Tree ID

[NewBowyer]

Does anyone know what tree this is? This is what all the buds look like before the red flower falls off. It's a straight trunk with smooth gray bark; they seem to grow together in small groves.

[Pat B]

pawpaw. I think it is too light for bow building. It does make good fire spindles and fire boards I think.

[NewBowyer]

Thanks; I’m glad I didn’t cut one down.

[Pat B]

Keep an eye on it. You might get fruit from it.

[Eric Krewson]

Pawpaws, taste like banana custard, the fruit is mostly large seeds but enough good fruit make eating one worthwhile.

[NewBowyer]

Supposedly they're called "the Indiana banana," at least that's what I heard years ago from an old-timer. When do they fruit?

[Eric Krewson]

I can't remember exactly, I think July/August. I walk an exercise trail through the woods near the Tn River, there are multiple pawpaw patches along the trail. They don't have a good crop of fruit but about once every 3 years but there are always enough to munch on if I can beat the critters to them.

I took some seed home and planted a patch of them down in my woods. I now have about a dozen saplings from 4 to 8 ft tall.

[Eric Krewson]

Too soft for bows;

Wood: Pale, greenish yellow, sapwood lighter; light, soft, coarse-grained and spongy with a specific gravity of 0.3969 and a density of 24.74 pounds per cubic foot (396.3 kg/m3).

[Pat B]

I've had 2 pawpaw patches at my place for more than 10 years. They flower each year but I have never had fruit. I read that the pollinators for pawpaw were blow flies and the way to encourage fruiting is to place dead animals around or near the patches. My dogs would love that so I guess I won't have fruit in the future unless nature does it for me.

[Fox]

I've had 2 pawpaw patches at my place for more than 10 years. They flower each year but I have never had fruit. I read that the pollinators for pawpaw were blow flies and the way to encourage fruiting is to place dead animals around or near the patches. My dogs would love that so I guess I won't have fruit in the future unless nature does it for me.

You can hand pollinate them by taking a paint brush and moving polin from one to another...  there bisexual so no need to find the different genders...