1 year update: The Starks variety really took off, but has an aura of bad luck with it...first a branch from an overhead tree feel and broke off a large piece, and then a deer ripped down the other. Only 1 good branch left now.

The 6 footer from Nature Hills Nursery was DOA. They sent me a replacement this year, with another $35 shipping, etc charge, which was also DOA. Now they just said sorry, it happens. What a scam of a company. Beware!

The Blossom Nursery seedlings are doing great. All survived the winter, and all are in direct sunlight this year. The ones in good garden soil are about double the size of the others.

Hello! Missed this before! I am not far from you in north/central NJ (Bridgewater area). My pawpaws do very well. I first became interested in this "Exotic" plant while still living with my parents outside of Philadelphia a couple decades ago. I learned from both reading and trial and error that bare root plants never or almost never survive, and that the plants are slow the first year or so, but take off. I have read, and think they do like to be shaded when small but take more sun as they mature. After all the babying when they are small, once mature they are easy, furit well, and even produce more trees through root sprouts. Also, since all the fruit on one tree seems to ripen at once there are always some fruit that falls, and seedlings coming up here and there all over the yard which are sometimes hard to get rid of (that is right, the same plant you have trouble establishing initially seems to be a little "weedy" once established). I have both grafted varieties (I got my two current from Burnt Ridge Nurseries as tiny mail order plants) and I got one additional own-root plant from Pineland. The cultivars have good large fruit. I probably got lucky in that the noncultivar, plus root sprouts all have good fruit too. The grafted plants stay smaller and more manageable, the own root plants grow like crazy. With the few roots sprouts I left in place it is now a mini pawpaw patch. Enjoy them! Photos??

Question Which verity's of Pawpaw and Persimmon should I order ?

i am no expert, but let me offer you my 2 cents. If you live in nj, you may be limited to the non-astringent kind of persimmon. The astringent kind, including Fuji, needs to be in a warmer zone. I planted 2 kinds this year. One is a Tam Kam from mail order. The other is Jiro, which I bought from a local nursery. I spent twice as much on mail order because of shipping and it is looking pretty miserable now. The Jiro from nursery, I was surprised that it fruited the first year. Got 10 persimmons out of it, small but very sweet.

i also planted a few paw paw seedlings. They are the Sunflower variety.

I have an astringent persimmon that bears heavily. Never a problem with hardiness. I don't have the label in front of me.

2 Year update:

The Stark's Pennsylvania in the first pic is doing really well in the shadow of a large oak tree. It gets direct sun until about 11A and that's it, but has really taken off. I have a small one (wild seedling) in the front lawn that gets full sun but it hasn't grown past 2' - I guess they really do need shade when small. The other seedling is doing exceptionally well with 3-4 hours of sun also in the shade of large oaks and maples. 2 other seedlings at my moms house are doing similar things - great when in half sun (3' tall at year 2), not so great when in full sun (barely a 1' tall, and leaves began yellowing in august).

I have had deer attack my biggest one which ripped off a large branch. woodnative, how do you protect your fruit? the deer also absolutely devour my peaches, pears, and apricots.

Yuri- They all look great and show a lot of growth! I am getting a ton of fruit right now. I am lucky with the deer.......the deer population around me is bad but there are two fairly busy roads a couple blocks away in two directions. I think this helps. In the spring and early summer I always spray key plants with one of the deer repellent products. As they are not in the habit of coming through I usually don't have problems with them later. Deer are not supposed to like pawpaw leaves (I don't know about the fruit!) but of course hungry deer will eat almost anaything. Fruit that drops is often nibbled by other creatures before I get to it. Pawpaw fruit is strange when it is not ready it is firmly attached but as soon as it is ripe it drops at the slightest touch.

6 year update...finally have fruit!!! Two trees gave me about 10-20 nice healthy fruits and somehow they survived all the squirrels and coons. The Starks Bros Pennsylvania is doing the best, and it is under a huge oak tree so it only gets sun for half a day. One of the seedlings, which gets almost full son, is the biggest but doesnt have as much fruit. Overall, 5-6 years ago I planted 6 plants...2 died within a year or two, and a 3rd was doing ok until its death after 4 years. This year planted about 6 more, half from wild seeds I found and half from a grower.

That is great!! Did you enjoy the fruit? Most people love it......ocassionally people don't like it or it is "too weird" (e.g. not what they expect after eating typical apples etc.). You will get more and more fruit each year. Where did you get the recent wild seeds that you found? I have yet to come across wild pawpaws in NJ though I have seen them in other states and I know they are here.

Tasted amazing, so much so that i’m replacing everything i can in my yard with pawpaws. The one that I found was actually off of fallen fruit from someones front law near Nyack :)

Awesome! They are really good. Since they all come at once, my neighbors, friends and coworkers have all had the opportunity to try them! Most people really like them. They are unique though and you will occasionally find someone who doesn't care for them at all. Once guy I worked with would eat anything but just didn't take a liking to them. However, for everyone like that there are 10 who think they are amazing and wonder why they never heard of them before!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7156197/ Just wanted to pass this along. Consumption of the Pawpaw fruit has been linked to Parkinson’s like symptoms due to a neurotoxin in the fruit itself.

Key word is 'habitual'.

Have you tastes the fruit? well worth the shakes!