TIL I have to actually do stuff to make sure my pawpaws get pollinated properly. I have several trees and haven't gotten huge numbers of fruit from them, but it never crossed my mind that that wasn't just how it was supposed to be.
this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2025
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I only have 2 trees. So I was hoping to boost my yields in a way that doesnt mean hand pollination or hanging a carcass (which I havent seen any hard evidence works, just some anecdotes).
And I thought if I could propose my idea to others and get them to try it, I might have some alternative methods that are less labor intensive options by the time my trees are ready to bear fruit.
I plan on doing the carrion-flower bed as I think its pretty cool but it might be an easier sell to my gf if it is a proven way to boost fertilazation, on the pawpaws.
Planting native flowers couldn't hurt, but as with their Annona relatives, a decent yield of pawpaws will most likely require hand-pollination. People do it, and it works. The flowers are protogynous (effectively female first, then male), so you'll need to collect pollen from the flowers that are in the male stage and use it to fertilise the flowers still in the female stage, then repeat each day until all flowers have been pollinated. Your devotion shall be rewarded.
EDIT: Thank you for the informative post. Anyone in pawpaw territory would do well to research the plants that you linked.
my brother just recommended pawpaw as to what local trees I should keep while I'm taking out the maples that grow like weeds.
Depends on where you are, how big your yard is.
If the maples are sugar maples I would deeply ask you reconsider ripping them out as they don't tolerate road polution in urban areas.
I think most are field maples, I've been using plantnet to get an idea of what's growing out of the 100's of saplings that come up on the hills in my yard. I'll keep an eye out for sugar maples and keep any if they're in a good place.