germination Evidence

Three of my pawpaw seeds have started to germinate.  I had removed the seed coat of two of the seeds.  The other seed had its seed coat fully intact, but the germinating root clearly cracked through the coat.  I took the pawpaw seeds out of cold storage at different intervals, so I assume that these seeds are the ones removed from cold storage on November 13, the next November 22, the next November 28, and the last December 3.  By my calculations, these seeds require a minimum of 35-45 days to show the slightest sign of germination.  My research indicates the seed will grow a long root first.  I predict that will take until January 20.  Then it should start to push the stem.  By about mid February, I should see the plant poking through the ground.  Once the plants break though the ground, I will place them by a sunny window or under a grow light.  I know that seedling pawpaws cannot tolerate strong light, but  the window filters out some of the sun, so I think it will be okay.  From February to April, I hope to get them to grow several inches so that they are large enough to sell.  I hope to list the little plants on EBay or Amazon in April.  The youngest batch will be about 3 weeks behind the most mature batch.

Asimina Triloba Seed Sowing

Today I sowed pawpaw seeds that I have had in cold storage for about 3 months.  I planted them in 2.5" tree pots that are 10" long, which will accomodate the long taproot of the plant.  The tree pots are in plastic totes with a lid to conserve moisture and prevent a mess.  I hope that my seedlings germinate.  My plan is to plant a seedling and sell the rest online.

Fall Garden

After taking the summer off from gardening, I decided to plant a fall garden. The garden was placed in the spot where I kept my mobile chicken coops for a month. The plants seem to grow well.

I planted the garden about August 15 in the hopes that my collard greens would get big by Thanksgiving. A few plants had huge leaves and other plants not so much. I think I may want to plant a week early and increase my watering frequency next year. I also need to thin out the collards a little more. Other plants in the garden are: turnip greens, mustard greens, carrots, cabbage, kale, broccoli, and lettuce.

Fall Flowers

A mild fall and warm temperatures have caused my pawpaw trees to flower. Even so, there still seems to be plenty more buds left for the spring.

Gelatinous Gunk on Peaches

This is the first year that my Belle white peach tree has held its fruit.  Unfortunately, most of the fruit is affected by a gelatinous substance that seems to ooze out of the fruit.  I will have to research this so that I can resolve the problem for before next year's crop.

Figs on the Rebound

My figs have had a rough two years because the winters of 2013 and 201four were so cold.  Many of the branches on the established figs died back.  The unestablished figs got frozen back too the roots in the ground twice.  Even so, all my fig plants are looking pretty impressive at present.

Potted Pawpaw Shoots and Suckers

I dug up the pawpaw shoots today. I am experimenting with these suckers. It is probably not the most ideal time to dig up the tender shoots, as it has been extremely hot and sunny this summer. However, I have placed the little plants in full shade, and I will keep them well watered. My hope is to get them to root before fall so that they will grow normally next April. I will sell them to make a little money.

Gurney's pawpaw shoot surprise

I trimmed around my pawpaws and found a surprise.   A 6-inch shoot has developed off the Gurney's asimina that didn't flower.   I'm sort of shocked because that is the slower growing plant, yet it developed a shoot first.

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Edible Landscaping pawpaw

The little asimina triloba is growing nicely. The leaves that escape the shelter have sunburn.

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Edible Landscaping Pawpaw

My Edible Landscaping asimina triloba had a rough start. It began to grow, then the new growth turned brown/black, dried, and died. I think the plant may have been getting too much sun. I could be that the plant was experiencing shock from being shipped and planted outside when it was originally in an indoor greenhouse. Regardless, I think the plant is rallying now. She has began to grow again.

Asimina Triloba

My asimina triloba plants have all leafed out. They are beautiful.

Asimina Triloba Fruit Set

Same fruit cluster from May 2 to May 19

In the past, I have seen tiny pawpaw fruitlets that seemed to be pollinated. Each day I would search for the fruitlets, hoping that they were still present. Within a week or two, I would return to those trees and discover that the little fruitlets had disappeared. Now that I have cross-pollinated some pawpaw flowers, I have noticed some early indicators of potential fruitset.

Successful fruit set is most readily achieved by cross-pollination. Although there is a slight possibility that self-pollination might result in fruit set, my experience with self-pollination shows otherwise. All self-pollination attempts resulted in aborted fruitlets within 2 weeks after petal drop, save one little self-pollinated fruit borne in 2012. A fruit cluster that has been successfully pollinated will plump slightly while each fruit/finger slowly spreads apart. This plumping and spreading of the tiny fingers takes about 1-2 weeks. Self-pollinated and cross-pollinated fruitlets both undergo this process for the first weeks. Do not be fooled into thinking this is an indicator of fruitset.

Fruit set is indicated by steady growth of the fruitlets. After week 2, successfully set fruitlets will continue to plump and elongate. The increasing size of the fruitlets should be visible on a daily basis. The fruits grow quickly and unmistakably. However, self-pollinated fruitlets will stop growing after the fingers have spread apart and abort within the week. Pawpaw fruit can grow from the size of a dried pea to the size of a marble in a week. I'm sure that the fruit will stop growing at some point and focus on maturation and ripening of the seeds and pulp, but the first couple months after pollination will result in steady growth.

What is it?

This visitor was on my asimina triloba tree.

Growing Pawpaw Fruit

The asimina triloba trees aborted most of the fruit clusters. However, there are two fruit clusters that remain and are growing. I hope that the fruit is able to make it to maturity. I would like to take the seeds of the fruit, germinate them, and grow seedlings.