EatTheWeeds: Episode 86: Papaws, Pawpaws

[@EatTheWeeds]

Here in Florida papaws can seem to be a challenge to find at first as we don't have ones the size of trees. Besides pastures they are also found at the base of pines in scrub area.

[@WILDMASTIFF]

My pawpaw trees live deep in the forest in the ozark mountains,we just picked 4 dozen last night,.I am origionally from Fort Myers and never saw them that far south, but heard they did, the tree grows from the mother tree by roots up here, and our flowers resemble a rose carved from wood, they are awesome and the bears love them, I have about 150 trees right around me,and feel very lucky,they grow along my creekbeds here on my property,love your videos,I wait every year for these,August !!

[@Paladin57]

Deane, GREAT video! About 3 years ago my father and I planted a total of 6 trees, five of which are still surviving well. I'm really looking forward to their fruiting in a few years. You are right, they are hard to get started, took us a few years and about 3, 4 attempts. Thanks for a great informative video :) Have a great week and keep up the good work.

[@hiromikami]

This is a GREAT video on the FL Pawpaw. I love accidentally discovering things here in Florida on my own and then doing the research to know what I'm looking at, and your Pawpaw story on the website is a lot like what happened to me with Elderberry. It never gets old, does it?

[@Starbuckin]

Great video and information and I like how you threw the info about persimmons in at the end also.. Here in central Kentucky, Pawpaw (trees) have ripe fruit right now!

[@EatTheWeeds]

Pawpaws can vary greatly. We even have a dwarf version here in Florida.... The tree version may grow in northern part of the state.

[@karenthompson9492]

Love the way you teach us

[@KenWangpiano]

You have the only videos on youtube that can have tens of thousands of views, but no thumbs downs! Well done!

[@EatTheWeeds]

Thanks.... A. triloba are tough to grow because you need to shade them for two or three years. I used an umbrella. But then a hurricane came through and the sun came out and I forgot about it until it was too late.

[@edleyroberts6155]

I have a pawpaw that is 20 ft tall. the limbs grow laterally across from each other from the trunk. The squirrels and deer love them. It grows in a drainage ditch.

[@yogi2012]

Hey Deane, Good video. I've gotta say that your papaw's look quite different from the plants up here in WV. I can't wait to pick some come fall. I'd love it if you ever feel like doing a pawpaw beer video.

[@WhyYouSo]

That's amazing. Had no idea they could be a shrub. I had only seen the tree version in the Caribbean =)

[@spartan1010101]

I was in West Virginia and they have huge 8+ foot tall trees and the paw paw fruit were as big as yellow mangoes. I haven't found any in MD yet.

[@EatTheWeeds]

Well, it is always better to plant in the spring. The headache is they have to be kept in shade for at least two years, if not three. I raised one and it requires constant covering... a few days of full sun can do it in.

[@EatTheWeeds]

I did visit the Caymans once for two days, back in 1996 I think... I had lived in Japan for a while, where they drive on the left, so driving in the Cayman's wasn't difficult. Didn't get to see many plants, though. I do remember a sign selling hot "cow foot soup."

[@EatTheWeeds]

Right you are... they are a dwarf version that unlike others are maroon in blossom....as for berry... this might be a biotanical argument. I have sources that say it is the largest berry but if it is not I will still enjoy it. Thanks for pointing out differences.

[@PriscillaSwaney]

I found them in Citrus County, closer to Sumter County, a pasture near Floral City...lots of them, so they are alive and well in central Florida. Plan to try and transplant one. Wish me luck.

[@OKBushcraft]

Lived in MO along the MO river for 11 years, We had the tree variety, the flowers are redish almost the color of a bloodclot, used the leaves stiched together with grass stems to make cone shaped berry baskets. Very large leaves. Ate one each year, never liked them. great video Dean. 5/5

[@Missmadammozart]

i've always wanted to try some of these they sound soooo good!

[@redcapedjoker]

Hey GreenDean I'm all the way to your 86th video, awesome work by the way. I found a plant that grows in full shade at the base of trees. It has 1 or 2 leaves that are very thick. The leaves smell like liquorish when crushed. I believe it to be a wild ginger. Is it edible?

[@EatTheWeeds]

We have four annona here in Florida, or south Florida to be exact.

[@EatTheWeeds]

Here in this area of Florida the wild papaws are not tree but rather shurbs.

[@Krokadyle]

Here in Arkansas we get the small tree versions with large leaves and larger fruit. The fruit is oblong and about the size of a duck egg. The fruit is usually ripe around Mid Sept to lat Oct.

[@Michaelspinksful]

where in arkansas? I'm in conway. I'd like to grow my own paw-paw

[@happybuddyperson]

Do the pawpaws fruit ever get bigger in Florida? I picked some wild ones in Ontario that were the size of actual mangoes.

[@MaryJane-tq5gm]

The biggest is obovata species but it’s not common at all and they don’t get as big as triloba species which is likely the ones up in canada

[@eaglechiro]

The Paw paw tree is generally found in deep wood, they like shade. I have seen some in the middle of a field but they look dry and unhealthy. The leaves are much larger here in WV. Your plant looks more like a Laurel. Do you have pictures of the larger tree, I could send you pics or video if you want some from WV. thanks for sharing.

[@WhyYouSo]

You'd have a wonderful time in the Caribbean. You should take a trip sometime and do a few videos, may discover some new things to share with us =) Thank You soooo very much for your informative works!

[@EatTheWeeds]

You probably have the A. triloba, which I haven't seen locally.

[@ga1actic_muffin]

Wow those are barely bushes and they have flowers already. The wild paw paws in Columbus Ohio only start budding once the tree is around 5 feat tall. I'm growing a paw paw root sucker and it has not died yet. it is doing rather good and I hope to see fruit once it gets big enough.

[@Kayakwinds]

Paw paw fruit tastes great. And I would love to find a good supply of them. Someone told me that they are more commonly cultivated in South America. I have no idea if that is true. Thanks for an excellent video!

[@lysippus]

they grow like weeds around here in the part of the mid-atlantic where i live--dense older growth woods. ours are much taller growing, with much larger leaves, and ive only been able to get fruits very rarely, but they're fantastic. are the trees male/ female where the female is the only one that fruits?

[@EatTheWeeds]

@TrevorsGarden They are Asimina. It has a wide range of species, dwarf to tall trees.

[@purity4all]

@EatTheWeeds Oh, huh I'll have to look that up. Growing up in New England I know nothing about either plant. Thanks!

[@purity4all]

Deane, I have something in my yard that looks exactly like that, but the leaves are fuzzy. Is there a Florida species that has fuzzy leaves and cream colored flowers just like the ones you're showing in this video?

[@gwynedd1]

I have a shady under story back yard which is basically part shade in some spots and dappled in others. So I planted three of these. It would be hopeless to try the usual fruit trees. It seems like native shade tolerant under story trees gave me many more options and pawpaw was one of them. Not ideal but it will be interesting to see how they do. It is not deep shade.

[@purity4all]

@EatTheWeeds Nope, I guess not, I just watched your persimmon video and these are quite different. Flowers have 3 petals inside and 3 out. The ones on the outside are much bigger than the ones inside. They look to me just like the ones in this video, but the leaves are elongated pear shaped, smooth edges and very fuzzy, also they're kind of a lighter shade of green is there some way I can send a picture?

[@abyssquick]

Asimina triloba. It's also closely related to the the tropical / subtropical annona- Soursop, Cherimoya, Sugar Apple, Rollinia -- all have pendulous tri-lobed flowers and very similar leaves.

[@brettleffew1725]

Here near dunnellon fl I only see white flower ones in or around cow pasture sand area grow very low in fact driving over some and caused accidental damage I noticed the next year they were full of fruit

[@EatTheWeeds]

Great Osage areas.... I'm sure the trees are impressive, as for flavor.... sometimes they can be distasteful...

[@pamckees]

I have 2 one year old pawpaws growing in my yard where there is morning sun and noon to afternoon shade ( have also provided some extra am shade by using chairs ). Would painting the trunk and branches provide the needed protection from the sun ?

[@EatTheWeeds]

Paw paws are difficult to grow. I raised some for a few years.

[@jeremiah3754]

I freakin love these videos

[@billgardiner4287]

Love the singing. Hav you thought about making a music video?

[@EatTheWeeds]

That is an issue with many woodland foods... the woodland creatures like them as well.

[@kristyzahn5661]

Thanks so much for answering! Could you tell me what the soft native persimmon is called? I don’t like the harder apple one so want to purchase the one I like.

[@greendeane1]

Diospyros virginiana... which are hard until the ripen. I think Japanese persimmon get softer sooner and have no seeds.

[@EatTheWeeds]

Locally, A. reticulata and A. obovata

[@kristyzahn5661]

Hey Green Dean. What’s the best way to get a native persimmon? Can’t seem to find a viable seed and have tried air layering one and it didn’t work.

[@greendeane1]

Buy one from a local nursery, because you will be guaranteed to get a fruiting female. Where as with seeds it is a 50/50 proposition.

[@ArboriusOwns]

In my part of WV the paw paws get ripe in late sept oct but you have to get to them before the raccoons. They have a custard flavor. Try making banana bread out of them.

[@jeremydockery1994]

another good video

[@abyssquick]

A triloba doesn't grow well here... do you know the other epscies offhand?

[@EatTheWeeds]

Sounds good to me, Kali tihi... good luck.

[@brianlukdesigns]

Awesome I think there's a huge grove of paw paw plant by a school I live by.

[@EatTheWeeds]

Actually I live close to orlando and there are pawpaws here.

[@catlindarnell2367]

I think the flower's of the one i smelled was amazing. Citrus floral smell

[@EatTheWeeds]

I think you mean Syzygium malaccense. It could grow in the keys.

[@Omnignosis]

I live near a town called Pawpaw, LOL. I haven't found any though.

[@EatTheWeeds]

Thank you. It was rather plain but some of them have to be.

[@TraderRoss]

I'm in NE Florida in Jacksonville & never seen any either. maybe I need to go find cow fields

[@Gundamator]

That is like no Pawpaw I've ever seen. We must have very different species up here in MD. I know many locations to find these. The ones I know if have small brown stinky flowers, larger leaves , and the trees grow 20 feet tall. But the fruit does look the same (but larger).

[@EatTheWeeds]

@ncbookz It depnds on how close one looks. If one looks real closely plants don't look alike.

[@EatTheWeeds]

@Inquisitor53 If I get to do the video again I should say I have found only two locally.

[@spellbinder00]

The ones in Ohio valley look tropical for the region broad leaf and the fruit is as big a a large pears.

[@Syph1l1S]

cool they named a fruit after my grandpa we call pawpaw.. jk

[@outwardpanicjoe8950]

Wait aren't pumpkins and watermelon a berries too they get pretty large

[@EatTheWeeds]

Hard to tell. Send me a picture.

[@WhyYouSo]

Oh yuck. Stick with the plants LOL :-P My favorite fruit is from my native island of Trinidad, we call it 'pomerac'...tried to research it and it is also called the Malay Apple or May Apple or related to the Rose Apple. Sooooo goood. Be on the lookout for some, I hear it's tropical enough in Florida to grow it =)

[@agricola]

you must live in the panhandle, because there dont appear to be any pawpaw in peninsular florida

[@momdoan]

I thought they're difficult to cultivate but you've seen several in the wild

[@EatTheWeeds]

Conversely, I know they can be trees but I've never seen one.

[@Farfromhere001]

i think this is Asimina angustifolia or another species but not A. triloba.

[@EatTheWeeds]

A video of me about "hemp" would be all the evidence a local prosecutor would need to put me in jail for a long time in this state -- a stiff sentence and a large mandatory fine. As someone who has a high profile with plants I am and would be the first place authorities would look regarding plants.

[@pi-r-squared517]

Looks absolutely nothing like the Asimina triloba trees in my yard. Maybe because I have a commercial cultivar?

[@jimbojim4767]

This is Asimina incana the wooly paw paw he just misnamed it in the video

[@EatTheWeeds]

@purity4all Sounds like a persimmon to me...

[@Amyas80s]

That is a weird looking paw paw.

[@abyssquick]

Ah, fast response!. I had just edited the comment too. I'm always making errors!

[@EatTheWeeds]

Pawpaw is also another word for papaya....

[@EatTheWeeds]

Thanks .. hard to believe I got a degree in music 34 years ago...

[@nikrguy]

Yeah, we don't want Green Deane in jail...

[@EatTheWeeds]

Think banana/mango beer.

[@EatTheWeeds]

No, could, but they are not naturalized there.

[@ccm800]

I bought pawpaw seeds but they never germinated

[@Farfromhere001]

I got plants for sale!

[@EatTheWeeds]

Oh my... that's good but be careful! Always doubt me and do your homework.

[@Farfromhere001]

Green Deane that isn't Asimina triloba it's another species!

[@outwardpanicjoe8950]

(Inserts state here ) banana 🍌 lol