I have a paw paw tree that has survived 7 years in northern Wisconsin. Unfortunately it is the only one out of five that I planted that has survived and so I'll never get fruit because they reproduce sexually and as far as I know the closest one is 4 hours south in Madison.
Pawpaws are actually hermaphroditic not dioecious. Your tree produces female flowers first and later in the year produces male flowers. This is to prevent self-pollination. However, you can save some male pollen until next year.
Alternatively, you could graft the branch of a pawpaw that flowers earlier to try and get the male and female flowers maturing at the same time. You might also be able to just buy some pollen. It's actually quite easy to collect. You can use a brush to sprinkle it on a female flower
Wait would that work? My understanding was that the pollen had to come from a different genome of pawpaw for it to work... But perhaps I'm mistaken?
Hmm I guess you're right. Most cultivars seem to be self-incompatible. Like most self-incompatible plants though, it's not 100%. Some cultivars like "Sunflower" don't seem to mind at all
> Your tree produces female flowers first and later in the year produces male flowers. This is to prevent self-pollination
How does this work in practice? Do other trees from the same species produce male flowers first, and then female? Logically, if all trees produce female flowers in spring and male flowers in the summer then the species can only survive if the seeds can remain viable unfertilized for months (which is probably not that exceptional for plants, I wouldn't know). But if the female seeds are still viable by the time the plant sprouts its male flowers, exactly how does this prevent self-pollination?
Actually I just looked it up and they're more bizarre than I thought. They are actually "protogynous". Meaning all flowers start off as female and as they mature they turn male.
I should've just said "later" instead of "later in the year"
I'm not sure how long pollen stays viable in the environment. Some species can stay viable for many weeks but most are just a few days I think. They can stay viable for years if refrigerated properly however.
That's a predicament. What are you gonna do? What's it doing 4h away from a booty call? That's a bit cruel.
There are dating sites for dogs. You may create a dating site for trees.
You can order the trees online.
Graft a steam with a different variety and then you will need a lot of flies, or a brush and some artistic strokes in May.