Illia

I'm in a Banana forum of tropical fruit growers and noone knows what Paw Paws are? Man I'm up north.

Paw Paws are basically the only fruit in the Custard Apple family (Cherimoyas, Soursops, etc) that is cold hardy, and I mean, cold hardy. It is native to the states, still has delicious fruit like the others, but less "fruit salad" in flavor and more "vanilla" with, depending on variety, a hint of pineapple or mango.

Paw Paws actually do not require as many chill hours as some say. You can grow them in California, just now S. California. Their most ideal situation is a place that does frost, but still gets hot long summers.

I'm just starting to grow a few Paw Paws, as they're one of the very few tropical tasting things I can grow without overwintering/greenhouses, but even for me, my summers are too cool and my choices on varieties to try are slim. It's worth it though. The only true downside is that they're slow growers, and because of their sensitive taproot, you can only safely get tiny babies shipped to you, so, it takes several years to wait for fruit.


To the OP - Congrats on the one, really hope it makes it for you!


ETA - PawPaw in Australia is what we Americans call Papaya. That's why the leaves are different. Completely unrelated plants.