Utah Pawpaw Growers: Part 2

I know that those of you who have read my 23 October 2016 blog post, titled "Utah Pawpaw Growers: Part 1," have been anxiously awaiting a follow-up, reasoning that if there is a Part 1, there ought to be a Part 2. And here it is.

On Wednesday this week Greg and Lora and their daughter came over to collect some pawpaw pollen, as I mentioned earlier.

I sent them off with some pawpaw pollen

And I sent them off with some stratified pawpaw seeds

And I asked if they would be up for being the second in the "Utah Pawpaw Growers" blog post series. They thought that sounded okay. So here's my subsequent email Q&A with Greg.

BR: How did you first hear of pawpaws? Is there a story? 

GO: I don't really know. I remember reading about them in a Gurney's magazine and I was always curious abut them. I imagined that they tasted like a bland mushy banana from their descriptions, but maybe worth a try.

BR: Why pawpaws and not peaches?

GO: Actually I grow and love both, it is hard to beat either one of them when they are dead ripe. I do like the fact that you don't need to spray pawpaws.

BR: Which pawpaw cultivars did you choose and why?

GO: I have tried growing Wabash, NC-1 and Patomac as well as several seedlings. I did a lot of research on what ones taste better by looking at KSU's tasting reports and what people had written online. In the end the ones that survived are my seedlings and the Patomac. 

BR: How many pawpaw trees have you planted? How long have you had them? How many trees do you have right now?

GO: In total I have planted 8 trees. A few at my Mom's and 5 at my house.  My oldest tree is 6 years old and about 4.5 ft tall is all. All my other trees are only a year or two old and are less than 3 ft tall.

BR: Any challenges you've experienced growing pawpaws in Utah? How have you dealt with those challenges?

GO: Of the three grafted varieties I have tried 2 have failed at the graft after a year or two. Paws paws like a lot of water compared to what Utah receives and some times it seems hard to give them enough (at least in my soil).

BR: If you've already eaten a pawpaw, what would you compare the taste to? Also, if the pawpaws you've eaten aren't from your own trees, how did you get a hold of the actual fruits? 

GO: We have ordered them online from Integration Acres and Rocky Point Farms. I can't say exactly what a pawpaw tastes like, they taste like a pawpaw and have a flavor of their own. Everybody says they taste like banana but I don't think they taste like one at all, they do have some slight banana flavor but it is not dominant. I think that to say one tastes like a banana is a put down to a pawpaw. When I eat a pawpaw it tastes like a mixture of pineapple, honeydew, cherimoya, mango, a hint of banana and the fragrant pawpaw flavor.

BR: Is there a question about pawpaws that you wish I had asked but didn't? What's the question and how would you answer it?

GO: Not really however if you asked me what unusual fruit would you recommend to grow in Utah?  I would say a pawpaw above all other for both the fact that they taste so good, they are so unusual and the trees are really pretty in their own right.

Greg says he'll probably be able to send some pictures of his trees this weekend, so I'll plan on updating the post once he's got those sent. Thanks Greg! (And now I'm wondering about a hypothetical future post titled "Utah Pawpaw Growers: Part 3.)

Update 2 May 2017

As promised, Greg sent along some pics of his pawpaw growing, which I'm posting below, with his explanations as captions.

GO says: "The first picture is all 5 of my trees. The root stock from the Wabash is in the front with the 2 Peterson seedlings in the burlap covered tomato cages.  The oldest one is a seedling on the other end and the one in the corner is a Potomac."

GO says: "The second picture is of my seedling it is 5 going on 6." 

Greg O says: "The third picture is of some of the flowers."

GO says: "The last picture is of the Potomac it is 2 years old."

Thanks for sending along these pics, Greg!

Various States of Pawpaw Blossom

Last year I received an email from a guy who lives here in Utah saying he has a solitary pawpaw tree and wondering if he could get some pollen from me in the spring. I said yes, and that he should remind me when spring came and we would work things out for him to get some pawpaw pollen. He needs the pollen since he's only got one tree and pawpaws aren't self-fertile (which I mention in case anyone reading is new to pawpaws). It's spring now, and we've arranged for him to come by on Wednesday next week, with the time still to be determined. He's bringing a little paint brush to harvest the pollen. By the way, he contacted me at the following email address: brr29@yahoo.com

I'm anticipating the blossoms will be ready next week, since they aren't in full swing yet. Right now, they're in various states of bloom and unbloom. See below, all from the Wells cultivar since it's got the most blossoms and the most variety: 

See these ones? They opened and then seem to have died when we had some cold weather that came through and punctuated our spring.

A closer look at a cold-weather casualty, poignantly crowned with a fibrous and wind-carried seed that (unlike this particular flower) may yet live.

Here's one that's still green, not yet the purple color that pawpaw lovers look for in the spring.

Here's one that's attained that classic purple look.

Twins.

Growing into the sky.

An early blossom that's in full bloom; note the white pollen grains on the petals. 

Not all blossoms are so lucky--here's one of the dead hangers-on, frozen and thawed and now brown.

And just as a reminder that these pawpaws aren't growing in the home range, here's a prickly pear from our weekend trip to the desert of southern Utah. I liked the shadow hanging under the cactus. If you click on the image you'll be able to see the shadows of individual cactus needles.