Eric1221

I have 8 fruits altogether this year. 7 are on the seedling tree that produced 8 fruits from one flower in (2019). I had previously grafted two separate branches on the seedling tree.. one is Sunflower and the other is NC-1. Of those 7 fruits on the tree currently, 4 are Sunflower and the remaining 3 are the seedling tree fruit. None on the NC-1 but it’s growing very well and flowering a good amount. Has large deep green-blue leaves. The last single (1) fruit is on the Atwood tree ! All the flowers on Atwood had gotten wiped out by a late frost in May. This is around the time that I noticed that the Chappell tree (which was like 5-6ft tall) has leaf shoots that were all drooping. I didn’t figure it out until they turned brown and didn’t break off to check the trunk. Then I saw oozing and an ambrosia beetle walking around on the trunk. I had to chop the tree right there and put it in a sealed garbage pail in the sun.. I found one more tree that had ambrosia beetle. It was another tiny Chappell tree.. I discovered that like 2-3 weeks ago.. so late in the season but I noticed the top growth on the shoot was weaker with black dots and stuff. Then I noticed a small black hole in the trunk. I cut below there to remove the wood that looked diseased and sliced the hole down the middle with a primer. There was another beetle and larvae!! I put that piece of wood in a sealed garbage pail in the sun too. So far all the other trees look beautiful.. lush green growth, growing pretty vigorously. I check for more ambrosia beetle damage but I haven’t noticed anything yet. All seems well. Thanks for reading this if anyone does and just a written update of this year so far. Looking forward to trying Sunflower and Atwood.. the seedling fruit looks even larger and beautiful this year too. This seedling tree may be a winner in addition to the other cultivars I’m growing (Potomac, Atwood, Chappell, Shenandoah and Overleese. Then pawpaw seeds from Susquehanna pawpaw fruit that was overripe (lol). Hope you’re all doing well and your gardens/pawpaws/families are doing well and thriving.

__________________
I am very fascinated and excited about growing Pawpaws (Asimina triloba). I also am equally fascinated and excited to be growing: Pawpaw cultivars, Echinacea purpurea 'magnus', Asclepias tuberosa Butterfly Weed, Musa basjoo Cold Hardy Banana, Lycium barbarum 'Sweet Lifeberry', Passiflora incarnata 'hardy native maypop'.

Future projects: Indigenous/native host plants for butterflies such as: Zizia aurea Golden Alexanders, Eutrochium maculatum Joe Pye Weed, Asclepias incarnata Rose Milkweed.