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.