Pawpaw trees/scouting and hunting

[K.S.TRAPPER]

It's not been a very good year around here for the Pawpaw tree's and there fruit. We had a very late freeze and it must have got them too like my apple tree's
 
That dosen't mean the deer won't stay around them in the early season, They love to eat there leaves almost as much as the fruit when they turn bright yellow and drop.
 
I checked all my areas and could only come up with a few to take picks of not enough to harvest.
 
Tracy

 

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Pawpaw tree's are often confused for being a smooth bark hickory. They only grow around here to 20ft or so and have huge leaves to provide plenty of shade and food.
 
This pick is taken on the edge of the grove and the deer are always in here during the early season.

 

[K.S.TRAPPER]

As soon as I walked inside this grove there were beds and trails everywhere. I did here some animals run off before entering but it was so loud from all there acorns falling it sounded like it was raining at times. The turkeys are going to love that!
 

[K.S.TRAPPER]

I found a few really small ones down low on a tree so I thought I would show you what they look like. Sure wish they were ripe even the small ones taste great.

 

[K.S.TRAPPER]

They get alot bigger than this but they always have about the same amount of seeds. Don't forget to save they seeds and take them back out to the same spot or a new place and plant them in about a inch of dirt. Nature will do the rest if all the animals don't dig em up.
 
When there green like this they are not ready, Far from it. The skin will turn dark brown almost black and the flesh will be very soft to the touch. You can smell a Pawpaw when it's ripe and if it's a good year you can smell them from quite distance away. So can all the animals and they don't last long.
 
They tast like vanilla pudding or custard and you can use them in lots of different recipes from muffins to pancakes. Check it out on the web there's lots of sites for them.
 
If anybody has some good picks please post them, So while your out hunting and scouting don't forget to look for them and injoy!
 
Tracy

 

[John3]

I did check all of my Pawpaw areas.. No fruit that I could find this year.. My Persimmions are absolutely loaded down with fruit.


JDS III

[bretto]

There used to be a good patch up the road from Me Tracy when I was a kid. The County came through and widened the road and cut the right of way back a 100' and I've never found anymore in this area. I might have to get some seeds from You and start another patch.

[2fletch]

I now grow my own pawpaws. They grow abundently in NC and other states around here. I dug up two from a creek named Pawpaw Creek which, as the name suggest, has a lot of them growing along it's bank. Then I got two other varieties from a nursery. This is the first year that I had more then I could eat and give away. My favorite is one called a mango pawpaw. It's larger, and has a good flavor.

This year is the first year that something has been eating the pawpaws. None of them that fell from the trees were still there the next day. Both deer and groundhogs have been seen in the yard. Probably both of them have had their share.

 As of last week, all of the pawpaws on these trees are now gone. I'd estimate there was over a bushel of them on the five trees in the yard. I'd recommend them for edible landscaping for human or animal consumption. Also, they are a lot more prolific when you plant them where they have little competition.

[Don Stokes]

Our native pawpaw ripens earlier than this, in June. They are common here.

[2fletch]

Don, How about sending me a couple of your pawpaw seed. I would be interested in seeing how they grow here, and whether they would ripen here in NC that early. Our pawpaws started ripening about the end of August. And I would be happy to reciprocate.

[Don Stokes]

2fletch, if you can remind me next June... I don't have any on hand. There's a good patch of them right across the road from my house, where I pick morels in the spring. I'll be glad to collect some next season.

[TSHOOTER]

The paw paws here are not quite ripe yet.  They will ripen off the tree so if you find some green ones on the ground take em home and they'll be good in a couple weeks.

[frank bullitt]

Tracy, thanks for the pics! We have a small grove behind the house along the cric! Went last night to check, and only a few fruit, but my persimmons are loaded! What's the story on your bow in the pic? Looks like a nice osage stick! Good shootin, Steve

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Thought I would bring this old thread back up because its time around here for eating Paw Paws! We picked a bunch today off just a few trees and its a very good year for fruits and nuts, The deer should have a good fall and early winter.

   

   

For anybody new when the fruit is as soft as a banana and smells awesome its ready to peel and eat, the skin will get brown spots on it too. My daughter in-law has been making breads, muffins, pancakes and smoothies all kinds of things. anything you can make with banana's you can make with paw paws.  

Tracy

[mgf]

My wife and I did a river trip this weekend and we brought a few home.

There wasn't a whole lot of  fruit on them this year.

[Eric Krewson]

I found a paw paw patch on the bank of the TN river near Florence Al. The patch is mostly small saplings with a few mature trees and seldom has fruit because the patch is below a bluff on the north side of the hill in the shade.

3 years ago there was a bunch of fruit so I collected a pile of seeds and followed the planting procedure outlined on the net which included a freeze cycle.

I planted about 25 seeds and gave an equal amount to several of my friends, not one seed sprouted.

This year has been a poor year for fruit, I only collected 4 seeds from one paw paw which I am going to plant as soon as the extremely  dry conditions we now have change.

[2fletch]

I can't believe that the season varies so much around the country. I had 3 varieties of PawPaw growing in the yard and they ripened starting about the first of October and now are gone. I caught a raccoon in them this year so you can add them to the list of animals that eat PawPaw.

I also have a Chi tree growing in the yard. It's a Chinese tree in the Mulberry family. The one that I have is grafted to Osage root stock and it is loaded this year with round red berries that look like the osage fruit but only about 3/4" diameter. The interesting thing about them is that the birds have nothing to do with it and so far neither does any of the usual array of animals. It's the only thing in the yard that is very eatable to humans yet left alone by birds and animals.

Thanks KS Trapper for bringing this back up. PawPaws play a big part in my "Edible Landscaping"

[Cyclic-Rivers]

I've never heard of a  Paw Paw. it has my intrigue
 but not sure how they would handle a northern climate.

[Biathlonman]

I've been wanting to plant some pawpaw trees. You guys may have just pushed me over the edge. Apparently one of the local universities specializes in studying them and I found a local nursery that is supposed to have a good selection. I'm blaming you guys!

[Wind D Ranch]

I planted two small pawpaw trees in my yard a couple of years ago.  Each tree is a different variety.  I can't wait until they produce.  It is about time to check the wild trees to see if they have any to share.