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All About Pawpaws
Insects & Diseases

Pawpaw Pests
insects and diseases
...which we see in our nursery

  
Insect Pests
In its native habitat the Pawpaw has few pests of any importance. The pests that do attack the Pawpaw plant are uniquely adapted to do so, since all parts of the plant except the pulp of the mature fruit and the wood contain substances that are general pesticides. These are the insect pests which we see here in the Ozarks:

This is a leaf~rolling caterpillar, Ompalocera munroei, which feeds on Pawpaw leaves, buds and twigs in the late Summer and Fall, and can devastate young trees. It could probably be controlled by dusting the leaves with Bacillus thuringensis, sold as the biological insecticide, "BT", while the larvae are feeding.
These are the leaf roller larvae.
This is what they do! Nasty!
Another "pest" is Eurytides marcellus, the Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly, whose larvae feed exclusively on young Pawpaw foliage, but never in great numbers. The adult butterfly is of such great beauty that Pawpaw trees are sometimes planted to attract them.

 
The Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly adult,
on a Pawpaw leaf in our nursery.
 
The Larva.
The Chrysalis.
These are "stinging rose caterpillars", Parasa indetermina (Family Limacodidae). Probably not a serious pest of Pawpaw, but they sure are beautiful, shown here nibbling on a Pawpaw leaf. They are also found on apple, cottonwood, dogwood, hickory, oak, redbud, sycamore and rose bushes, usually in August.

Diseases
Small brown spots sometimes appear on Pawpaw leaves if they are growing close together and it is humid. This is caused by a fungus, and is usually not a problem.

There is an disease of Pawpaw trees that has been reported in the Pacific Northwest, in which the trees have bark lesions, which show blue streaking in the cambium when cut open. The trees often die. The cause is not known. We have not seen this disease here.
Blossom Nursery is inspected annually by the Arkansas State Plant Board, and our plants are certified to be free of injurious pests and diseases.
All images © Blossom Nursery