Pawpaw

Sowing: Pawpaw can be started from seed, but transplanting is difficult because of its deep taproot, so trees are best moved while dormant in fall or early spring with the root ball kept intact; young seedlings should be grown in shade their first year since they are sensitive to strong sunlight.

Siting: Trees tolerate everything from deep shade to full sun, though fruiting is heaviest in full sun, and they need moist, well-drained, slightly acidic soil with ample water while establishing, since mature trees are sensitive to drought; a thick mulch of straw or wood chips helps with weed control and moisture, and trees are typically spaced 8 to 15 feet apart.

Pollination: Pawpaw flowers are self-incompatible, so at least two genetically different trees are needed for fruit set, and because the flowers rely on flies and beetles for pollination, hand-pollinating can improve yields.

Pawpaw has few serious pests or diseases. The pawpaw peduncle borer is the main concern, with larvae that burrow into flower stalks and can destroy large numbers of blooms, and occasionally also bore into twigs and fruit; Japanese beetles can damage foliage, and zebra swallowtail caterpillars feed on young leaves but rarely cause lasting harm or reduce fruit yield.

Trees commonly produce root suckers that can become troublesome in the landscape, and although resistant to deer browsing, pawpaw is notably sensitive to drought.

Harvest: Fruit ripens over about two weeks sometime between late summer and October depending on the tree, and is ready when it gives to a gentle squeeze like a ripe peach, releases a strong fruity aroma, and comes free with a gentle tug; skin color is not a reliable guide to ripeness, and gardeners often compete with wildlife to get to the fruit first.

Storage: Ripe fruit keeps only 5 to 7 days at room temperature, or up to about three weeks refrigerated, and gloves are recommended when harvesting since handling the fruit or foliage can cause contact dermatitis.

Culinary: The ripe, custard-like flesh is eaten fresh or used in ice cream, pies, custards, cookies, smoothies, juices, wine, beer, and jam, though only the ripe pulp is eaten — the skin and seeds can cause stomach upset and the leaves and stems are not consumed.

Ornamental: Beyond its fruit, pawpaw offers yellow fall foliage and serves as the main larval host plant for the zebra swallowtail butterfly, making it a fixture of native, pollinator, rain-garden, and woodland plantings.

Historical: Native Americans and early American settlers foraged pawpaw, particularly when other crops failed, it helped sustain members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and it provided food for enslaved people on journeys toward freedom, a history reflected in the folk song "Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch."

Pawpaw is native to the understory of moist, fertile forests across eastern North America, where it still spreads naturally by seed and by colony-forming root suckers. Rather than being domesticated through a distinct breeding history, it has long been gathered from the wild by Native Americans and settlers, and much of today's cultivated stock still traces back to wild germplasm, including collections held at repositories such as the one at Kentucky State University.