pawpaws, Asimina triloba

I would like to grow these; they are supposed to be native here. Does anyone have any experience with these? Also, where can I buy them? The PDB showed one vender but when I went to their website, they didn't have pawpaws listed......

This is not the time of year to be looking for available plants.

Most nurseries have sold out of any stock that could be shipped this year. Wait until after the first of the year for the new catalogs and on-line listings to be posted and then start looking. You should have no problem finding plants next spring.
Good luck,
Mike

Thanks Mike. Do you have them? What was your experience with them?

Excellent choice of a fruiting tree. I have a few and I germinated mine from seed. I also have seed in the frig right now that I will be germinating for next year. What would you like to know.

In about a week or so, I will be ordering a few Paw Paws from OIKOS.
http://www.oikostreecrops.com/

I have had very good success with trees ordered from Oikos and I suspect their PawPaws will be no different. I would be of the opinion that you might want to place your order for spring delivery as soon as you possibly can so that they can set aside what ever it is you want. Oikos does sell out of certain species and I waited too darn long to order last year and stiffed myself out of hazelnuts and I was rather upset.

There are other nurseries that carry this in a bareroot and I would suspect you should be able to loate local nurseries that will carry it in a 5 gallon or 10 gallon pot as well as B&B. The price will be considerably higher than bare root stock which I actually tend to have better success with than B&Bs. Spring Bareroots are sent to you dormant.

wow, thanks for the info. I guess my question is, which one is hardiest and grows in a shrub form. I have so many trees that I have to fight for sun to grow other plants....

Hi Woodspirit1,
Asimina triloba=Pawpaw, Asimina triloba is the botanical name for the tree form of Pawpaw.
http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/plant_profile.cgi?symbol=ASTR

Here's another site that may help you
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/cropfactsheets/pawpaw.html

Tree (albeit a very small tree) form Pawpaws are not grown commercially because the fruits would be tricky getting them to market unbruised so there aren't all that many nurseries that offer them but they are out there. There is another Pawpaw but it is not native to your area. It is A. obovata. A. triloba occurs from the Mississippi Valley east to the Atlantic and from the Great Lakes southward and would be the hardiest form for you to grow as it would be within its native range. It is a small tree and rarely grows beyond 35'. A. obovata is classified as the true shrub form, it can grow up to and in excess of 6 feet and is native in South Georgia and Florida. Therefore, A. triloba would be native to where you live not A. obovata. I think you may have difficulty getting your hands on A. obovata unless you contact a native plant society in Florida or possibly in Georgia. Come to think of it, Wild Ones might have a chapter in Georgia.

I am not a native plant purist by any means. I have all types of fruiting species here. They are all indigenous to the US and all but a few are native east of the Rockies. If you like the shrub form of the Pawpaw, you should seek it out in my opinion and plop it in your ground. The fruit is very tasty. Another tree you might be interested in would be a Red Mulberry. It too has fruit that doesn't quite make it to market that is incredibly tasty and extremely beneficial to wildlife. ome people think the red mulberry is messy but the birds descend upon it and strip its fruit before it would even get the chance to get messy.

Here's a link to Asimina obovata-
http://www.wildflphoto.com/plant.php?id=140