Satisfying work.
I'm so jealous. I've been hunting for some around me. I'm supposed to be in the right area but can't find any. I should just go buy a sapling or seed.
this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2026
175 points (100.0% liked)
Native Plant Gardening
1274 readers
87 users here now
Why native plants?
According to the The National Audubon Society:
Restoring native plant habitat is vital to preserving biodiversity. By creating a native plant garden, each patch of habitat becomes part of a collective effort to nurture and sustain the living landscape for birds and other animals.
What our community is about—
This community is for everyone who is interested in planting native species in their garden. Come here for discussions, questions, and sharing of ideas/photos.
Rules:
- Don't be a jerk.
- Don't spam.
- Stay on topic.
- Specify your region in the post title. This is a global community, so designating your region is important.
More for you to explore—
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
You should. Much higher chance of getting fruit if you have some genetic diversity in your plant stock. So I've ordered some from a couple different people, had people send me seeds, and rescued my own.
Hopefully after I get some seeds here from some wild trees near me, I'd be happy to mail you some to stratify.
Good luck in your journey, DM me if you want to talk pawpaws.
I do feel the need to leave a passing PSA that DMs through Lemmy are IIRC basically publicly viewable (again IIRC, they're basically handled like normal comments, just within a different section), so do not DM any addresses directly. Share username information for a more secure message platform and share any addresses that way.
Good call, Ty. Didn't think of that.
What dafuq?
Yeah, DMs on Lemmy are... they're not really well named. Or private.
Direct but not private? Interesting
Thanks, good call on multiple sources. I'm probably at the wrong time of year now to start. I've added a reminder to my calendar for next year. Gives me time to clean up the spot in the yard I want to put them.
There are several pawpaw festivals that normally happen later in the year in the Eastern United States. The biggest that I know of is in Athens, Ohio. A quick search on the Internet may turn up one close to wherever you’re at, Also a good place to find them in the wild is close to streams and creeks, they prefer lowland areas where there are larger trees forming a canopy.
Sadly the one in Athens is the closest I could find and by no means close. Alright screw it. I'm making pawpaws happen and I'm starting my own pawpaw festival. With blackjack and hookers.
Hah, best of luck! In the meantime you can try Integration Acres as well for seeds and seedlings later this year.
Have you tried using INaturalist? They have a map of plants that have been identified
I'd checked a few "find these plants" kind of sites and never saw any near me. That one's got a few pegged deep in some woods near me though so guess I'm going hiking next weekend! Thanks!
Is that a fruit in the tree bottom right? I plant a paw paw three year ago. Still waiting for fruit.
It is. Get you a second tree from a different place. Genetic diversity increases chances. Takes years.
Also be ready to hand pollinate! A very soft paint brush is the way to go.
It takes about 8 years for them to mature to get a fruit. Those things are picky too, but gosh do I love Paw-Paw season.
That explains why I haven't gotten any fruit. I have 3 healthy trees that are about 5 feet tall but they're only 6 years old.
The neighbor cut down his massive maple trees shading my pawpaws and now the leaves are burning on the 90+ days here 🥺
Only 7 years and 6 months to go for me then : )
... If they survive this drought and heat wave
Very jealous. I've been trying to grow Pawpaw in zone2b climate but I've not yet managed to get a sapling to survive past two winters yet. However, those were in scorching summer drought years too so that did not help. There's a man in Quebec whose been working with these trees so they can survive extreme cold up here. Now we had a year's worth of rain in one month early summer and still more rain since so I'm hopeful this time.
I’ve been trying to grow Pawpaw in zone2b climate
That's gonna be a challenge. Most of the time I see zone 4 listed as the coldest zone they can survive. You may want to look at some of the techniques people use for overwintering citrus in cold climates to try and keep your saplings alive.
Also if you haven't already you might want to look into service berries as a fruit tree you could grow in your climate. Some species are hearty to zone 2, so with your 2b zone they should be happy in your climate.
Saskatoons, Alberta native species of Strawberry, Honeyberry shrubs, and two Evan's Cherry trees are what I have for fruit so far in my backyard. I plan to add short row of Sea Buckthorn too once my end of life cherry tree dies, I think this will be its last year, I'm amazed it managed to produce fruit at all this year given how haggard the poor old bastard is lol.
Burlap probably doesn't cut it for Pawpaw experiment/challenge. Greenhouse build long term.
Keep trying. Hopefully at some point it will stick. The breeding and grafting of these has gained traction. So someone really might develop a resistant version at some point. It's a fun hobby to mess with them that I think is inherently rewarding for its own activity, rather than necessarily requiring any perfect outcomes. So, document or share your experiences. Someone else can learn from what you learn. And we can all work together to help keep this wonderful tree common throughout North America.
I have hundreds, goddamn hundreds of them on my property. Almost never see the fruit. I think they might almost all be juvenile trees.
Part of the rub with them is that they need, or rather prefer, some genetic diversity to get fruit. It's a colonial organism, so if you see a whole big patch of them, good chance it's all the exact same one or a couple closely related ones that have spread out like the aspen trees in Colorado.
You can go buy a couple ones locally or have them mailed to you and significantly improve your chances of getting fruit. You can also hand pollinate those little red flowers with a paintbrush.
Its easy to forget how much more there is going on with the things around us. Fuckin picky apple trees don't wanna wind fuck and now your telling me I have a colony organism that don't wanna fuck and I should help them fuck. Jeeze
E: does it count as an orgy if i paintbrush fuck a colony organism?
Yes, assisted orgy.
Been trying to get these to grow from seed. No luck. Any tips?
They need to be cold stratified, and they can't get dried out. I definitely could not write a better guide than some of the available stuff online. But use lots of seeds and bear those two things in mind. Best of luck!
Thanks. I froze them for the winter, maybe not enough water. Better luck next time I guess.
Try the fridge, perforated bag with moist soil around the seeds. Maybe a hard plastic cup that is open on the top.
Thanks.
Are they going to deforest? There's some more rescuing you could do for the trees too
Yep probably another big housing development. And this is a particularly rich forest for the area.
You should consider spiking/pinning the trees. Tbh pinning is probably easier, you drill a 5 inch deep hole into the tree and drop in 4 inch ceramic rod. Fill the hole with wood glue, and place a piece of bark over the hole. Conspicuously mark the trees. Do it at night with plain clothes and a face cover
I appreciate the sentiment, but that's not for me. It might hurt some underpaid worker and won't change the outcome. My organization has been allowed to work this site, better to not risk it and continue getting access to sites.
Very understandable. We all have to pick our battles, and you're already doing what you can
Until I was given one to eat by a hobbyist who has a tree in his yard on Long Island, I assumed they were an Indian plant because of the Disney movie.
In my humble and largely meaningless opinion, they are one of the most enchanting plants in North America.