Anyone with papaya experience?

Howdy Folks!
Last week someone pulled in here and gave me a mango tree! Also a papaya tree. This papaya is lookin' good! I'm gonna repot it into a bigger container (since it will not live thru our winters here) but was wondering if anyone had any personal experience w/ papaya growing.

I'd like to know if they are hearty eaters, if they need another plant for pollination, but more importantly the type of soil they prefer (well-drained? acidic?). Also if you have any personal tips on growing and harvesting that would be a plus!

This bush produces the elongated papaya HOWEVER, the same person brought me some papaya seeds from Brazil and said those will produce round fruit, not elongated. If you know anything about that type I'd be interested in hearing it.

Thanks!

the little i know about papaya is it does need both male and female to make fruit. the male has the elongated fruit that hangs from a long stem coming off the plant. the female is more round and forms on the plant.
the plants i get my experience from grew in a bed on the side of a brick building for protection on an island in florida. so the soil was sand emended with top soil. i believe the woman fed them maybe once or twice a month. and boy did they fruit and look beautiful.
hope i helped some.

farmgirl, thanks! I, too, remember seeing them grow in Fla (in the trailer village my grandparents once lived in). Folks had them growing everywhere, almost decorative.

Okay...guess I better get some of these seeds started then. Much obliged for the input!

sure anytime. good luck and i wish you many papaya

I started Papaya seeds from supermarket fruit and they grew like crazy. I was living in Tucson at the time , but I kept them potted for houseplants. I gave lots away.
There is a great book written in the 70's called "After Dinner Gardening" that tells how to grow many plants right from everyday produce.

Thanks ireneseidel! How many papaya did you grow? Just wondering if there is a ratio of male to female. And did it really take a year to get any fruit from them?

By the way, since I first started this thread (April 04) we had power loss in the g-house during the summer and many of my starts burnt up. After a while I just lot interest in trying to keep the others growing. Maybe I should start over, eh?

Thanks for the info about that book...I should go check it out, especially since I tend to bring fruit/veggies home from the grocery store specifically for growing out!

Shoe.

I grew 2 plants and gave away dozens of seedlings. When you open up the Papaya the seeds are quite large. They are coated in a Gel like substance, Just rinse off in a colander and dry on paper toweling. Plant right away as they come up quick in this nice warm weather. They will grow fast, so keep changing their container until you plant them in the soil or in a permanent pot.
I never got fruit as my plants stayed in a Pot, but they make a beautiful house
plant.
You can grow so many things from grocery store produce. Lemon trees, Orange trees, Avacodo trees, Pineapples, Mango trees, These are very easy.
I feed my seedlings with Peppermint tea. They thrive. This is so much fun to get plants for no money.

Thanks. I've grown pineapple (and got plants that produce!) and lemon and avocado. (The lemon produced but the avocado never did.)

Many thanks for the input! I'll have to cruise the grocery aisles and see what is "ripe for the pickin's!"!

Horseshoe, keep in mind not all fruits & veggies in the produce isle are "true seed".
These "non-true seed" plants tho are still pretty and can be used as root stock for grafting a more delicious variety of whatever. Actually- that is what I am doing at the moment with my caramdola (starfruit). I have about 10 4' tall seedlings that I grew from the fruit of the mother tree. Carambola grown from the seed aren't as tasty so I am going to use the mother tree to graft onto these seedlings. The fruit off the mother tree is delicious!

I grow mangos, avocados, papaya (dwarf and regular), carambola, many varieties of lemons and limes, mamey, noni, 10 varieties of bananas, amborela, cherries, pomegranite & loofa. (That's off the top of my head).

I am by no means an expert but I have good luck here. Our soil is so wet and acidic- we have to use raised beds- except for the mangos- they're heartier.

Papaya doesn't like too much water but love compost. Mine are in pots about to be added to a raised bed in front of a shade house.

If I can be of any help, let me know!

Thanks, cyber...

Yep, I'm aware of some the of produce and veggies not being "reproduce-able" (my word, or is that really a word!?) ;>)

Thanks for the tips on the fruit. How I long for a good mango!! When I lived in Fla we had huge trees of them!

I'd still like to give papayas another try sometime. Still have seed but not sure if it is still viable at this point.

Hope you take pics of some of your grafting/growing projects, it sure sounds interesting. It sure sounds like ya'lls place is becoming a little piece of heaven! Keep posting your updates, okay?

Many thanks!
Shoe.