Topic: Asimina Triloba (New England Pawpaw)

[Vinlander]

A lot of people have trouble with this fruit because detailed information is scarce and scattered and mainly US-based.

The seeds are available but even the best suppliers only give advice on how to germinate - and there are other pitfalls...

It is an interesting and delicious fruit and will produce in the warmer parts of the UK - though if you want fruit every year most people will need to keep it under glass in summer (not winter) to match the heat of US points 10 degrees south of us.

It is often called the custard banana and is just as delicious as the (related) custard apple but infinitely hardier.

However it does have very specific requirements as a seedling because it has a very fussy taproot.

It is basically impossible to grow it well in a pot less than twice as deep as you'd expect for its size.

Once you've grown it into a pot 15cm x 30cm tall it can be planted out or potted into wider pots that don't need to be any deeper until you end up in a more normal 30x30cm or larger.

It also hates waterlogging in the long pot so it needs LOTS of perlite or gravel in the potting mix and grows best if the pot sits on moist capillary matting - it seems quite happy to encounter lots of moisture below the 30cm level (it grows on well drained riverbanks in its natural state).

Ideally it needs to be in a greenhouse border in summer or even better , but doesn't need one in winter (the colder the better).

It would be great to have a movable greenhouse! Then after picking the fruit in October you could move it over more normal plants that need heat in winter and not in summer..

[goodlife]

Have you had much success with it? How large the plant/shrub/ tree(??) grow?

[goodlife]

a tree..just noticed the other post in this... ::)

[Vinlander]

It can be first-fruited in a small greenhouse and you can prune them anyhow so it's possible to keep them to a sensible size.

Of course you need two to pollinate and an artists' brush to do the dirty deed reliably (self fertile varieties are rare even as grafted trees, and are unlikely to emerge in a batch of seedlings).

Grafted varieties are likely to have better flavour but you still need a seedling big enough to provide flowers for pollination.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Would it work to grow them the way vines used to be grown, with the roots in the ground outside the greenhouse, and the stem coming through a hole at the bottom, so the top growth was in the warmth?

[goodlife]

 ;D..good thinking Robert.. ;D..now I'm interested...I cannot bother with shifting pots in and out..I get enough with citrus ::)..well???

[Vinlander]

Would it work to grow them the way vines used to be grown, with the roots in the ground outside the greenhouse, and the stem coming through a hole at the bottom, so the top growth was in the warmth?

Sorry to rain on your parade but as far as I'm aware this isn't a root dormancy issue, it's a chill-hours issue which depends on the ripe wood being chilled - ie. the whole tree.

In any case I'm hoping the high summer temps are more important than the low winter ones - remains to be seen.

If I'm wrong I'll need both and the moving greenhouse is the only solution - I could just take the panes out but then I'd need another cold winter house for everything else...

Cheers.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I remember an episode of 'The Victorian Kitchen Garden' which showed an old type of fruit house. They opened panels at the back to let the cold in over winter. But it does sound as though you'd need somethng dedicated.