KY Champion Pawpaw Fruit Statistics

Data from years 2009-2012

The Kentucky Champion pawpaw-tree continues to recover from record ice-storm damage that occured prior to 2009. The 2012-season was the tree's best season since that time. I removed approximately 20-25% of the trees limbs in the winter of 2011-2012 because they were disabled and unproductive. The wounds were dressed with tree-sealer.

The champion-tree responded well to the treatments and the results are a testament to its resilience. There are plenty of repairs to be done. I plan to treat the worst-damage this fall where the south-half of the crown broke-off in one of the ice-storms.

I think 60 pounds/year of fruit-production is a reasonable-projection based on regression-analysis, and based on the owner's past-experience when the tree was in better-health. The projection assumes the repair-and-recovery process will continue to produce the same results when it is applied to the remaining (unproductive and under-utilized) tree-capacity. Pruning will also continue on the good-wood.