Papaw tree and it's fruit

This is the first of my papaw trees to produce
fruit. It is about 3.5 yrs. old. These trees usually
do not produce fruit until the fourth or fifth year.
The tree is about six - seven feet tall and was planted
from seed that I got from my Uncle Paul who has
Papaw trees on his property in Eastern Ky.


This is the fruit in it's infant stage. There will be seven
pieces of fruit on this one pod if they all survive and grow.
The tree is covered with pods just like this one.
The fruit of the papaw tree is not much bigger than an
average size potato and tastes somewhat like bananas.
It is the closest thing that Ky. has to a tropical tasting
fruit. Most prefer to eat the fruit when the skin has turned
black, which indicates the fruit is fully ripened. There are
several seeds in each fruit that are about the size of the end
of the index finger.
The fruit should be ready for harvest in late summer/early fall.