By Peter Haarmann, August 2004
I have been reading about the Iroquois in “Parker on the Iroquois” (copyright 1968, Syracuse University Press) which reports Arthur C. Parker’s 1900 study of the last remaining cluster population of these native people. The pawpaw was a main food described by Parker as part of the diet of these people. Pawpaws are not native here on Long Island, where I live, but they are found naturally in the southwestern tier of New York State, an area that includes the Finger Lakes region, an area that was originally inhabited by the Iroquois. In 1779 General John Sullivan with a force of 3,500 men killed off most of the Iroquois in the Finger Lakes region and Genesee Valley. Sullivan reported that the natives had this entire area under cultivation including orchards and livestock. Sullivan killed off these people by burning their crops; hence the people starved to death: a sad report on our heritage. I discovered the pawpaw tree from my historic readings of these native people. That is what lured me to investigate the fruit.
In March 2004 I met John Gordon at the Northern Nut Growers conference held in Cobleskill, NY. John is in his eighties and is relatively modest. He doesn’t put on any pretenses. He answers your questions and doesn’t offer much more. So you have to continue the questioning or the conversation dies. We had lunch together and he shared with me some of his experiences. He was at that time the only person with whom I had had a real nuts-and-bolts conversation about pawpaws. Everything I knew up to that point was based on things in print. Now I had the opportunity of a live person to share concerns with. I got limited information but it was information based on first hand knowledge. So I adopted his methods.
I knew up to that point was based on things in print. Now I had the opportunity of a live person to share concerns with. I got limited information but it was information based on first hand knowledge. So I adopted his methods.
John germinates his seed in sand. He will go into the bed daily and search for seeds whose radicle roots have emerged. I remember him saying “these are the darnedest seeds” because he would be amazed at how quickly and large a root could grow between search visits, digging about in the sand. He would say to himself “How did I ever miss this seed last time? Look at the size of the root!” Both he and my reading indicated that not all the seed germinates, so I felt why bother plant a seed per container only to have that container wasted if the seed doesn’t germinate. Hence the rationale for planting seed in a bed rather than directly in pots.
In December, I planted 14 seeds in individual containers. The containers were buried in the garden to a depth flush with soil surface. I mulched them over with sawdust and bark. January came and we had the coldest temperatures in these parts in 50 years. Then I learned that pawpaw seeds can’t freeze. Oh well. In March, when the soil could be worked, I pulled out all the nice soil from the pots and sifted out the seeds. I took those seeds and planted them along a garden fence to see what, if anything, would happen. constant 80 degrees. The sand bed was pure quartz sand with traces of yellow clay that is found in our glacial parent material soils mined below four-foot depth. After three weeks I didn’t see any activity so I started doing the John Gordon routine — digging about in the sand. Some roots were 3.5 inches long, some .25 inches long, and most hadn’t emerged. Any seeds I found with roots got potted in my custom-designed 14-inch-tall pipe pots and stayed in the greenhouse. I potted 15 seeds. I had Osmocote fertilizer mixed in the soil medium in accordance with one of Dr. Pomper’s papers.
On May 5, I planted 80 seeds in a bed of sand four inches deep, held in greenhouse conditions, with a soil thermometer showing a Given my commitments at school, I was pressed for time, so I just covered up the tray and didn’t examine it for another 3 weeks. When I examined them next, at week seven, two dozen sprouts were about two inches tall above the sand surface with taproots 4 inches deep. The taproots did not follow along the bottom of the plastic pan. Elongation of the taproot appeared to stop once in contact with the pan bottom. I potted twenty seedlings.
constant 80 degrees. The sand bed was pure quartz sand with traces of yellow clay that is found in our glacial parent material soils mined below four-foot depth. After three weeks I didn’t see any activity so I started doing the John Gordon routine — digging about in the sand. Some roots were 3.5 inches long, some .25 inches long, and most hadn’t emerged. Any seeds I found with roots got potted in my custom-designed 14-inch-tall pipe pots and stayed in the greenhouse. I potted 15 seeds. I had Osmocote fertilizer mixed in the soil medium in accordance with one of Dr. Pomper’s papers.
Given my commitments at school, I was pressed for time, so I just covered up the tray and didn’t examine it for another 3 weeks. When I examined them next, at week seven, two dozen sprouts were about two inches tall above the sand surface with taproots 4 inches deep. The taproots did not follow along the bottom of the plastic pan. Elongation of the taproot appeared to stop once in contact with the pan bottom. I potted twenty seedlings.
Jumping ahead to summer: The last 20 seedlings that I potted, the ones that were two inches tall, are now my largest plants, about eight inches tall, with well-developed normal-size leaves. The main taproots on the sprouts are sturdy and heavy; they are average approximately 3/16 inches diameter. The hickest section is above the uppermost lateral root (the root collar). The lateral root branches are heavy and frequent, at short intervals of
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