Past Events

April Chapter Meeting

In our April chapter meeting, we learned about pawpaws from Mark Lee. A member of the annona family, pawpaws are the largest tree bearing fruit in North America. Most are native to the east coast, but they can be grown here – he’s had the most success with the Taylor and Sweet Alice varieties. The Sunflower variety also grows here, and doesn’t require cross-pollination from another type.

The pawpaw is a challenging project for the ambitious rare fruit grower. Mark recommends covering the trees with shade cloth for the first four years to protect them from the sun (they are an understory tree naturally), to plant where they will get chill hours, to hand-pollinate, and to expect 5-8 years before fruiting. But if you’re willing to put in the time, pawpaws have a great flavor, somewhere between a banana and a mango. You can freeze the pulp to use later, and the fruit is very rare to find in stores because it doesn’t ship well.