Also known as Indiana banana, poor man’s banana and Hoosier banana, the common pawpaw (Asimina triloba) grows in U.S. Department of Agriculture zones 5 through 9, thriving best in zones 5 through 8. This ancient plant is evolutionarily senior to modern bees, which pollinate most plants worldwide. Instead, the pawpaw relies on carrion beetles and flies, which are not abundantly indigenous to all areas in North America. Since the mature flowers smell like rotting meat for the sake of attracting carrion bugs, bees are not interested in visiting the stinky blooms. You must be the stand-in for this tree’s normal pollinating insects in order to enjoy its delicious fruits.
Inspect your mature pawpaw trees daily beginning in March for the maroon, upside down blooms; these trees typically flower for about six weeks from March through May, depending on the plant’s variety and the environmental conditions in your area.
Find male flowers shedding pollen. The blooms are in the final stage of maturity when pollen develops. They will be a dark maroon color and may have a distinctively fetid odor. The petals will be flared open widely.
Open a sealable plastic food bag. Position the opening under the male flower. Push the bag upward to partially envelope the bloom and avoid losing pollen. Tap the base of the flower gently with your finger or the end of a small paintbrush. The fine, powdery pollen will fall into the bag. You may see some tiny anthers as well. Repeat with all the male flowers you can safely reach to gather as much pollen as possible. Seal the bag and use the pollen within the hour.
Identify female flowers on a pawpaw tree of a different cultivar, as successful pollination requires trees of two distinctly unrelated varieties. Look for blooms that are no more than one-fourth to one-half of the way open; these are still in the female stage and ready to accept pollination. Mature female flowers turn from green to a maroon shade. Some green may still be present and the petals may appear to be pressed tightly together. The stigmas are a bright, shiny green. The anthers, or male parts, are immature, still green and compressed in a tight ball inside the petals at the base of the flower. As long as their petal tips have begun to crack apart, the blooms are excellent candidates for hand-pollination.
Dip a paintbrush in the pollen in the bag. Spread the female flower’s petals gently with your finger. Insert the paintbrush into the flower. Touch the stigma at the base of the inside of the bloom with the pollen on the tip of the brush and remove the brush; one touch is enough. Repeated applications of pollen increases the number of seeds in the fruit that will develop from this flower.
Pinch off the tip of one of the petals as a reminder that you have already pollinated the flower. Skip the rest of the blooms on the branch, as developing pawpaw fruits are very heavy and can damage limbs. Repeat pollinating female flowers on other branches.
Things You Will Need
- Sealable plastic food bag
- Small paintbrush
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