Growing pawpaw
2024-06-06T09:07:58+10:00
Pawpaw plants are easy to grow… when you have the right conditions. Our resident food-growing expert Phil Dudman shares his tips for growing this delicious fruit in the tropics and subtropics.
Pawpaw plants love it hot and humid, so the tropics is where they’re at their best. While you can enjoy some success in the subtropics (where I live), they tend to struggle with the cold in winter and can develop all sorts of diseases. The further south you go, the harder it is to grow them. To encourage the best performance from your pawpaw in the subtropics, plant it in front of a north- to north-east-facing wall, where it can bask in the reflected heat of the wall while being protected from cold westerly winds in winter.
You can harvest the fruit year round in the tropics, as the plants are constantly growing and flowering. You’ll need both a male and a female tree, or a bisexual form. In southern marginal growing areas, growth stops in the cooler months, limiting the harvest to autumn and early winter, when the fruit that was started over spring and summer ripens.
In these marginal areas, pawpaw leaves become spotty and yellow in winter, and the fruit is often affected by anthracnose disease. This is a nasty fruit-rotting fungus that forms large black ulcers as it eats away at the flesh, leaving you with very little usable fruit. The fungus feeds on the sugars, so it doesn’t take hold until the fruit starts to ripen. I’ve learnt a good trick that helps to minimise the damage. Harvest fruit as soon as it starts to colour. Wash it well, then soak it in water that’s been heated to 55°C (that’s the approximate temperature of water from a hot water tap) for five minutes. This is hot enough to kill the fungal spores without scalding the fruit. Drain and dry the fruit, and leave it on the kitchen bench to keep ripening.
Pawpaw stems get tall quickly, so you need to prune them to keep the fruit within reach. Your first prune should be quite low – about knee high – so that when the plant reshoots and starts to produce fruit, they will be around chest high. The plant normally responds to pruning by producing multiple stems, so you end up with a lot more fruit, too. Pawpaw stems are normally hollow, so be sure to cover the cut with an upturned bucket or something similar until it calluses over.
For more food-growing advice, get the July issue of ABC Gardening Australia magazine – out now!
Photo by iStock
