Description
Susquehanna puts most of its weight into the part you eat: large fruit with very few seeds, firm creamy-yellow flesh, and a rich sweetness that still tastes unmistakably of pawpaw.
The thicker skin and avocado-like texture make ripe fruit easier to carry intact, while a brown collar at the neck gives a useful cue that the fruit is ready. It ripens late, through the second half of September.
The trade-off is crop size, and hand pollination at bloom is the answer: twenty minutes with a soft brush turns a handful of fruit into a crop.
Overview
- R. Neal Peterson’s PPF 11-5, a seedling raised from the Blandy Experimental Farm collection and patented in 2004.
- Exceptionally low seed for a pawpaw: about seven seeds in a fruit near three quarters of a pound.
- Firm, uniform, creamy yellow flesh, nearer a ripe avocado than the custard most pawpaws become.
- Thicker skin than is usual in the genus, which makes it less fragile than most pawpaws.
- A brownish collar at the neck tells you when to pick, which is rare in a fruit whose colour usually tells you nothing.
- Late season; September into October. One of our most popular pawpaws.
Growing Details
Latin Name: Asimina triloba ‘Susquehanna’
Site and Soil: Deep, fertile, well-drained, slightly acid soil; shade young trees for one to two years
Hardiness: USDA Zones 5 to 8, roughly -15 F
Size: Up to 25 ft; plant 8 to 10 ft apart
Pollination: Needs a genetically different pawpaw within 20 to 30 ft
Fruit: Large, usually about 12 oz; creamy, uniform, very sweet flesh
Seed: The least of any pawpaw we sell, about seven seeds in a large fruit
Texture: Firm rather than custardy, nearer the consistency of a ripe avocado
Skin: Thicker and tougher than is usual in pawpaw, with a brownish collar at the neck as a picking cue
Bearing: Light, often setting fruit from fewer than 15 percent of flowers
Ripening: Late season; September into October
Patent: US Plant Patent PP15,900, ‘Levfiv’, granted 2004
Propagation: Grafted onto pawpaw seedling rootstock
Pests and Diseases: Generally trouble-free; peduncle borers may reduce bloom
Additional Notes
- Grower’s Insight: Do not judge this tree by crop size: fewer than one flower in six becomes fruit even in its breeder’s orchard.
- Regional Insight: Its thicker skin travels well, but late-September ripening needs the Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic, Southeast, or a similarly long season.
- Explore more pawpaws in the collection: Pawpaw
