sexual maturity ... both to flower and fruit is variable.. depending on how successful you are at getting it to that age ... so a specific answer is impossible ... but i would guess.. at least 5 to 10 years ...

one way to cut that time.. is to buy a tree that is already 3 to 5 years old .... see link below .... i have ordered from stark brothers many times .... [and if you count your time and supplies.. over 3 to 5 years ... a 20$ tree might be a bargain ...]

i dont know the pollination issue ... but i bet the websites would tell you ...

do understand ... that growing from seed is risky in the sense that you may or may not end up with a valuable fruit producer ... whereas if you mail order one.. you know what you will get ...

there is also a fruit forum ....

if you do order one.. come back and ask us about how to plant a tree ...

ken

https://www.google.com/search?q=paw+paw+mail+order&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=paw+paw+trees+mail+order

I've not grown these from seed but I've moved a few from the wild as small clonal shoots. Hard to remember but it seems that they took at least 5 years to bloom, but it may be more than that.

The literature says sexes are separate. My wild collected plants never set fruit, and the blooms looked female to my eyes. Years later I obtained 2 seedlings, and when they bloomed the blossoms were the same as my original plants, and they ALL began to set some fruit. It may be that the sexes aren't always separate, but different clones are needed for fruit. I don't grow the trees for fruit, I grow them because I find the trees to be very attractive. What fruit my trees produce is ALWAYS taken by varmints, so I've never got to see the completely ripe or taste them.

Yes, it needs a different pollinator. If you are growing it from seed, all you need to do is grow & keep at least two seedlings. My understanding is that it isn't a plant that has separate sexes, but it is "self incompatible".

Seems to take a while to fruit.

I planted mine as one year seedlings, and it took eight more years before they flowered. This year was their tenth year, and I finally got a good amount of fruit.

Edlincoln, is correct; both sexes are present on all Asimina trilobas. The trees are mostly self incompatible, so that fruiting would be sparse without another individual acting as a pollenizer.

My experience matches Alabamatreehugger's; seedling pawpaws often take quite a few years to produce fruit...and especially to produce a significant amount of fruit.

If you are wanting to grow pawpaws for the fruit, you might consider obtaining grafted cultivars. You are likely to get significantly superior fruit (fewer seeds and less unsatisfactory aftertaste) and you will get a big jump on how soon your trees will produce fruit because the grafted scion will be sexually mature.

I grow them to sell (counts for around 40% of all spring sales) and I remember someone telling me that it took 2 to produce fruit. I agree with brandon, if you are really interested in growing the fruit look at some of the named cultivars (I like them for ornamental value, they make a nice small tree).

I have several seedlings (plus Shenandoah and Susquehanna cultivars), all going into their fifth year, they range from 2-5 feet tall, no flowers yet, I'm hoping for 2018.

We have two seedling grown paw paws that began to bloom in their tenth year. Squirrels eat the flowers so no fruit -- that's okay by me because DH threatens to hang roadkill in the trees to attract pollinators.

Hang fly traps instead :-)

Dax