papaya trees

Papaya is known to cure some of the malaria symptoms
http://www.symptomsofmalaria.net

Hi all!

Isaac, I trust you are ok now.

Speaking of papayas, there are several of this type of papaya, as shown in the picture, growing in an area which I wanted to clear for a construction project. Is this type of papaya the good, edible ones, worth saving or not? They weren't deliberately planted and, after the rains, they produced so much fruits.

Would appreciate any feedback.
Thanks!

They look eatable to me. They do not look like the super sweet ones but they are still eatable. I love the not so sweet ones on pancakes. I eat them all....sweet, not so sweet, green.

However, I personally would not stop a construction project for papayas. How about this, wait until they ripen, eat them then pitch the seeds in an area that is out of the way. Guarantee you will get new trees coming up.

Thanks, d-thomcat.

Waiting for the fruits to ripen is not an option.....will try transplanting them ( 6 trees in all) in another area and hope that they survive till their fruits ripen ...then judge if they are good enough to eat. ...or maybe try belle's recipe.

Hi,
I am new to this forum and my papaya plants have yellow leaves.The larger plant is 4 ft tall and about an year old with 2 4" green fruit on it and it was doing well,until 3 days back when the temperature dropped from 100's to the 80's.The other papaya plant bloomed but did not set fruit.They are together in a 12" pot and it looks rootbound.We water it often and fed it with super-phosphate fertilizer.I also have a T-Hovey Dwarf plant that also has yellow leaves and in a 8" pot.They both get a lot sun and water.Thanks for all your help.

Hi Rainsum. This is an old thread, almost a year old actually. You may want to post a brand new thread with your question to help ensure an answer. I don't know a lot about growing papayas, but lots of tropicals will react to a sudden temperature change. I am sure plants that size would prefer their own growing space...that is a lot of rootball for a roughly square foot of space.

Thanks Themoonhowl,
I will do that

Hey, hope u found your answer! I think it's most likely over watering especially with the drop in temp. Very susceptible to root rot. Better to err on the dry side with papayas in Houston.
Also, they love space city hibiscus fertilizer. My trees grew huge from that. Houston fertillizer is the only place I've found it
Rj

The 101 on Papayas:

Yes. Some are male, female, or hermaphrodites. You want the females as they bare much more fruit... lie that the males don't produce, but with those looong stems it tends to be more diff for the plant to hold them. Best are the females.

There are diff varieties and they crosspollinate and cross pollinate and also it changes the fruit, so try to have only one variety unless you want to start having and or creating your own personal one.

Some of them have a bigger percentage of female seeds (cultivars) as they been trained for that (usually the smaller varieties, a couple only having like only 20% males)

If you cut them-
Try to do a 45 degree cut and try to cover it so it doesn't take water till it creates a nice callus. If you are going to take out some branches, which you don't need to do, try to leave space in between them and then going on opposite directions, so that the weight would be distributed equally and it wont fall to a side.

Usually commercially they use a tree for only 2 years and then change it, and they only go for females as they will produce more. I do cut mine... have had 1 tree giving more than 80 papayas at 1 time. I also have I which produces a big fruit at only 4 feet tall....right now that 1 has like 11 and it's only 4 feet tall.

Anyways, most times big papaya fruits are not as tasty as a small, red 1. I'm trying to see what I get (quality wise) from the best of both atm... but seeds wont be true to the plant :p

Hope my 2 secs helped a bit

Got recurring malaria in Mombasa (Lorenco Marques) more then 40 yrs back. No PawPaw, Papaya or Papitta can save a person from the pleasures of it.
Regards,
Masud.

Hey! One of my Papaya trees started dying and I cut it down a bit and found that the entire hollow centre was filled to the top with really bad stinking water.

What can I do to save it ?

You are right this thread is old and my recipe calls for green papayas.
Belle

Coleoptera, you're better off just starting with new seeds, Paw Paws grow fast and fruit fairly quickly. You can struggle with the old one but it probably won't do much good.

I agree with Tropicbreeze