Old pawpaw seeds available. (Asimina triloba)
They came from England’s Orchard in McKee, KY. Cliff walked through the orchard with me in September 2021 and selected fruits for seed. The following spring I grew out some of the seed, about 50% germination for me. The remaining seeds have been sitting in my fridge in ziploc bags of damp soil since September 2021.
I’m estimating it’s about 150 seeds total. Let me know if you want them. I can mail them USPS within the USA only. If multiple people are interested, I can divide them up.
I’ m interested in maybe 20 seeds! I’ve tried and failed to grow pawpaw seeds, using several different methods. Hope you’ll reveal what you did to get them to germinate.
When I was at the orchard, Cliff kept telling me repeatedly, “Don’t let the seeds freeze, and don’t let them dry out.”
Here is a link to the written instructions that Cliff gave me, which I followed very closely: http://nuttrees.net/PAWPAWseedgermination.pdf
Basically patience and lots of moisture.
I kept them very wet, and rather shaded. I planted the seeds in 12-inch deep treepots (about 3 or 4 inch square at the top of the pots), with a moisture retaining soil mix (part vermiculite, part potting soil and maybe part peat). I planted 3 seeds per pot. I planted them in early February indoors. The tree pots were set in a dishpan to catch the drainage, but I made sure that there was always between 1 and 3 inches of water sitting in the dishpan. At the time of planting I watered the seeds from above. Afterwards, I watered them from below (by adding to the waterline in the dishpan). Initially I kept a make-shift humidity dome on them, but later decided that it was unnecessary if I kept enough water in the bottom of the dishpan. They were placed on the floor indoors a couple feet away from a north-facing window–no grow lights, and not near any heating vents.
Once frost was safely past, I put them outside on my porch (morning sun, afternoon shade). By June or July (or so?–I forget), most of the pots had at least 1 of their seeds that had sprouted–many had 2. Some of the pots had nothing sprouting–so I just abandoned those pots and set them in dark corner of my porch with other misc gardening supplies so I could re-use the pots and soil for something else someday. To my surprise, a couple months later, I discovered that half of the seeds in those abandoned pots had sprouted–in full shade!
When transplanting, I was very careful with the taproot–cutting the treepot with a scissors, down its length at 3 of its 4 corners (top to bottom) and “peeling” the treepot off of the soil, so that the soil (and taproot inside) was as undisturbed as possible. After transplant, the plants grew successfully. BUT THEN, between deer browse, a couple weeks without rain (I wasn’t irrigating), and a very unfortunate incident with the lawn mower, I am down to only 5 plants–which I have now “caged” off, and covered with some makeshift shade cloth–and now just hoping that they’ll survive to bear fruit someday.
I wish I could take part in exchanging pawpaw with you from Europe. I’ve grown hundreds of seedlings the past 2-3 years now and adding to your advice: what seems to work best for me is lots of heat during germination (after the necessary stratification). I just throw them all together in a container until the radicle starts growing and then place them in a seed bed. Germination is hypogeal, so for months the root will grow before the cotyledon emerges over the soil. In my primitive setup I only get a month or so of growth here in late summer. So first year seedlings are tiny. If I had more resources I would grow them in a greenhouse while they’re small. In my northern climate, heat is for sure the most decisive factor.
I’m definitely interested. I’ve heard that they germinate better if they’re left in the rotting fruit. Is that something you’ve noticed as well or have you mostly just kept them in shady pots?
I’ll read through Cliff’s notes to see his way too.
I haven’t tried germinating them with the fruit. I’ve only ever grown them out one time (described above). I don’t consider myself an expert at all. I just think they’re really an amazing fruit, and it’s exciting to see people reviving them.
I would be interested in some of these as well if you have enough. I’d like to try them in my air prune beds. I’ve found most taprooted trees perform better inground (here anyway) if started in airprune beds.
