Project Pawpaw Research Orchard Planting (Extended Cut)

We are thrilled to announce the planting of our first Project Pawpaw Research & Breeding Orchard in April 2024. With the help of many close friends and supporters (all of which are not pictured), we planted this 800 tree orchard over the course of just a few days!
The planting features woven ground cover to reduce weed management needs, buried irrigation, and paperboard tree protectors as an eco-friendly solution for first year establishment shelter. These select seedling trees will be grafted in 2-3 years with a combination of known varieties and experimental material and will allow us to evaluate all of the available varieties of pawpaw in a replicated experiment, and to develop new tools that will enable more efficient breeding of the next generation of pawpaw cultivars. More information about the orchard design and planting here.
Planting like these are essential for advancing research and breeding in crops like pawpaws, which are under-supported in the current food system. These plantings are also very expensive and time consuming to establish and maintain, which is why we thank this community for their continuing support of this crowdfunded effort!
Funding for this orchard was raised entirely through the sale of pawpaw seedlings, shirts, grafting knives, and other merchandise at festivals and farmer’s markets and through the Project Pawpaw online store. The second research orchard is planned to be planted in Wisconsin in Spring of 2025, with future locations and collaborators in the lower midwest, southeast, and mid-atlantic regions being sought.
More About Project Pawpaw: www.projectpawpaw.com
Support More Research: www.projectpawpaw.com/store
In Depth Description of the Planting: www.projectpawpaw.com/orchards