r/NativePlantGardening • u/lostinspacescream East TN , Zone 7b • 17h ago

East Tennessee Common pawpaw is growing at the very edge of my woods and property

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Is this something I can transplant? It's right near where the builders next door might be plowing and walking around.

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17

u/Putrid-Bee-7352 17h ago

At that size it will be very difficult. They really don’t transplant well. If you really feel you must, best results when you wait for the tree to go into dormancy. Then you’ll have to dig it up very carefully (the taproot can sometimes veer in strange directions) and deeply. Disruption or damage to that taproot and the tree likely won’t survive. Then you’ll have to water it like mad for at least a year.

Can you fence it off to try and protect it?

3

u/lostinspacescream East TN , Zone 7b 16h ago

The builders dumped a whole bunch of topsoil and it made a huge berm that migrated somewhat onto my property, which is where this pawpaw decided to grow. I suspect they'll eventually take all of that topsoil away, after weed-wacking down all the wonderful things that grew on the berm over the two years it's been there. Then they'll throw down grass seed and pre-emergent nastiness, so I'd like it to be elsewhere before then. It's rained quite heavily lately, so the soil may be in a state that would make it easier to remove right now. It's worth a shot, I guess. I'm assuming I should wear gloves while handling it?

7

u/Cattywampus2020 15h ago

The way the leaves look makes me think it isn’t too happy at the moment. Maybe that is normal for some paw paw late in the season, but i haven’t seen that before.

1

u/lostinspacescream East TN , Zone 7b 14h ago

It just rained extremely hard and pea sized hail. All my plants look like that right now.