One grower/seller recommended putting a white plastic garbage bag over them after placing some stakes around,between 10am and 2pm.That way the trees can get some humidity,which they like.Holes can be made in the bag for circulation. Brady

I'm in Colorado springs also. Could you tell me where you like to get your trees from? Also, what is your favorite?

England Orchard, Burnt ridge, Starbros, Edible landscaping, rolling river nursery, and Hidden Spring nursery.

Tony

From the information I have read and seen from multiple websites and random research I've done, Pawpaws that are grafted should not need protection from direct sunlight because they are grafted from mature wood that is able to withstand direct sunlight.. What I did with my Pawpaws is cut out a square around the trees and put little fold up fences - They are the small metal fences that you poke into the ground. I put 4 fences around each of the Pawpaws making a small square that encases the little tree - you can get these at home depot or lowes - Then you can buy a scarf from the store with the little tiny ropes at the edges and drape this over the pawpaw since it would probably be less than 24 inches anyways - then tie the ropes onto the metal fences and secure them.. that way the trees will get filtered direct sunlight - But you could always just put them out in full sun and see how the leaves look - as long as you water them regularly and keep the soil moist but not damp they should do well in full sun - mine have so far and they are all planted in full sun - I just make sure to water regular and deeply - hope it works out for you !

-Eric

Another good nursery for pawpaws is Forest Keeling Nursery in Missouri. They have something they call RPM. It's Root Production Method. You get potted plants with huge root systems.

Paw-paw's can never get use to 90ties without burning some leaves exposed for a while in direct sun but it does not hurt the tree.

Mine are in 90 plus degree temperatures and in direct sun every day in the summer and the leaves don't burn. Maybe it's the lack of humidity that burns pawpaw leaves. I'm at 326 feet above sea level in the Mississippi flood plain where it's very hot and humid.

Full sun was never a problem here for any pawpaws I planted. I wonder, however, about soil type and pH there in CO... as opposed to over here east of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, where they're EVERYWHERE in the woods.

Gary, you said it right, in the woods. I don't live too far from where you at and yes paw-paw's everywhere in the woods. Most of mine are on the north side of the house with a tree line next to the tree's. Some years i get a lot of leaf burn, some tree's show more burns. The ones that get burns usely expose the fruits to sun and will create dark spots.

You're the one who answered my queries about growing pawpaws in the high and dry mountain west way back in 2012! (I was fabaceae_native then).

Back then it seemed they were doing well. Has this success continued? Do you have any large mature specimens by now? Do they fruit well? How do they handle the insanity of your weather (yo-yoing temps, freak snowstorms, late freezes, winds, hailstorms, etc.)?

I'm embarrassed to admit that I have not tried planting pawpaws since my initial failures prior to 2012... I know I should roll the dice, but I'm getting tired of experimenting with marginal stuff, unless I'm really confident I will be getting a harvest from it soon!

It seems your plan of early shading would be a good way to go... I have yet to find any plant that can't be acclimated to full sun with adequate temperatures, soil, water, etc., even here in NM.

@garymc - How old are the Pawpaws in the second picture? Just curious how long it'll take my own trees to reach around that size. Thanks!

The near one is about 7 years old and the far one is 3 years old. They are close to the same size. The older one took 3 years to exceed knee high. It was one of those Pennsylvania varieties like Susquehanna or Shenandoah or some such. It finally grew some the last 2 or 3 years. It's like it spent years getting some roots under it. It was a bare root tree with very few roots when I bought it. The far one was a seedling from the Missouri Department of Conservation. I think I bought 8 of them for $10. Or maybe it was 10 for $8. Dirt cheap, anyhow. And it grew to 10 feet or more in 3 years. I planted it in full sun after watching some in the shade suffer and die. I have good sandy loam soil, 30 inches of rain a year, and hot, humid summers here in Southeast Missouri. I have kept the lower limbs pruned off to make it easy to mow and, of course, that forces them to grow tall.

I don't know if the slow one was that way because it didn't have many roots to start or because it was grafted. The place I bought it from was crummy, so it might not even have been grafted. I don't remember noticing the graft and I didn't know enough about them to know that a named variety will be grafted. I see some places doing things like selling seedlings from a named variety and calling the seedlings that variety, so a lot of people get cheated.

Garymc- wow so one of those was just the luck of the draw with the genetics to grow that quick.. I just planted 3 trees last April-May - they were all 13-18 inch sticks.. 2 seedling no names from Amazon supposedly from Hirt’s and one KSU Atwood from One Green World first season they grew only like 6-8 inch shoots - this season they really took off - one in particular grew like a 3 ft shoot almost I couldn’t believe it - the others grew around 12-24 inches each.. i’m excited to see how they do in 2018.. Especially the one that grew so much - they were all grown in deep root pots.. I try to give them acid loving organic formula and seaweed and fish fertilizer throughout the season too.. did yours fruit yet ?