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 germination

On November 10, 2012, I placed three pawpaw seeds in three separate containers to begin the germination process. The pawpaw seeds had been in my refrigerator since around September 8. I buried the seeds about one inch deep in a twelve inch container, then placed them in the green house. Today, I unearthed all 3 seeds, and one of the seeds that I obtained from seed rack had already sprouted and was sending down a tap root. Yeah!!!

Pawpaw Fruit??? Continued

Just another picture of a cluster of pawpaw fruit that I found growing in my parents' back yard.

Pawpaw Fruits???

If

I went to my parents' house to dig up some more pawpaws. The four previous trees that I transplanted from their yard suffered no ill effects, which is strange considering how fragile pawpaws are. My parents' pawpaws seem to be robust. I have learned that pawpaws like to be mulched by fallen leaves, twigs, and bark. This debris enriches the soil and helps hold in the moisture.

My only concern is that they are all clones of the same plant and therefore unable to pollinate one another. Well, I inspected my parents pawpaw trees and it seems that the largest tree has the start of little fruits. I hope that this is the case because this would make me think that all the pawpaws are not clones of each other. Maybe several birds or possums ate pawpaws from some other location and excreted several pawpaw seeds. If different seeds germinated, then all the pawpaws would not be clones of each other. I guess it will be several years before I figure this out.

If the fruit start to develop, I am going to cover them with some sort of netting or breathable bag so that the wild critters don't eat them before I do. I have never tasted a pawpaw, but Lord willing, perhaps I'll get the chance the coming fall. I am so excited to be learning about pawpaws. It's hard to believe that my parents have had them growing in their backyard for at least 5-10 years judging from the size of some of the trees and no one knew what they were.