Gadenin日本語Get the appWhere the fruit comes from, and why that limits the cutting
Pawpaw flower buds form on the previous season's growth, sitting in the leaf axils of shoots that grew last summer, and they are visible all winter as fat, round, fuzzy brown buds quite unlike the small pointed leaf buds. Every one of those shoots you shorten in winter removes flowers, and therefore fruit, from the coming season.
That makes pawpaw a light-pruning tree. Unlike an apple, it does not need annual renewal cutting to keep cropping, and unlike a stone fruit it does not need opening up for disease control. The tree naturally makes a tidy pyramidal shape with a strong central leader and needs very little help to hold it.
Before you cut anything in winter, look at the buds on the shoot in your hand. Round and fuzzy means flowers. Slim and pointed means leaves. If a branch is covered in round buds and you have no structural reason to remove it, leave it.
When to prune
Prune in late winter to early spring, while the tree is fully dormant and before the buds swell. The structure is visible with no leaves in the way and the wounds close quickly once growth begins. Pawpaw wood is soft and cuts easily, so use sharp, clean tools and make each cut deliberately.
Do not prune in autumn: the cuts do not close before cold weather. Do not prune in midsummer either, except for removing a broken or diseased branch, since summer cuts on a fruiting tree cost you the crop hanging on that branch. Suckers, on the other hand, come off whenever you see them, at any time of year.
What to cut
Work through the tree in this order. On a young tree the whole job takes a few minutes; on a mature one, half an hour. Stand back frequently and look at the whole tree rather than working branch by branch from close up.
- Dead, damaged and diseased wood first Remove anything broken, blackened or clearly dead, cutting back into sound wood. This is the only pruning that is always correct and it often makes the rest of the decisions obvious.
- Establish and keep one central leader Pawpaw wants a single dominant stem. If two shoots are competing at the top, remove the weaker one entirely at its base. A tree left with a double leader splits at that fork later under a crop or in wind.
- Take out crossing and inward-growing branches Remove branches that rub against another, grow back into the center of the tree, or shade a lower limb heavily. Cut them right back to the branch collar rather than leaving a stub. Light reaching the interior is what keeps the lower fruiting wood alive.
- Space the scaffold limbs On a young tree, select four to six well-spaced main limbs around the trunk, roughly 8 to 12 inches (20-30 cm) apart vertically, and remove the extras. Wide-angled branches carry fruit; narrow, upright forks tear out.
- Lower the top only if you must reach the fruit Pawpaw will run to 20 feet (6 m) or more. If you want a picking height of 10 to 12 feet (3-3.6 m), reduce the leader to a well-placed side branch at that height in dormancy and repeat as needed. Accept that you lose the flower buds on the wood you take out.
- Clear the suckers and the trunk Cut all root suckers flush at ground level and remove any shoots on the lower 18 inches (45 cm) of the trunk, and everything below the graft union on a grafted tree.
| Cut | Verdict | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Dead or broken wood | Always | No cost, prevents dieback and entry points |
| Competing second leader | Always | Prevents a split fork under a heavy crop |
| Crossing or inward branch | Yes | Stops rubbing wounds, lets light to lower wood |
| Root suckers | Always, any season | They drain the tree and cannot pollinate it |
| Shortening one-year shoots | Avoid | Removes the flower buds for the coming spring |
| Heavy renewal cutting | No | Pawpaw does not need it and loses years of cropping |
| Autumn pruning | No | Cuts do not close before cold weather |
Restoring a neglected or overgrown tree
A pawpaw that has been left alone for years is usually too tall, carries a thicket of suckers around it and has dead lower limbs shaded out by the top. Do not fix all of that in one winter. Removing more than about a quarter of the live canopy in a season pushes the tree into a mass of vertical watershoots and costs two or three crops.
Spread the work across three winters. First winter: all suckers, all dead wood, and the worst crossing branches. Second winter: reduce the height to a side branch and remove one badly placed large limb. Third winter: refine the scaffold and shorten anything that is still out of reach. Write down what you removed each year, because after a full growing season it is genuinely difficult to remember which limb you meant to take next.
Do not paint or seal pruning cuts. Pawpaw closes clean cuts made in dormancy on its own, and a sealed wound holds moisture against the wood.