As long as they are moist,waiting about another month should be fine.Otherwise,sixty days is a fair amount of time and if there are a lot of seeds and gambling with one will not be much of a loss,maybe go for it.
I just planted some last Fall that had been in cold storage for over a year and I think a few had a root started.They all are growing now. Brady

You could try potting up now those seeds that appear to have finished their stratification period. It is unusual to see germination in the refrigerator. What temperature is your fridge? I've stored seeds in the fridge for more than a year and never seen germination.

By potting them up now, you will get a jump on the growing season. Under ideal conditions (heat mat, good mix), you won't see emergence for at least six weeks. Simply planting them out in the field could delay emergence by months. They are creepers in their first year unless you really push them.

Have fun.

I'm planting mine as soon as possible indoors and growing them under lights until spring rolls around. I'm using rootmaker root pruning cells to start them. I will be transplanting them to 1 gal rootbuilder II containers in the spring. At the end of my growing season I'll transplant them to 3 gal rootbuilder II containers and grow them for a second season before planting them.

The reason I'm doing it this way is that they are pretty light sensitive when young since they are primarily an understory tree, but they produce best in full sun. It is easy for me to control sun exposure for the first 2 years in containers before planting them in full sun in their permanent locations.

Here is a picture of my current setup.
{{gwi:2119011}}

The rear two trays have 2013 seeds that I received already stratified and planted in mid-October. The front tray has 2014 seeds that just finished stratification and were just planted.

Looking good ForestAndFarm. Brady

I wonder if you have worked with paw paw seeds becoming paw paw seedlings before.........In order to maximize seedling development in containers that "fit" where the plant is programmed to grow, placing the seeds in extra, extra deep containers would be best. Like putting size 8 feet in a size 8 shoe. Not in a size 2 shoe. It reminds me of archeologists discovering the skulls of children that developed with aging into woefully abnormal skull shapes due to the cruel use of skull "molds" not allowing the skulls to develop into their programmed shape..... for whatever reason that those ancient humans did that to their offspring. The intended, programmed development of deep paw paw roots serves the plants well, however inconvenient it may be for indoor germinators. Good luck with your paw paw babies.

Thanks, everybody, for the suggestions. After looking more closely at the seed, I discovered that what I'd taken for a root was simply an extra-large piece of perlite. (I'd originally been viewing it through the plastic bag rather than up close.) So I think it will be safe to leave those seeds in the refrigerator for another month!

I can still make use of your advice once I get around to potting them up. There are a dozen of them, which probably will be more than I actually need, unless the germination rate is very low.

I'll probably use a 1-gallon nursery pot for the sowing. That worked pretty good for some date seeds once, though I already had small roots on those before I planted them.

I often use 2 liter plastic drink bottles,with the tops cut off at the shoulder and a few holes punched in the bottom for drainage.These are filled with a 50/50 peat moss/perlite mixture.Brady

Hi there,
I don't think the pots are a problem, its transplanting them that is the trick. But, with those starter pots being SO small, you may have to transplant sooner while the taproot is very sensitive.

I have three 3-foot pawpaws in fabric pots. Many people told me that putting pawpaws in fabric pots was a dumb idea and that they wouldn't last, but they seem to be surviving just fine. Now they have been growing slowly over the last couple years, but that's not the point.

I say experiment! We need as many options for pawpaw production as possible. Its a great tree and we need to make them more popular.

I've found that it's difficult transitioning pawpaw seedlings from artificial light to sunlight - very easy to burn the leaves. You can transition to shade but growth will be limited. Another option is to keep them under the lights the entire first season. Here you'd want to try to maximize growth so that you'd be able to plant trees next spring large enough to take some direct sunlight. I agree that you're likely to get faster growth with deep pots than with an air root pruning method, but growing in the tall thin pots can be high maintenance.

copingwithclay,

This is my first time at growing pawpaw from seed. However, I've grown a lot of other trees with a long taproot with good success using these containers. I'm not sure if you are familiar with air pruning systems, but that is what these rootmaker container are. The tap root is directed to holes in the bottom of those small containers. They are placed on elevated racks with good air flow below them. When the tap root hits the air, in stead of j-hooking or circling, it desiccates and is pruned. This causes early secondary and tertiary branching. After 12-16 weeks that small container is full of a thick root ball. These are grown in a chunky soilless mix providing lots of space to fill.

At that point, I'll be transplanting them to a 1 gal air pruning container. By the end of the first growing season that is filled with roots and it is time to upsize again.

This is a different approach for growing trees that requires sufficient supplemental water until the tree is established.

I keep some of the potted ones in a small greenhouse for a year or two.They have never burned while being there.It could be because of the poly film's built in UV protection. Brady

My feeble opinions on paw paws are regretfully not based on 48 month, $20 million, double-blind studies set up with very strict procedures, but rather are the good (sometimes not good) old-fashioned anecdotal type from planting/growing/losing paw paw plants and seeds.Baby leaves in full Sun never wither away when they are sitting on top of a mature paw paw trunk WITH deep/wide roots to find and transport sap up to the baby leaves continually. Identical baby leaves in full Sun can badly wither when they are sitting on top of an immature paw paw trunk WITHOUT deep/wide roots to find and transport sap up to the baby leaves continually. As long as a person can take over the water/nutrient management, sort of like a level 3 intensive care unit taking supreme care of sick babies, young paw paws can look quite healthy even with shallow, compact roots. But when there is no 24/7 human manager to provide the continual moisture/nutrients.....and random rainfall is the plant's lifeline, the deeper/wider the roots reach, the better chance that the paw paw plant will both survive and even grow up. Biggerer is betterer for survival.

copingwithclay,

I appreciate the insight. You clearly have more experience with pawpaw specifically than I do. What I've found with the other root pruned trees I've planted is that they grow much faster and better than bare root planted trees or direct seeded trees. The key is providing supplemental water for that first season if needed so that the roots can grow into the native soil where moisture is retained (I have heavy clay like you must given your username).

There may be areas of the country where air pruned container grown trees are not a good fit. Areas that are subject to prolonged drought can make them difficult without supplemental water.

In my area we generally get good spring and fall/winter rains with occasional limited drought during the summers. Once the tree is well established now supplemental water is needed even during our dry periods.

Most of the trees I'm planting are in high volume for wildlife and I generally don't provide supplemental water even during that first year of establishment. I have lost a few, but most have worked out very well.

Deep and wide roots can be a factor, but so can root density. Deeper and wider increase the trees reach for water an nutrients, but the more terminal root tips like you get with the air pruned trees, the more efficiently the tree can use the water an nutrients within its reach.

While this has worked out great with my other trees, only time will tell if it works well with pawpaws. I know the well documents (KSU) approach for container started pawpaws is to use root training pots which are a deeper but narrow form of an air pruning pot.

I'll report back as things progress with these trees and this approach.

Forest, I am most eager to learn how your trials with the Rootmaker prop containers work out. After studying Carl Whitcomb's book intensely, I gave them a try with pawpaws (along with other species). I believe that Whitcomb's theory that "the tap root is obsolete" works, but perhaps not with pawpaws. I started my trees outdoors in the shade, then transferred them to a high tunnel. You might have better luck starting them early indoors. Do I see heat mats under the containers? If so, that will really help. I think my problem was that the pawpaws develop slowly, and they just didn't develop a root ball in those small containers quickly enough to move to a larger container in the first season. Then you are stuck trying to over-winter in a small pot--very challenging. Other species did well in the RM prop pots--good root balls.

More recently I have started pawpaws indoors in shallow 2" deep trays with hardware cloth bottoms. It's difficult to manage drainage, light and heat, but eventually they transplanted fine to larger containers in early summer. This does create some root pruning. I seem to have the most success starting on heat indoors in 4" pots (mutiple seeds in each). Transplanted to larger containers in the tunnel, I get up to 18" in the first season. However, this pales in comparison to the folks at Forest-Keeling with their 3'. I don't know how they do it.

I use 50 percent shade cloth over the tunnel. Experiments without cloth disprove reports that greenhouse pawpaws do not need supplemental shade--unless, I suppose, the glass is somehow treated.

Good luck, and please report! October starting....wow! I have read that starting extremely early can create a "slow period" in spring.

Carl Whitcomb may believe that "tap roots are obsolete",, but an old, super productive fig tree that had supplied lots of fruit for many folks got it's role in life cancelled after a hurricane pushed it big time sideways as the "non-obsolete", non-tap roots slid through the muddy soil during the storm..... Seeing numerous 40-60 foot tall pine trees still standing very vertical after a passing tornado broke off the top 50% of the trees.....kinda shows that their tap roots are an UPGRADE to be appreciated.

Just wanted to update everybody on my pawpaws. I did finally get around to planting those stratified seeds and six out of twelve germinated, though one turned black at the tip. Most of the others are about 6 or 7 inches tall now and looking healthy--so far!

They are extremely slow.

I have a bunch of seeds that I finished stratifying in January. I put them in a container with damp soil to let them germinate. Once I see a root, they get their own 1 liter soda bottle as a pot. There are at least a dozen lined up in my daughter's room right now. They've moved into the pots over the course of the past 2 or 3 months, and have done basically nothing. Then I went away for a week, and now nearly every one is popping out of the soil. My guess is they don't care to poke their heads out until the weather is warm; the ones that were planted sooner haven't grown much faster than the late-comers.

My early start pawpaws are doing fairly well in the rootmakers. You seem to be right about early started pawpaw having a slow spell in the spring. Right now, photosensitivity is the issue. The reason I'm using the rootmakers is so I can grow them in containers for two years to control the light exposure. As I understand it, but the third season they are OK in full sun.

The first picture shows the lion's share of my trees. They are on a lower deck that gets a couple hours of direct sun in the early morning followed by sun filtered by the upper deck in late morning and full shade in the afternoon.

As an experiment, I moved two of them to a portion of the lower deck where light was not filtered by the upper deck. They got full morning sun followed by afternoon shade.

There were in that setting for about a week and you see what was happening. I have since moved them back with the others hoping they would recover. The smaller ones to the top right of the upper picture were seeds from KSU started a bit later than the larger 250x39 seeds of the larger trees. Someone was nice enough to send me some more stratified seeds from various named varieties a month or so ago. They are just getting started under lights indoors now. I guess I will see if these have enough growth to transplant into 1 gal containers for overwintering. Oh, and yes, those are heating pads under rootmaker 18s. KSU says a soil temp of 90 degrees promotes early growth. It seems to have done that with mine.

I think some of the larger ones are just starting to over that spring "rest" period. My plan is to transplant them to 3 gal Rootbuilder II containers after they go dormant for overwintering and to keep them on this same deck next summer.

Follow-up question: How long should I keep these in pots?

Normally, I try to get plants into the ground as soon as possible, but given the sensitivity to light, I'm wondering if it is wiser to wait in this case. As mentioned before, I'm using 1 liter soda bottles, so there is a decent amount of room for the tap root to grow.

I can't really address that in your case. Many folks who plant pawpaws either direct seed or plant them in the field early and provide artificial shade to protect them for the first two years. With my application, that isn't practical. From what I understand, that photosensitivity lasts for about the first two growing seasons. Trying to grow a tree in normal containers for two seasons would result in disaster with root circling and j-hooking. That is why I decided to go the rootmaker route. My tap roots were pruned in the first couple months using those Rootmaker 18s you see if you scroll back up a ways in this thread. It is also my understanding that the roots on pawpaws are quite delicate. That is another advantage of using these containers. The 18s are tapered and small. You simply dunk them in water and turn them over and give them a shake and the entire root ball comes out intact so when I transplanted to the 1 gal Rootbuilder II containers you see in the most recent picture above, there was no disturbance to the roots. These larger 1 and 3 gal containers, unwrap from around the root ball so again future transplanting will not disturb the roots. I'm not sure what to tell you with soda bottles. Perhaps others have good ideas.