Pawpaw Variety Selection for the Willamette Valley
I took a small, informal poll to find out what varieties have done well for other gardeners in the Willamette Valley. Here's what I found.
Cliff notes:
-There is a lot of pawpaw tree death in our region. Possibly graft failure, sunburn, or other factors - we just don’t know. Only 43% of growers report that their trees survive to fruiting age.
-Beyond outright tree death & trees struggling to grow, there are very little disease and pest issues reported.
-There is no clear winner for grafted varieties. Gardeners are doing a lot of experimenting. Many of the long list of people I talked to have trees too young to bear.
-Grafted cultivars versus seedlings have a roughly equal success rate, but there seems to be a slight advantage when growing seedlings in that they tend to die less often.
-Whatever you choose: make sure to hold on to the receipt and ask for a refund if you experience tree death.
-Jot down variety info if you do plant. Your future self will thank you for saving it.
-Read on for how I gathered this information and notes about what our local nurseries have to say on the topic.
New to pawpaws? Start with this post from the Home Orchard Education Center.
I have limited experience with pawpaws.
Six or seven years ago, I came across a couple of pawpaw seedlings and set them in the ground. They took a little while to take off, but are now 7-8 feet tall. I am hoping this is the year that they start to flower and bear fruit!
I had a tiny bite of a pawpaw several years ago and enjoyed it. Two years ago I had a chance to fully taste the whole fruit as part of the CSA from the local Home Orchard Education Center. I found them to be just as they are described: delicious. Mango-like, banana-like, custard-like, but better. The fruits were pretty small though, possibly because they are seedlings versus a grafted cultivar that are selected for size.
Since they are so delicious, I’ve been curious about adding more trees to my small collection. I wanted to know - should I add grafted varieties?
Why consider grafted cultivars versus seed-grown?
The literature on pawpaws says that choosing a grafted variety will yield you much larger fruits with more flesh versus seed inside of them and possibly yield sooner.
Though my knowledge of pawpaws is limited, one thing experience has taught me is that I need to seek out cultivars that are known to do well in my region. Which specifically means speaking with other gardeners near me to find out what they’ve grown and what has done well.
Climactic differences are huge. A USDA zone 8 in the Pacific Northwest is totally different than a zone 8 in North Carolina, where nights are warmer and patterns of seasonal rainfall are not at all the same. A cultivar that does well in other situations may not do so well here.
So how do you find out what cultivars are right for your region?
First I started with my local extension, Oregon State University.
Their recommendation is as follows: “Early ripening Pawpaw selections are most suitable for low heat unit areas such as western Oregon, where cool nights repress ripening. Such selections as PA-Golden, KSU-Benson, Shenandoah, and Sunflower are recommended. “
This is an interesting start, but I wanted to hear specifically from other gardeners who’ve been growing and harvesting pawpaws for at least a couple of years before I proceed with anything. The only way I could think to do this was to jump on Facebook to various fruit-growing forums and ask. I also scoured past conversations on the topic and jotted notes, as you’ll see below.
What do the nurseries have to say on this topic? I no longer rely on what nurseries have to say on this topic, because they have a conflict of interest in trying to sell me something. However, this information can be helpful… just remember to take it with a grain of salt and know that people (such as myself) have gotten burned by nursery folk offering bogus advice.
Raintree Nursery: “In Western WA/OR, we don't get enough summer heat to ripen the later-ripening varieties, so I suggest concentrating on the early ripeners. Mango has been reliably productive and will ripen completely in our region, along with the other early-to-ripen varieties.”
One Green World: “Thank you for reaching out. All of the pawpaw varieties we carry are going to be well suited to this area, but we have included some of our staff favorites that are notable for their flavor! Susquehanna, Sunflower, Maria’s Joy. Thank you and please let us know if you have any further questions. “
SymbiOp: told me to touch base with Northwoods Nursery to answer this question.
Northwoods Nursery: Did not return my email.
Restoring Eden: (located closer to Seattle): “Just about all the pawpaws that we carry will do just fine in your area. You have a little more heat than us so they should mostly all ripen up for you. I would recommend staying away from the late ripening pawpaws. Susquehanna and Rebecca's gold are two that I know are late ripening. The KSU series and Shenandoah are tried and true for this area. Hope this helps!”
Peterson Pawpaws: is not local, but they are a major grower of pawpaws that supply our region. They did not return my email.
Notes from gardeners across our region:
The answers you see in bold are from gardeners who have actually gotten fruit and experienced consistent success from their trees. The initials are how I keep track of each of the gardeners I spoke with.
1. TB from Vancouver: has grown Sunflower for a number of years. It is self-fertile and fruits well. Bought from a nursery in Woodland, Washington. He enjoys the flavor and says this is a good choice for those with limited space.
2. JH bought 4 from a nursery in Portland. She did not have time to put them in the ground that season and they all died. There’s a possibility one of them is still alive. Unknown varieties.
3. AH has unknown varieties. Her trees ripened one year in August, followed by a year which they failed to ripen.
4. KD says she has six or seven varieties, and some take until October to ripen. Unknown varieties.
5. TK has a couple of trees that ripened for her after 8 years. She does not recall variety.
6. EM had trees of unknown variety that died.
7. AB has Allegheny, Susquehanna and Rappahannock. She’s had them about 10 years and they fruit well for her in Portland, Oregon. Rappahannock is her earliest ripener, and they all taste similarly. She recommends making sure the trees are shaded when young (hers got sunburnt) and to protect young trees from branch breakage from the weight of the fruit.
8. FZ planted 3 trees a few years ago and they are hardly growing at all. Pennsylvania Golden, N-30, and Alfa.
9. BH in NE Portland had pawpaw trees that died, but subsequently throwing runners all over the yard.
10. YP says that she has Mango and KSU Chappelle. They went in the ground last fall.
11. NO says she has 6 varieties planted 2 years ago and they still seem to be alive.
12. DR has four pawpaw trees, Taytwo and Overleese. Purchased from a nursery in SW Portland. As she’s gotten larger and larger harvests she hasn’t enjoyed the flavor as much as she did in the beginning.
13. MP has a few varieties. Mango is by far the best grower. Wabash died after it grew to 6 feet and was flowering. The rest are not yet fruiting.
14. AU four named cultivars that all died off - never broke dormancy. Purchased from a nursery in Portland. She has subsequently purchased a few from a Washington nursery and they are growing.
15. AB had a few that did not make it past the first winter.
16. DM I have an NC77, Shenandoah, and an unknown variety "seedling". Only the seedling has not fruited. I got fruit from both the NC77 and Shenandoah the year I planted them. Last year my Shenandoah (year three) gave me a decent crop, about 12 lbs I'd guess. Additional update: My NC77 died two years after I planted it - but it gave fruit for first two years. The fateful year, NC77 bloomed, and then started to wither and black sap oozed from a few spots on the trunk. No one at any of the nurseries I spoke with, or several different extension services, had an explanation. The two likely guesses were moles in the root system, or water from rain/and ice freeze rotted the root system and damaged the trunk. Oddly, last year, the tree bounced back and sent up three big new shoots. It was not a grafted tree, as far as I know, and the leaves are identical to the original pawpaw leaves, huge, bright green, almost haning like folded napkins.
17. AG has two seedlings near Oregon City. They produce and he likes the flavor. He also has Overleese but it is too young to bear.
18. SB in Eugene says he has 8 varieties, and they struggle to ripen. He owns an orchard and 4 are named varieties, 4 are seedlings. He hasn’t seen any major differences between the two, and recommends seedlings as there is a high rate of graft failures. The “early” cultivars only ripen a week or so prior to the others.
19. AH has Maria’s Joy, K-1, Susquehanna, and Mango. Too young to fruit. Purchased from a nursery in Portland.
20. PF grows seedlings. The trees sucker but the fruit is delicious.
21. MM says she had two grafted varieties from a nursery in Oregon. One of them died - rootstock and all. The other one is wimping along. She doesn’t recall the varieties. She also has seedlings that seem to be doing considerably better.
22. My own experience: I’ve got two seedlings that took a while to get up and growing. I also attempted Allegheny from a 5 inch pot, but both the scion and the rootstock never leafed out. I purchased from a nursery in Oregon and got my money back.
23. The Home Orchard Education Center has two seedlings that have done well for them for a number of years.
24. RH has a Mango. Also had another cultivar but it died.
25. DU planted a couple of trees roughly 20 years ago. Unknown variety. She did not like the taste of either. Now she cannot get them to die, and they wind up all over the yard, similar to bindweed and ivy.
26. MK tried to grow Susquehanna but it never broken dormancy and completely failed to grow.
AU Pennsylvania Golden has done well for her.
LW has 2, she suspects one is now dead.
29. EG bought four and they all died. Nervous about investing any more money on them. Unknown varieties.
30. UG says he planted 3. Allegheny died. Shenandoah and Potomac have survived and are fruiting well.
31. DS has had four in the ground for about 10 years. They have barely grown. Unknown variety.
32. CM has a few in his yard. They produce for him, and he thinks one of them is Mango.
33. EL has 5 named varieties and some seedlings, none have fruited yet.
34. SKB has a few unknown varieties. They fruit for him, but, he has trouble with birds pecking the fruits.
35. PS from Everett Washington has 5 trees planted six years ago and just starting to fruit. Susquehanna started producing first at the end of October.
AT says she has a seedling, Susquehannah, and Shenandoah. All are too young to fruit.
JD has recently planted Maria’s Joy and NC-1.
updates 3/5 after initial post
SC of GoM planted two trees of unknown variety. They fruited and were doing well when she moved a few years later.
EDB of HWotGPA said she had her first mango pawpaws last year, and they were delicious. She also had a Sunflower that died.
VR of PNFG had 2/3 grafts fail after 3 years in the ground. Overleese and Shenandoah were the ones that failed, but the rootstock is now growing. Mango is doing great. Also bought a Susquehanna at 6 feet last year, it seems to be doing well so far.
TT from PNFG from Victoria has Taylor, Mango, Sunflower. They are thriving but too young to fruit.
LT from PPG says he planted mango in 2017, the graft died a few years later, and now the rootstock is growing.
Successes: I tallied up those who said that they have trees that have thrived and have been fruiting well for them.
Seedlings: 10
Unknown: (these gardeners don’t know if they have grafts or seed-grown trees) 12
Grafted variety successes:
Susquehanah: 2
Mango: 3
Allegheny: 1
Rappahannock: 1
Taytwo: 1
Overleese: 1
Pennsylvania Golden: 1
Shenandoah: 2
NC77: 1 (see notes on #16)
Potomac: 1
Sunflower: 1
Total known grafted trees that are successful out of the gardeners I talked to: 15
Overall total of trees that have fruited well from the people I spoke with : 37
Failures: tallied here are the tree deaths and the variety, if known.
Unknown graft: 10. These are gardeners that specifically remember purchasing grafted varieties, but they don’t recall which ones.
Allegheny: 2
Wabash: 1
Susquehannah: 1
Sunflower: 1
Overleese: 1
Shenandoah: 1
Mango: 1
Total known graft failures: 18
Unknown variety: 22
Seedling failures: 0 reports. Though we don’t know how many of the above “unknown” trees were seedlings, it is interesting to report that no one reported knowingly planting a seedling and having it fail.
Total tree deaths from the gardeners I’ve talked to: 50
Burning questions:
What is it that accounts for the high rate of tree death? Of all of the gardeners I spoke with, 37ish trees are alive and fruiting well, while 50 trees croaked. All of the other trees are too young to tally into either category. The answer could be anything: sunburn, graft failure, etc.
I noted from the Peaceful Heritage nursery that they recommend getting a few more trees than you need in order to ensure that some survive. “We always encourage people to plant more than you think you need, because pawpaw trees are fragile the first season and USUALLY do great when handled carefully, but don’t always survive. We find about 90-95% survival rate is normal. So, if you want 2, then consider planting 3. If you want 10, plant 11 or 12. If you want 100, plant 105-110 trees.”Why do some gardeners report extreme suckering tendency? The impression I’ve gotten from most gardeners is that there is some small suckering, but some gardeners report a much stronger phenomenon. Is it simply the genetics of some seedlings that behave this way?
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What’s been your experience? Drop me a comment below or email me at: manning.amym@gmail.com