Found along the C&O canal in western MD. This fruit was everywhere.
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Tree ID
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Found along the C&O canal in western MD. This fruit was everywhere.
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Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Seriously, no clue here...
Where, oh where is dear little Danny?
Where, oh where is dear little Danny?
Where, oh where is dear little Danny?
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Come on girls, let's go find him,
Come on girls, let's go find him,
Come on girls, let's go find him,
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Way down yonder in the paw-patch.
Where, oh where is dear old Nellie?
Where, oh where is dear old Nellie?
Where, oh where is dear old Nellie?
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Come on boys, let's go find her,
Come on boys, let's go find her,
Come on boys, let's go find her,
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Way down yonder in the paw-patch.
Where, oh where is dear little Jimmy?
Where, oh where is dear little Jimmy?
Where, oh where is dear little Jimmy?
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Come on girls, let's go find him,
Come on girls, let's go find him,
Come on girls, let's go find him,
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Way down yonder in the paw-patch.
Where, oh where is dear little Danny?
Where, oh where is dear little Danny?
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Come on girls, let's go find him,
Come on girls, let's go find him,
Come on girls, let's go find him,
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Way down yonder in the paw-patch.
Where, oh where is dear old Nellie?
Where, oh where is dear old Nellie?
Where, oh where is dear old Nellie?
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Come on boys, let's go find her,
Come on boys, let's go find her,
Come on boys, let's go find her,
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Way down yonder in the paw-patch.
Where, oh where is dear little Jimmy?
Where, oh where is dear little Jimmy?
Where, oh where is dear little Jimmy?
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Come on girls, let's go find him,
Come on girls, let's go find him,
Come on girls, let's go find him,
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Pickin' up paw-paws, put 'em in your pockets,
Way down yonder in the paw-patch.
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It's not well known because it's of little to no commercial value for timber, fruit, firewood etc. The fruit is said to taste like a mixture of banana and mango. So much that it is known as the West Virginia Banana. Makes some of the best ice cream money can buy. Problem is the fruit bruises in shipping, doesn't store for more than a few days once ripe, will not ripen after picking, and has large seeds. You will never find it in a modern grocery store - maybe at a farmers market. Growing in patches along water ways is very common, hence why you found it by the C&O. I hope you brought some seeds home!
It gets rediscovered ever few years. Someone semi-important looks it up and is amazed. Everyone gets excited that they will figure out a way to commercialize it. Then everyone drops their interest and it falls to the way side. Rinse and repeat every five years.
It's a great tree for several reasons. It's native to the US and grows over large sections of the east coast. The fruit is superb and has good yield. It has almost no disease or pest pressure. Seeds grow pretty true to their parents. Small enough to grow in suburban yards. 100000000x easier to grow than apple, peach, or pear trees, at least in my area.
West Virginia/Ohio/Western Virginia is the epicenter of the Paw Paw. Virginia Tech is number one for research on them. You are only 30-45 minutes from Peterson Pawpaws in Harpers Ferry, WV. Neal Peterson is the father of improved variety pawpaws and has the best trees in the country, although he now licenses his patents out to other nurseries and doesn't sell his own.
Sorry for the rambling, but it's certainly my favorite fruit tree. I have eight I am planting this fall.
Next time I will gather some seeds. I have a small creek near the property line that they will love.
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TreeGoomba
New Member
Gather some fresh seed from the fruit now. Put them in a ziplock bag with some moist peat and put the bag in the fridge until spring next year. Pawpaw seeds need cold stratification to germinate. Plant in a shady spot come spring, they dont like full sun.
My wife always finds my random bags of dirt in the back of the fridge. "Can you get a little fridge for your seed experiments. PLEASE."
Pellet_Pete
Feeling the Heat
lost in the woods
Burning Hunk
Adabiviak
Feeling the Heat
I doubt many people have burned it as firewood, it's not exactly a large tree.
Paw paw is in a tropical family, so we don't have any related trees to compare it to. It's closest, but very distant, relatives which wood burners have experience with are the magnolias, including tulip poplar. My guess would be slightly more btus, but not as easy splitting, as tulip tree.
Paw paw is in a tropical family, so we don't have any related trees to compare it to. It's closest, but very distant, relatives which wood burners have experience with are the magnolias, including tulip poplar. My guess would be slightly more btus, but not as easy splitting, as tulip tree.
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