The 2012 drougth severely damaged or killed many of my paw paw trees. Those that I watered 2-3 times during the drougth have survived and are doing well, those not watered show much damage and many of the smaller trees died but it appears they are sprouting from the roots. Time will tell, no fruit on those not watered.
A nice cluster of four. I recommend growing them in full sun. They will produce much more and better quality fruit. You will have to protect the young trees for the first couple years from direct sun, a tree shelter works just fine. Buy seedlings and graft after establishing, probably the third year after planting. No protection needed for the graft. I have most of the named varieties and have found NC-1 and Sunflower to be of high quality and very productive.
Anothe avenue might be to obtain seed from named varieties and growing seedlings from these, you should obtain a much better fruit than just using unknown root stock. Some cancers are reported to respond to extract made from the bark. Check it out on the net. cancer/pawpaw
