Pawpaw Problem

M

MyDogMike

Member
Has anyone else had a fruit drop problem with their mature PawPaws? I have 3 large, eight year old trees, a Mango, Sunflower and a Pennsylvania Golden that I hand pollenated the heck out of this spring and I believe they've dropped every fruit...again. I even had my daughter out with me teaching her about the whole process and helping with her own little paint brush. :)

Too much rain? They're not in the best well-drained soil, but they grow like they're enjoying it. No standing water or anything, but I do have soil that's a little heavy on the clay.

I even put down a nice bed of compost under each one to maybe give them some extra nutrients. I don't know, frustrating to say the least. I think I've eaten one fruit off all three trees the last three seasons if I remember correctly. If they looked like crap or were weak during the flowering phase, I wouldn't be as fixated on trying to figure this out. They really are nice trees and flower like you wouldn't believe.

Just wondered if anyone else had run into this.
 
Mine are still too young to bear fruit, but getting close. My first three trees I planted all had flowers this year (which was very exciting), but I didn't hand pollinate and none got naturally pollinated. As I said, the trees are still pretty small and I didn't really want them bearing fruit yet anyway. But they are putting on lots of growth and I am hoping that next year they will start bearing fruit.

I am definitely going to follow along on this discussion to hear what people have to say. As you say, it is worth figuring out. Pawpaw fruit is amazing!
 
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Have you ever had your soil tested? I wonder if it is a macro or micro nutrient deficiency? I'm not sure that is likely, since they seem very, very healthy. But it might be worth a shot to get one done. When I submitted my soil test, I was told to put it down as a test for apples or pears, if they request what you are testing for. (Most state Ag testing does not have a paw paw category for testing, and you usually have to pick something for them to evaluate for and apparently apples and pears have the most similar requirements to pawpaws). Come to think of it, clay soil is often alkaline and pawpaws prefer acidic soil. That might be worth the soil test to check the PH level of your soil. I'm still not sure I buy that, since your trees seem so healthy...
 
No never had a soil test done. If they didn’t do so well otherwise, I’d suspect poor soil.

I’m thinking it has to be some micro-nutrient deficiency, but even at that you’d think it would hang on to a few fruits.
 
I wonder if the bed of compost you lay down would have been better off as a top dressing instead. Providing the same nutrients without affecting the aeration and oxygen content of the soil. Just an idea Mike I'm kind of shooting in the dark here.
 
Maybe. I did put it down kinda thick, but it only comes out maybe 2 feet-ish from the trunk. That’s an good idea though.

It’s gotta be something with the soil. Either it’s not well draining enough or lacking nutrient(s). Why else would all 3 trees be doing the same thing?
 
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