3 ms·

A friend recently mentioned to me that there are pawpaws in a park near our house in DC. According to him, someone may have planted them and now they are growin

A friend recently mentioned to me that there are pawpaws in a park near our house in DC. According to him, someone may have planted them and now they are growing wild. It seems odd that this fruit would grow in the woods since there isn't much sunlight there. I will have to go check it out (when they are in season I guess?).

red-iron-pine 3y ago
they were everywhere in NoVA (where I'm from), and all of the transplanted Gov Contractor types never realized it. Swampy VA, of which NoVA is a part, is their native habitat and it's no surprise they do well there even with mixed sun.
- WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
  I spent 20y in the woods in Fairfax and Prince William counties. Never ran across it. Only edibles I recall were persimmon, raspberries, blackberries & a wild strawberry. Also osage orange for whatever they were good for.
pard68 3y ago
They are natives to all of Virginia and they are shade loving trees. They actually prefer shade as young trees and not until they are fully mature can then tolerate sun. Source, lived in VA for a decade, hunting for wild pawpaws and growing my own trees. Before we moved out of the state we had a pawpaw "collection" of about fifty (ten we owned, approx forty we found in the national forest and harvested yearly).
- gehwartzen 3y ago
  Yep. Here in Richmond they grow everywhere along the Janmes River Trail System. Unfortunately, their popularity in the last few years has caused them to be over harvested by people selling them. Additionally, they taste the very best right after falling to the ground naturally but lots of folks keep trying to knock them or shake or climb the trees way to early in the season causing a lot of damage to the trees.
  - pard68 3y ago
    Hm, I hadn't seen that a bit upstream of you in Lynchburg, but most pawpaws we collected from were probably too remote.
burkaman 3y ago
Yes they are all over the place around DC. Go to Carderock in September, you'll find them if you're looking for them. You'll also probably find a bunch of other people foraging for them. To find them in the city, put DC into this site and filter for Pawpaw: https://fallingfruit.org/ https://fallingfruit.org/
TecoAndJix 3y ago
Woods in central PA have tons of pawpaw trees as well

red-iron-pine 3y ago

they were everywhere in NoVA (where I'm from), and all of the transplanted Gov Contractor types never realized it. Swampy VA, of which NoVA is a part, is their native habitat and it's no surprise they do well there even with mixed sun.

WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
I spent 20y in the woods in Fairfax and Prince William counties. Never ran across it. Only edibles I recall were persimmon, raspberries, blackberries & a wild strawberry. Also osage orange for whatever they were good for.

pard68 3y ago

They are natives to all of Virginia and they are shade loving trees. They actually prefer shade as young trees and not until they are fully mature can then tolerate sun. Source, lived in VA for a decade, hunting for wild pawpaws and growing my own trees. Before we moved out of the state we had a pawpaw "collection" of about fifty (ten we owned, approx forty we found in the national forest and harvested yearly).

gehwartzen 3y ago
Yep. Here in Richmond they grow everywhere along the Janmes River Trail System. Unfortunately, their popularity in the last few years has caused them to be over harvested by people selling them. Additionally, they taste the very best right after falling to the ground naturally but lots of folks keep trying to knock them or shake or climb the trees way to early in the season causing a lot of damage to the trees.
- pard68 3y ago
  Hm, I hadn't seen that a bit upstream of you in Lynchburg, but most pawpaws we collected from were probably too remote.

burkaman 3y ago

Yes they are all over the place around DC. Go to Carderock in September, you'll find them if you're looking for them. You'll also probably find a bunch of other people foraging for them. To find them in the city, put DC into this site and filter for Pawpaw: https://fallingfruit.org/ https://fallingfruit.org/

TecoAndJix 3y ago

Woods in central PA have tons of pawpaw trees as well