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Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 3, 2017 7:24:04 GMT -6
Interesting developments in the field of Pawpaw research:
Laboratory experiments were performed to study the effects of pawpaw, Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal, fruit extract on mortality and feeding deterrence of striped cucumber beetle, Acalymma Vittatum (F.). Recently, fruit tissues of pawpaw were found to contain phenolic and antioxidant compounds, as well as annonaceous acetogenin compounds having insecticidal activity. Ripe pawpaw fruit pulp from a range of pawpaw varieties was extracted with 100% ethyl alcohol to obtain acetogenin compounds. Pulp extracts of 0, 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000 and 50,000 ppm were then used to assess feeding deterrence and mortality of beetles. Buttercup squash leaf disks 3.5 cm in diameter were treated individually with each concentration and placed on water moistened filter paper in plastic Petri dishes (9 cm diam). Five-striped cucumber beetles were placed on each leaf disk. All Petri dishes were then placed in an environmental growth chamber at 27°C and a 16:8 hour, light: dark photoperiod. Feeding activity was recorded 1, 4 and 24 h after beetle introduction. After 24 h the beetles were removed. Beetles did not feed on treated squash leaves at either 1 or 4 h of exposure. However, significant feeding occurred between 4 and 24 h after beetle introduction. Feeding was lowest and feeding damage least on 50,000 ppm pawpaw-treated leaf disks compared with leaf disks treated with < 10,000 ppm dilutions. Pawpaw fruit extract reduced feeding by 89% and 97% in the 10,000 and 50,000 ppm treatments, respectively. The calculated LC50 value was 50,538 ppm whereas the LCF10 (concentration at which only 10% of the leaves were consumed) was 2,033 ppm. At 10,000 ppm 10% of the beetles were killed; however, only 3% of the leaf tissue was consumed. Thus, pawpaw fruit extract may be an effective insect feeding deterrent. The duration of treatment effectiveness and susceptibility of other pest and beneficial insect species to the extracts also needs to be examined.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 6, 2017 16:18:23 GMT -6
The last of the Pawpaw season is almost upon us. I only have two Pawpaws still hanging in my tree. It will be a few days before they're ripe though, they are still hard and green.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 14, 2017 17:42:34 GMT -6
Today is September 14th, 2017.
I picked my very last pawpaw of the season today.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 9, 2018 6:06:20 GMT -6
Very strange phenomena,
We attended Joe Trammel's funeral just last Wednesday and were remarking at the time, how it was less than 2 weeks until Mother's Day and the oak leaves at the cemetery were still less than 1/2 an inch long. The late frosts of Spring had held them back almost a month past their time. In years past, in preparation for Decoration Day, I've trimmed oak trees at that cemetery that were in full, leathery, leaf the week before Mother's Day.
Maintaining the cemetery here is a community effort, so I end up doing a lot of mowing and trimming there along with my neighbor, Bill, who lives up the hill from our house.
The snow we had on April 7th, killed most of the buds on the trees around here this year, including the paw-paw trees that were in full bloom that day. A few days later, my youngest Son and I went out to the orchard and picked several freeze-dried paw-paw blossoms from a few trees. We looked on in disgust at what damage the freezing snowstorm had done. I remember commenting to him at the time, "Well, I guess this will be another year without any fruit."
Boy, was I wrong. . .
The strange phenomena are that after that April 7th snow, these trees are blooming again and producing previously pollinated fruit simultaneously. The trees have small paw-paws on them almost a half inch long from the first time they bloomed, before the snow came.
(I figured that was one for the books, so I took pictures to post here this morning.)
My Wife held her hand behind one set of paw-paw fruits as a reference while I snapped this photo. These are good sized paw-paw fruits that pollinated before the snowstorm on the same trees where the second set of blossoms are now appearing. We have four paw-paw trees. Three of those four trees are blooming for a second time this season while displaying weeks old fruit. Shown here, is a blossom from the second blooming, alongside a cluster of paw-paw fruits, on yet another tree. This tree is less than a hundred yards from where the first photo was taken. It seems everything is working overtime this month. Above is a photo of a swarm of bees that I hived less than 2 weeks ago. They already have the beginnings of six bars of honeycomb started.
I cut the tip of my thumb off with a table saw while building this beehive. Now, it has this much comb inside and I haven't even had the stitches taken out yet. Less than two weeks have passed since this hive was still in my shop waiting for me to put it all together with a sore thumb.
I just now looked up my doctor's bill. April 26th was the day I was cutting the entrance hole above the landing board before I went to the hospital to get my thumb sewed up. It was one day later before I got the aluminum top nailed on and sealed against the weather. That Saturday, April 28th, I got my oldest Son, Matt, to help me load this hive on the truck and help set it in place.
I hived this swarm that night after dark, so April 29th was their first sunrise inside the new hive. Today is May 9th. I took this photo yesterday, May 8th, at dusk. That is an incredible amount of progress for the amount of time these bees have been working.
Our God is an awesome God! The wonders of his nature will never cease to amaze me.
My sore thumb. I've been trying really hard not to hit it with a hammer.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 11, 2018 16:46:50 GMT -6
It's Pawpaw time again! These are photos of my Wells and my Shenandoah Pawpaw trees. If you back up one frame, you can see what these pawpaws looked like on May 9th. They've really filled out since then. These aren't ripe yet, but it won't be much longer. If you look closer, you can see several more pawpaws among the foliage. These will be good eating in the coming weeks. For me, they are much more reliable than apples or peaches. Both of those fruits seem to beat the odds of a late frost only once every 10 years or so. My pawpaws seem to bear no matter what.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 18, 2018 14:50:51 GMT -6
Today is August 18th, 2018. I harvested our first ripe pawpaws this afternoon! There were eight of them. Four were overripe because I missed seeing them in time, so I fed those to the pigs. We are eating the other four right now.
My little Shenandoah pawpaw tree has the biggest and best fruits again this year. It's the smallest tree out there but has the biggest fruit every time. That is the same tree that grew the 11-ounce pawpaw last year. This year, it has 25 pawpaws on it and several look to be 8 ounces or more. The Shenandoah variety is a keeper for sure!
Deer ate my KSU-Atwood tree back to the ground three years running. I guess I'll ever know which of the two are better. The KSU-Atwood tree is still alive but it is only about as big as a Weiner stick from predation and browsing by deer.
Hopefully, I'll be 'browsing' a deer this Autumn when deer season opens again. They have really destroyed my sweet potatoes and little yellow pear tomatoes this year.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 19, 2018 19:43:31 GMT -6
I harvested a 6.4 ounce pawpaw today. I didn't pick it, it was just laying on the ground after the heavy rains had passed, so it wasn't at it's prime in ripeness, it was just a victim of circumstance. I'm sure we'll enjoy it just the same though. It's only the ninth one of the season. This was the second day in a row to find pawpaws laying on the ground.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 21, 2018 16:23:01 GMT -6
Pickin' up pawpaws, puttin' 'em a basket...
I went out this afternoon after the wind switched from the North to the South, then back again and found 9 ripe pawpaws laying on the ground. I think that makes eighteen so far, this season. Still lots more on the trees.
This has been a great day with temperatures in the 70s 'til noon. I think the high today, was only 82 degrees. I've been busy most of the day, smoking a big rack of pork ribs with red oak, pecan, and just a touch of hickory. The pawpaws have been a good diversion as well as a snack.
I found a pretty good sized one that was weather cracked, so I cut it in half, lengthwise and planted it down by the creek. Maybe, in years to come, it will sprout up and grow good fruits too.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 24, 2018 21:28:49 GMT -6
I found another dozen pawpaws on the ground, today, after the high winds. One weighed 8 ounces (which wasn't the largest fruit by any means).
The Doctor shot my gimped up shoulder with 6 ml of steroids last week and one of the surprise benefits was that the steroids also shrunk my nasal polyps. I can smell and taste my food again for the first time in months. Because of the nasal polyps, I had never tasted a pawpaw in my life, until this evening.
"THEY ARE A LITTLE TASTE OF HEAVEN." They have a rich, diverse, aromatic flavor that is very hard to describe. A little like custard in texture, with subtle hints of banana, pineapple, cantaloupe, and mango combined. They have an extraordinary, fragrance, that's for sure!
I'll attach photos of the fruits still on my trees, just to give you an idea of how large these fruits can get. The tree pictured is less than 8' feet tall but is loaded with incredibly large fruit. From today's 8 ounce pawpaw fruit, I am estimating this one to weigh nearly 3/4 pound. It is a huge pawpaw. Good thing i is supported by the forked branches below the fruit that cradle it so it doesn't fall prematurely. As you can see, this Shenandoah variety pawpaw tree is loaded with good sized fruit. This was an excellent year for pawpaws. GOD IS GOOD... ALL THE TIME!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 25, 2018 11:45:26 GMT -6
Like gathering eggs, every morning, I walk to the Pawpaw patch and gather more Pawpaws laying on the ground and bring them home in a basket. This Pawpaw ended up weighing 11 ounces. I found it laying on the ground at the base of the tree this morning at 6:30 am. I was hoping to beat the squirrels to it and I did. This morning's harvest, shown on a 9" inch paper plate. I found an 8, 9, 10, and 11-ounce Pawpaw nestled in the grass at sunrise. I didn't weigh the smaller ones, but the combination weighed 2.9 pounds or 47 ounces. That's amazing for fruit grown in these parts. Out of all my fruit trees, pawpaws are the most reliable.
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Post by macmex on Aug 25, 2018 14:22:07 GMT -6
Superficially, they remind me of mangos. Their flavor, however, isn't the same. I think it's even better.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 27, 2018 23:43:54 GMT -6
I found 16 more pawpaws today. Our kitchen counter is overrun with the week's harvest. It's amazing how many folks don't even know what these fruits are.
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Post by macmex on Aug 29, 2018 5:46:26 GMT -6
Ron, the paw paws you gave us on Sunday didn't "survive" until Monday! They were wonderful! My wife has very fond memories of paw paws in Southern Illinois, where they grew abundantly in the woods. Her grandparents planted them in their yard and proudly showed them to visitors. I saved seed (again) and will see about trying to get some to grow in 2019.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 30, 2018 8:57:41 GMT -6
If you ever get a seedling established, I have some good varieties to harvest scion wood from for grafting.
That would be pretty cool to get a tree going for your Wife. They seem to bear fruit way more reliably than any of my apple, peach, or pear trees. They kind of remind me of growing persimmon trees. Once they are established, they are very resilient.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 5, 2018 7:42:40 GMT -6
September 5th, 2018
We've just harvested the last Pawpaw of the season today. Last year, we harvested our last pawpaw of the season on September 14th. The harvest dates have been pretty consistent throughout the years.
I'll sure be glad to see the Roselle begin to blossom.
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