How does a pawpaw hold up in a storm?
Small, flexible and sitting in the understory, pawpaw catches very little wind or ice load and rarely fails on its own. In practice the pawpaw damage you get called about is collateral — a larger ash, maple or box elder came through the patch and flattened stems, and the patch will regenerate from the roots.
What pruning can and can't prevent
Light dormant pruning in late winter is all it wants, mostly thinning suckers if the customer wants a single-stem tree instead of a thicket. The trap is the opposite of what people expect: pawpaw is a shade-adapted understory species, so the damaging move is not pruning the pawpaw — it is opening the canopy above it, because a patch suddenly thrown into full sun after an overstory removal will scorch and sulk.
Related
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