I'm trying to find seeds from T.R. Hovey and Moy's papayas. It's a difficult task, the only place I knew of, Agristarts, is out of the T.R. Hovey plants for over a year now. Does anyone here have some they could share or sell to me.
Regards, jc
T.R. Hovey and Moy's papaya seeds
I have some TR Hovey seeds but they are from last year. My trees have fruit on them now and I will be glad to share fresh seeds later this summer.
Dale
Hi Dale,
Thanks for the offer. I definitely would like some of the fresh seeds when they are available.
I've also just looked up papaya seed viability to see if it would be worth trying some of your last year seeds. Viability seems to depend a lot on the storage method. I read a paper about viability tests, and using solid silicate desiccant doubled the quality of the seed over sun dried seeds. I also read that papaya seeds will be viable for 9 months if stored in an airtight container at room temperature. And I remember years ago when I bought some papaya seeds from the U. of Hawaii, they told me that I could keep them for several years in the refrigerator. That was true at least for two years, they were very viable seeds...but I just tried the same seeds a month ago (at least 5 year old) using a KNO3 soak and a warm germinating box (80-85 deg most of the time) but they failed to germinate despite all the wishful thinking that went into that project.
If you think it's worth a try, I'll send you a SASE for the last years seeds and try them while waiting for the fresh fruit to ripen. Let me know.
John
jbclem1@charter.net