I don't know about it. You could try calling and talking to someone down there.

When I was there, years ago, the old house was still empty. It's fairly close, and I go by, just never have time to stop. They are excellent in answering e-mail questions.
I do need to go, and discuss, in depth, Brown Rot on Stone Fruits.

I was there last year for a rooting class which was wonderful. You definitely get your money's worth with any class at either the Mt Grove Fruit Experiment Station or the University of Missouri Southwest Research Center in Mt. Vernon. And the classes are usually $10 or under. They always seem to have a strong turn out.

I haven't been to a field day, but I'm thinking they highlight a topic that they're doing research on at the time and then give a tour of the rest of the facilities. It sounds like there are hundreds of people who attend.

The staff are all extremely friendly and welcome visitors during regular hours. If you are going to make a trip, it's good to call ahead to make sure someone is specifically available to give you a one on one tour. They're more than happy to do it if you just let them know. And I wouldn't be surprised if you were allowed to try anything that was ripe.

V

Thanks for that link. I didn't know there was another garden in Mt. Vernon. It looks like they're growing pawpaw and persimmon cultivars at both places.
I thought Mountain Grove might have results of their pawpaw trials and looked through their website but didn't find anything.
I can't remember if I've even eaten fruit from the native species. If I did, it was when I was very young and I don't remember it. From what I've read, some are very good and others are barely edible.

christie_sw_mo,

It's no wonder I used to get them mixed up. I didn't realize there were locations at both places for the longest time either.

You might be interested in The Berry Basket. It's a newsletter from the Mountain Grove research center. They include articles on their research - including pawpaws (Fall 2006 issue). You can skim the titles of articles in past issues here. Haven't tasted them... yet.