Pawpaws are a difficult plant to place. In their young life pawpaws are an understory tree in the eastern US. They need shade when young. As they grow: they break through that shady forest canopy, where they grow, and want full sun.
(Don’t forget to mulch your new trees. I pour about a gallon of water on them every other day. I also add a mild amount of fertilizer every other time I water. (I use Garrett’s juice and miracle grow) I really need to fix my dripline so I’m not bringing jugs of water to these little trees.
I wasn’t aware until this year that pawpaws are heavy feeders. Slow release Osmocote granules or fast acting miracle grow in water, are perfect for these trees.)
I thought, when I was planting these, that the north side of my yard would be an ideal place for them. I chose the north side, because I had pawpaws years before (in pots), and they burned up with half day, morning sun and died. So, these are number four and five, live pawpaws, for me. I took a lot of time last year and made sure they had ideal soil conditions. But, I didn’t realize the severe sun and wind damage, until one of the ones from last year croaked. Plus, there’s a six foot privacy fence there that I thought would also help with the wind and sun.
It took me several days to finish the holes, planting the plants (see how I did it here) and running drip line to them only to find that their big, paper thin leaves dessicated in the sun and wind.
Last year I put some row cover over tomato cages and cut slits in it for ventilation (see how here) I think they were too hot and they lost their leaves before any of my other plants at the end of summer.
However, this spring they woke up last (pawpaws don’t leaf out for me until about mid-May) but were doing great and had no die back.
I ordered a larger piece of shade cloth for the cherries (that I have in my backyard. Learn how to make a shade cloth cage and how to successfully grow low chill cherries, in the south here) I bought new tomato cages (mine were a mess and the welds had broken) and put shade cloth over them. (BTW this shade cloth was an excellent deal on Amazon when I linked to it. Figure out what size you need. I tend to buy 10×100 ft with 50% sun blockage so I have plenty of shade cloth for multiple projects)
Unlike row cover, shade cloth is very permeable. It is loosely woven which let’s wind, rain and sunlight in, but at a lower rate. I zip tied this to the tomato cage (lowes has tomato cages for under$4.)
The plants are happy even in our heat and the few hours that they are in full sun. This part of my yard is a corridor for hot, dry, wind, so I’m not really sure how I’m going to protect these when they are fully grown. But, so far, so good. I’m sure I’ll come up with something.
Anyway, one more thing checked off of my to do list.
Meet you out in the garden to decide what project comes next.
Crazy Green Thumbs
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Can pawpaw always be an understory tree? I mean, do they really need to grow through an upper canopy for more sunlight? I intended to grow mine where they are partially shaded by redwoods. Of course, they will never grow above the redwoods.
https://www.kysu.edu/academics/college-ahnr/school-of-anr/pawpaw/pawpaw-planting-guide.php
It looks like being an understory tree is the best way to keep it happy. I don’t know if the small amount of sun that mine gets will ever be a good thing.
but this says that it does not need to always be understory. I should find a better position for them. They are still young, so there is time.
They have a brittle tap root. I think it will always need to be understory here. Even a little bit of sun burns them up. Our sun is so hot, so dry from wind and the temperatures above 100° go months with no rain. I don’t know if I will be successful with the ones I have, but my growing conditions are very different from CA.
Well, growing conditions are VERY different throughout California. Some areas get hotter and drier than the worst of Texas, but some areas are rainforests. My region, although comprising several climates, is somewhere in between. Nonetheless, without leaving, I work in more climate zones than there are in all of Oklahoma. One of them must suit pawpaw, even if partial shade is necessary.
I saw pawpaw growing out in the open in San Jose. I sort of wonder how they are doing now. That is a chaparral climate, with warm and dry summers, and all its rainfall during winter.