Pawpaw

Family

Annonaceae

Habit

Shrub

Height

4.8 m

Spread

4 m

Growth

very slow

Lifespan

50 years

First yield

after 5 years

Yield per plant

up to 30 kg a year

Yield in cultivation

up to 20 t/ha

Energy yield

1600 kcal per m² a year

Hardiness

zone 6–9

Shade tolerance

partial shade

Soil

Silt

Soil moisture

semi-dry – very wet

pH

5.5 – 7.5

Synonyms

Indianer-banane, Paw-paw, Pawpaw

Times apply to the northern hemisphere in a temperate climate and shift with altitude and cultivar.

Edible: Edible fruits can be consumed raw or cooked, varying in quality with flavors ranging from exquisite banana pudding to unpleasant. White fruits are said to have a mild taste and ripen later than the orange ones. They are commonly used in various sweet dishes like preserves, pies, and ice cream. The fruit drops from the tree in autumn and is stored until fully ripe, although some individuals may have digestive issues after consuming it.

Other uses: A fiber from the inner bark is utilized for creating durable ropes and cords. The seed possesses insecticidal qualities, while a yellow dye is derived from the ripe pulp. The wood is light, soft, weak, spongy, and coarse-grained, weighing 24 pounds per cubic foot, but it is not utilized for commercial purposes.

The pawpaw wants a moderately moist, fertile, free-draining soil and will not tolerate waterlogging. Slightly acid soils are considered ideal, but trial plantings at Schönbrunn and Veitshöchheim show that it also does well at pH 7.2 to 7.3 on calcareous ground. A wine-growing climate helps the fruit ripen before the first frosts; at least 160 frost-free days and around 400 hours of winter chilling are needed. The wood is very hardy at minus 25 degrees, but the plant is sensitive to dry winds, low air humidity and cool wet summers — drip irrigation helps on summer-dry sites. Young plants need shade at first, then as much warmth and sun as possible. Allow four by two to three metres per tree. Cropping begins after five to six years.

The seed must never dry out once removed from the fruit. It needs three months of cold stratification at zero to four degrees and then germinates in warmth with bottom heat, often only in summer when sown in spring; autumn sowing in boxes works too. Seedlings are unreliable, however — some produce fruit with an unpleasant aftertaste — so named cultivars are the better choice. These are grafted; chip budding at the start of growth in early spring is considered the most dependable method, while T-budding succeeds poorly. Own-rooted selections can be increased from root cuttings. One point matters: the plant forms a taproot and reacts badly to any damage to it, so only container-grown stock from deep pots should be planted out.

The pawpaw does not fit the usual pattern. Its chestnut-brown flowers give off a faint carrion smell and attract flies and beetles rather than bees. Those pollinators are largely absent in Central Europe, so fruit set is often poor without hand pollination with a brush; planting several clones together helps as well, since the flowers are self-sterile and protogynous. As a food plant the species is worthless to native insects: leaves and young shoots contain acetogenins that deter herbivores. In its home range only the zebra swallowtail feeds on it, its caterpillars sequestering the toxins and becoming unpalatable themselves. In a Central European garden the contribution therefore lies less with insects than with the large leaves, which provide shade and structure, and with windfall fruit taken by mammals.

Special features: forms root runners (+for propagation); sensitive to dry winds and cool and humid summers; when young, place in a shady and protected location, then place in a warm and sunny location if possible. Seed-grown plants may have unpleasant-tasting fruits; grafted varieties are sometimes self-fertile, e.g., 'Sunflower'; hand pollination (brush) helpful; max. 40 kg/shrub.

Eastern North America: from northern Florida to southern Ontario, west to Nebraska and eastern Kansas. The pawpaw is concentrated in the humid continental climate of the mixed deciduous forests of the Ohio and Mississippi basins, where it grows as an understorey shrub along river bottoms on fertile, moist, acid to neutral soils. Fossil finds confirm that it is long native there; its present northern and western range is partly the result of dispersal by Indigenous communities. Numerous American towns, rivers and lakes carry the name Pawpaw. In Europe it has only been cultivated for a few decades and has nowhere become naturalised.

Thickets and sparse woodlands in the low-lying areas and elevated terrain.