Pawpaws : The Complete Growing and Marketing Guide

Bring an almost-forgotten fruit back to life—and into your business.

Pawpaws, also called "Indiana bananas," are North America's largest native fruit. Long overlooked, they're now exploding in popularity with chefs, craft brewers, and fruit lovers—and Pawpaws is the first comprehensive guide to small-scale commercial pawpaw production.

Why This Book Matters

Whether you're a market grower, orchardist, or food forest steward, adding pawpaws can diversify your crops, strengthen your bottom line, and connect you with a fast-growing niche market. This book shows you exactly how to cultivate, manage, and market this unique fruit for success.

What You'll Learn

Inside, you'll find practical, field-tested advice on every stage of pawpaw cultivation, including:

• The fascinating botany and cultural history of pawpaws
• How to site and plan a productive orchard
• Tips for selecting top-quality nursery trees
• Descriptions of over 50 cultivar profiles
• Propagation, grafting, and organic growing techniques
• Effective pest and disease management strategies
• Marketing fresh pawpaws, seeds, and nursery starts
• Processing and creating value-added pawpaw products.

Why Trust This Guide?

Author Blake Cothron, organic farmer and nurseryman, brings over 20 years of hands-on expertise in horticulture and sustainable agriculture. He operates Heritage Nursery, a USDA Certified Organic research farm specializing in pawpaws, and is widely recognized as a trusted voice in organic growing.

Endorsements highlight the importance of this work:

"A much-needed contribution to the pursuit of pawpaw culture." — R. Neal Peterson, founder, Peterson Pawpaws

"Blake Cothron is an authority on pawpaws and provides a clear, detailed guide for commercial success in growing this oddly appealing species." — Pam Dawling, author, The Year-Round Hoophouse

The Opportunity Is Now

Interest in pawpaws is skyrocketing. Don't miss the chance to grow this extraordinary fruit, diversify your offerings, and lead the way in a growing the movement for local, sustainable food.

Discover the commercial potential of pawpaws—and start building your own success story today.

Blake Cothron is an organic farmer, nurseryman, author, musician, and educator, with over 20 years’ experience in organic agriculture, botany, horticulture, and growing food. He is the director of Peaceful Heritage Nursery LLC, a 5-acre research farm, permaculture orchard, and edible mail-order plant nursery. Author of Pawpaws: The Complete Growing and Marketing Guide, and The Berry Grower, he has also written for Permaculture Design magazine and various online publications. Blake has an educational YouTube channel devoted to horticulture, and he is also an educator with the Organic Association of Kentucky. He divides his time between farming, research, writing, beekeeping, homesteading, travel, fitness, church community, and being a husband and father in beautiful central Kentucky. www.peacefulheritage.com