Pawpaw: Known as the "woods banana", Pawpaw is North America's largest native fruit. Sweet with tropical flavors, medium to large fruit, and seeded with a few medium to large seed. Zone 5-9
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American pawpaw (Asimina triloba)
GRAFTED.
Small 12 to 24 inches tall $45.00;
Medium 2 to 3 feet tall $55.00;
Large trees 3 to 4 feet tall $65.00
Kentucky Champion ™ - is the "Big Daddy" of the Pawpaw Forest. This tree is remarkably resilient. Responds well to grafting. It's a good candidate for climates that are challenged for growing-degree-days (like southern England and northern Europe). The champion tree is the earliest bearing cultivar of all commercially available pawpaw trees. Fruits ripen between 2,483 and 2,845 standard growing degree days. They are large and tasty averaging about 230 grams. The seed-to-pulp ratio is good (about 8.3%). The skin is attractive and durable; it resists dark spots, bruising and other discoloration. The pulp is firm and golden-orange in color with a melon-orange flavor and pleasant lingering aftertaste. It's sweet with a subtle tartness that's been likened to pineapple or raspberry. The tree appears to be self-fertile.
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28 ft. Kentucky Champion |
Kentucky Champion
in Fall |
The Seed |
Open Seed |
Kentucky Legend is a mid-to-late season pawpaw tree that exhibits gigantism in the leaves and fruits like a polyploid. Seeds are scalloped and feathery with no sack and they appear to be sterile. The seed ratio is 3.5% by weight. The variety produces fruits averaging around 360 grams that appear to be like a Lehman variety. The largest fruits are 700-800 grams. The flavor is very good and similar to Sunflower. The texture is firm. Fruits can be picked several days before ripe and continue to ripen up – unlike most other pawpaw fruits. The fruits keep well without refrigeration, and they clean easily – to yield a lot of pulp in a short time. Most of the fruits will ripen in Sparta, NC at 3,000 ft elevation with limited heat units. The late fruit can be picked before the first freeze and allowed to finish ripening indoors.
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Kentucky Legend Fruit on Scale
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Kentucky Legend Fruit Halved |
Tropical Treat - Selected from the wild in Kentucky by Woody Walker in 2010. Introduced in 2015 from England's Orchard and Nursery, medium sized fruit, up to 6 inches long; weighing 180 to 300 grams, yellow greenish skin, yellow flesh, large seed, ripens mid-August in Kentucky, keeps well in cold storage. Has a thick skin and tastes like Mango with just a hint of pineapple. Observed to be one of the best tasting pawpaws on the market.
Al Horn (White fleshed pawpaw) - Hailing from the pawpaw orchard of the late, great pawpaw enthusiast Al Horn of Indiana, this pawpaw attains large size in the 7-12 oz range. Creamy, very sweet flesh with coconut/cherimoya like flavor. This pawpaw ripens late in the season.
Shenandoah™ ® - Fruit with few seeds (approx. 7% by weight). Fruit has creamy yellow flesh. Ripens in September in Kentucky. Fruit size medium-large; averaging 150 g/fruit and 80 fruit per tree.
Susquehanna™ ®- Fruit has few seeds, very fleshy, medium yellow flesh; thickish skin; this variety is less fragile than most. Few seeds (approx. 4% by weight). Ripens late September in Kentucky.
Potomac™ ®- delicious pawpaw from the Breeding work of Neal Peterson. large, sweet and delicious, Potomac fruit has a very high flesh to seed ratio.
KSU Atwood™ -Developed at Kentucky State University’s pawpaw breeding program led by Professor Kirk Pomper, this early ripening variety is noted for its very high yields of 150 or more fruit per tree.
KSU Chappell™ HI 4-1 - Avery vigorous grower, A 10-year-old tree produces in excess of 50 fruit per tree, very fruity with many tropical notes in the complex flavor profile that is delicious and very desirable to consume, we cannot say enough good things about this cultivar recently released by KSU and named 20th Sept. 2018.
KSU Benson™- A newly released variety by Kentucky Stated University Pawpaw breeding program with large, tropical-flavored fruit with a creamy texture and custard-like consistency. It has a sweet, rich taste with hints of banana, mango, and melon. The skin is green and smooth, while the flesh is yellow and fragrant, making it a prized variety for fresh eating.
275-48 - Benny's Favorite - A cross of Prolific X Sam Norris-15. Won the Ohio pawpaw Festival’s biggest pawpaw contest in 2011 and 2012. Additionally won second place in the best pawpaw contest in 2013 and 2014 beating out 14 other entries each year. Mid to late season excellent sweet flavor. Bred by Jerry Lehman
275-56 - Benny's Favorite - A cross of Prolific x Sam Norris-15. Average large size, true pawpaw flavor has won awards in the OHIO Pawpaw Contest. Simply said it is one of the best pawpaws for eating and cooking. Bred by Jerry Lehman.
275-69 - Second place winner in the Best Pawpaw Contest at the 4th International Pawpaw Conference, Frankfort Kentucky, 2016. Bred by Jerry Lehman. Fruits - average size, butter smooth flesh, sweet, top of the line pawpaw flavor, light yellow skin when ripe making it easier to determine stage of ripeness when picking fruit.
Maria’s Joy – Bred by Jerry Lehman of Terre Haute IN. Medium to large sized fruit; kidney-shaped; yellow flesh; heavy producer. A Davis X Prolific cross. Produces good crops annually, average 8 to 14 oz range, as high as 16. All visitors to Jerry’s orchard love this cultivar. A well-known fruit author said it was the best tasting pawpaw he ever tasted. Won the Ohio Pawpaw Festival’s "Biggest Pawpaw Contest" in 2012. Fruits 631 to 704 gm.
Caspian Pawpaw - Discovered in northwestern Missouri By Tyler Halvin and named after his youngest son. The Tree is extremely productive Yielding large 8 to 18-ounce fruits. There is very few seed for the massive size fruits. Taste is sweet and fruity smooth textured with no bitter aftertaste. This selection from Pawpaws norther native range Ideal for shorter growing seasons.
Jerry's Delight / 250-30 - Bred by Jerry Lehman- Open pollinated seedling of KY-8-2. Won the biggest pawpaw contest in 2013, 680 gr. and placed third in the best pawpaw contest 2014. Great flavor and sweet.
Allegheny™ ® This very productive variety features large fruit with delicious, sweet, creamy-yellow flesh. appears to be the earliest ripening of the Peterson Pawpaw varieties.
Summer Delight - Just an average size pawpaw of 8 to 12 ounces that absolutely tastes delicious, has a yellow tinted shin that is thick, and ships and stores well. The remarkable thing about this Pawpaw is that it ripens in the last week of July and the first week of August. Here in Kentucky, of all the cultivars we have, it is the first to ripen. It is not precocious and takes 4 to 5 years to come into production, but it is well worth the wait. In most years the fruit is on the ground long before you expect it to be. Summer Delight has a smooth textured flesh, few seeds, and a mild after taste.
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Summer Delight Tree |
Summer Delight
Pawpaws on Tree |
Summer Delight
Pawpaw Fruit |
Summer Delight
Measurement |
Rappahannock™ ® - Ripens Mid-September in Kentucky. This fruit typically exhibits a yellowish color break at picking stage. This tree has an unusual leaf habit, where the leaf is held horizontal-to-upright, making the fruit more visible under the canopy of leaves.
Wabash™ ®- Very fleshy. seed Percent is low, Flavor sweet and rich. Texture medium firm, creamy, smooth. Flesh color yellow to orangish, our favorite.
Halvin - Pawpaw found by Tyler and Danae Halvin in Iowa. Fruit is 8 to 14 ounces. Great flavor (very sweet, no after taste), has a hint of pineapple flavor. Original tree was growing as an under store tree. Stated to be the largest native pawpaw fruit to be found in southwestern Iowa, not far from Bedford, IA. It is 3 weeks earlier than all other pawpaws.
Halvin Pawpaw
KSU Benson™ (KSU 7-5 cultivar) – This pawpaw variety is a high yielding, round, medium-sized fruit of the early season ripening variety. It has a unique mango, banana, pineapple-like flavor. This selection is unique in that it bears round fruit that are attractive and can also be packed easily.
Tallahatchie™® – Tallahatchie is distinctive because of its exquisite flavor. Pleasant aroma and sweet mellow flavor with floral notes and a very smooth texture. It has very few seeds – the ratio is less than Shenandoah. Tallahatchie tends to bear large clusters – impressive to see – though it may require thinning. Yields are medium-high. Ripens mid-season to late. In Maryland mid-to late September. Fruit averages 240 gm, (9 oz) with very few seeds (seed to fruit ratio is 5%).
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Tallahatchie close up
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Tallahatchie cluster |
 Tallahatchie ripe cluster |
Nyomi's Delicious - Original trees grown in Berea, Kentucky and is a local favorite of the neighborhood. Light yellow fruit with no after taste. Very heavy producer of 10 to 12 oz. pawpaw fruit that are 4 to 6 inches long. Hangs in cluster of 4's and 5's.
Freestone Variety Pawpaws
Marshmallow, honey dew, and cantaloupe freestone-varieties of pawpaw-trees came from a historical-property in Kentucky that has three very old trees. The fruits are tasty, well-formed, blunt-ended, blemish-free, and quite large (250g - 300g on average). The flavors are tropical melon-like with a trace of banana and the flesh-texture ranges from somewhat chiffon to firm. The seeds are easily removed because they do not have a seed-sack. The fruits ripen in the mid-season and the pulp freezes exceptionally well. Freestone fruits were used successfully in the pawpaw creme-brule’ recipe served at Boone Tavern in Berea, KY.
Honey Dew -
As the name suggests, honey dew pawpaw fruits can taste similar to a honeydew melon. They average 275g on the parent tree.
Cantaloupe Pawpaw - has the largest fruits, averaging 300g on the parent tree, and tastes as the name suggests. The tree has been observed with clusters of 3 to 4 pawpaw fruits that are over 300g each, falling and splitting into two clean pieces.
Marshmallow Pawpaw - fruit has a tropical melon-like flavor and it is the sweetest of the three freestones. As the name suggests, the flesh-texture can be more chiffon than the others with the fruits average about 250g on the parent tree.
Container Grown Ultra Select Pawpaw seedlings of Jerry Lehman Selections
These selections include Cultivars of 250-30, 250-39, 275-48, 275-56 and other hand Hybridized Crosses made by Jerry Lehman. Trees are 2 to 3 feet tall shipped in containers. Pawpaw seedling trees are grown in 4 x 4 and 5 x 5 deep containers are 2 and 3-year-old trees and have a large established root system with branching 2 to 3 feet tall. Priced at $30.00 each
There will be other pawpaw cultivars in so few numbers that is worthy of advertising.
If you have a question or an interest in some of these cultivars, please email or call.
On a short list of cultivars such as, Tropical treat, VE-21, Halvin Sidewinder, 275-17, and others named and Numbered selections available in small and medium. Container Grown, Royalties applies where applicable.
