True Root Nursery

Pawpaw Seedling

Staff Favourite!

Jodi's favourite! Jodi describes it as “such a unique fruit with it’s tropical flavour and custard-y texture. Since it isn’t common in grocery stores (doesn’t keep long) you’re sure to have fun introducing friends/neighbours to your very own crop of pawpaws!”

All staff favourites are offered at 20% the regular retail price. This discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts and they will receive normal wholesale pricing should they be purchased wholesale.

Species: Asimina triloba

History: Native to southern Ontario where it is considered a vulnerable species and the central United States, it is believed the range of these trees has shrunk with the extinction of megafauna that likely dispersed the seeds. These oddly tropical fruits have been cultivated by indigenous peoples and European colonizers alike, it is rumoured chilled pawpaw was George Washington's favourite dessert and Thomas Jefferson planted some at Monticello. Although popular among locals and with foragers, pawpaws have failed to achieve any kind of commercial success due to their poor keeping ability and oft difficult pollination.

Why We Grow It: The Pawpaw produces very unique fruit that has a distinct tropical banana/mango flavour and custard-like texture. As it oxidizes fairly quickly once cut open, it is best eaten fresh once fully ripe or made into sauces, ice cream, etc. You can bake and cook with pawpaw like you would with bananas but please take note that some people have reported extreme tummy troubles after consuming cooked pawpaws! Pawpaws have a very slow growth habit and grow naturally as an under story tree, usually not reaching over 35 feet. We grow them from seed for increased hardiness compared to grafted stock.

Fruit Specs

Recommended Use: Fresh eating, preserving, baking (please note some people report extreme gastrointestinal distress after consuming cooked pawpaw!!)

Fruit Size:

Storage: Keeps about a week in the fridge

Harvest: September - Late

Growing Specs

Canadian Hardiness Zone: 5

Soil Preference: Prefers rich loam

Flowering Time: Spring - Early

Bloom Colour: Deep maroon

Pollination Requirements: Requires a pollinator, for optimal fruit production plant at least three trees

Sun/Shade Requirements:

Partial shade to full sun (approx. 6-10 hours of sun daily), young trees are sensitive to full sunlight but adult trees produce more fruit with full sun

General Growth Habits:

Tree usually reaches 11m but can get up to 14m tall

Shipping vs. Pick Up

CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.

Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.

Size at Purchase

Pawpaw seedlings are divided into the following grades:

-1 year plant - 15-35cm
-2 year plant - 30-70cm

There is some overlap in size since we are also taking the age of the plants into account. Some older plants may not have put on quite as much vegetative growth but will have larger root systems.

All of these heights exclude the roots since seedlings and some berries will often have a lot of root growth but relatively little vegetative growth (ex. our Shagbark Hickories seedlings are often 5-15cm above the soil but will have roots that reach 20cm+ in length).

Not all of our berries and seedlings will be available in all of these grades since growth rate can vary significantly across species and even varieties. While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively.

Why plant small? It's best to transplant when a plant is young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and bareroot plants tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted ones planted at the same time, after a few years.

Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "too small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the plants are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.