Paw Paw Questions - Propagating

[Donna]

We bought a red paw paw yesterday and want to grow some more so kept the seeds to plant. There are some white and some black seeds. Can someone confirm the white are immature and can be discarded?

All the books I have read indicate there are three types of trees - male, female and bi-sexual, and that regardless of the type of tree you get seeds from the seeds will be a mixture of all three and the only way to tell is to wait for the plant to flower. As males don't produce fruit at that time you cut down the males (leaving one for eight females) and sometimes they will revert to female.

When asked to confirm a bi-sexual seedling, an ebay seller advised me:
Hi - there are a few different types of bi sexual paw paws- some fruit from close too the trunk and some yellows I have fruit from what looks like male flowers and I remember when I first saw mine doing that umpreen years ago I thought oh no it has ended up being a male-- but has the fruit in clusters - nice sweet ones- so ina ctual fact there are many different ones that grow and fruit different- it is also said by many that all bisexual are only red but this is not so- a lot I have I get from someone that grafts them-- which I have had on from time to time- but I do only have bi sexual and do not allow any one tobring others in in case somehow they do end up in the compost etc--- but it is true a small percent can end up being non bi aand female or male- I have heard this not seen it myself- usually the pink hue on young stems is a tell tale sign I believe

So can anyone confirm that bi-sexual trees tend to produce mainly bi-sexual seeds, in which case I should wait for my own bi-sexual paw paw and use those seeds...

[Lyn H]

Donna it sounds as though you may have picked the paw paw too early. The colour should be a rich, golden yellow on the outside and a deep pink, almost red on the inside. You should have plenty of seeds in a ripe paw paw.

[Scarlett Patrick]

if you put it in the fruit bowl (especially with bananas or apples) it will be exposed to ethylene gas (which is given off by ripe fruit and causes fruit to ripen)

sounds like it didn't continue to ripen on the bench (how disappointing! I know you were watching that one for a while!)

[Donna]

It seemed to ripen... the skin changed colour and it was soft. Sure it was a deficiency... time will tell!

[Scarlett Patrick]

you know you can get mineral mixes? one of the farmers on my permaculture course used them to correct nutrient imbalances on his land for his sheep. it's just ground up rock powders basically - I reckon sprinkling some of these and some activated carbon (i.e. charcoal) might really help your place - because you're putting lots of compost and nutrients in but the plants still seem to be missing something by the sound of it (unless it's just water - that can make all the difference too)

mind you i don't know where you'd get them from..

just a thought...

have you researched the soil type? that can often give you some good clues...dept natural resources and BCC might have some info on soil types by suburb i reckon

[Scarlett Patrick]

mountain pawpaw is bi-sexual, normal pawpaw is dio-ecious. two different species. some cross breeding can happen, just to confuse things.
if you want the bisexual ones, start with those and don't let the other ones get mixed up with them as the ebay man says, and if they have been crossed at any stage you can have non-bisexual throwbacks
mine are just chaos, i got both on purpose, haven't propagated any yet but have two self seeders in weird parts of the garden - birds? piffing the seeds? (I wouldn't have thought so in those spots..). kriedemann's farm compost/ worm castings/ chook shed sweepings? probable. so they'll be from our pawpaws or they could be food connect pawpaws, i have no idea. one looks mountain-ish, one was a female normal one. I think I had a male that flipped over, maybe even two. No nails, maybe stress? Or maybe they were happy and decided to make seeds. They're not very good at it though, i should probably take them out - but it's OK, we don't need ANY MORE pawpaw :)