Out of all of the seeds sent by a generous DGer from FL, I did manage to get one female plant! It is growing into the roof of the GH.
Missouri papayas
Hello Stressbaby,
Wow what a beautiful sight. I just planted some seeds just to see what happens.Lol I live live in Philly.How long til you got fruit?
Kim
Kim, that plant is about 1.5 years old. Several others have flowered, unfortunately all male. The "trunk" of this plant is 5-6 inches in diameter.
Edited to correct my sorry spelling.
This message was edited Dec 19, 2007 8:45 PM
Amazing !!I I'll just grow mines for the foliage...no greenhouse.
I bet they will be scrumptious. :*)
Stressbaby.. That's awesome.. I didn't know that papayas had separate male and female plants.. I was going to plant some seeds that I'm suppose to be getting.. Do the male and female plants look different?? How will I be able to tell if they are male or female plants??
Heck, I don't want the plant-i just want SB to send me one just before it ripens!! lol Christmas is coming up, and if its not ready by then, Washington's bday or some president's bday will be happening...
although, knowing SB's penchant for trying wine with his homegrown fruits, it may be papaya wine :)
WOW, In Missouri? That is amazing! DH says he is gonna build me a bigger and better green house in the spring, so maybe I can keep my 'trees' instead of cuttings! :)
TL, why do you want it before it ripens?
Icosden, the plants are different...sometimes male, sometimes female, sometimes hermaphrodite/bisexual. Mine are mostly male. I can't tell the difference until they flower, and then it's pretty easy. Male flower buds are multiple, on larger racemes but smaller in size, and shaped like a spoon or a light bulb, that is thinner toward the base and wider at the tip. Females are more often single, larger, and more of a pear shape, wider at the base.
So it doesn't smash in the mail, and then I have to make the wine...:)
Stressbaby, do you have pictures of the flowers?? Can't quite picture the difference in the flowers.. And if it is bisexual/hermaphrodite, does that mean it's self pollenating??
These are male flowers
This is the best picture I have of female flowers. These are young, a little small, and not quite the typical pear shape yet. I think the bisexual ones are self pollinating. I hand-pollinated these female flowers, but I have no way of knowing if it helped or not.
This message was edited Dec 21, 2007 9:37 PM
Stressbaby,
Congratulations on your plants. I got mine as small 3 “ plants and all of them have produced fruit. I do not know if they were grown from seed or culture.
I have grown many of these plants from seed but have only sold them and not grown them. I have all the original plants from 3 years ago except one. I had in an earthbox that I want to use to plant blueberries in so chop chop... I have three in the ground and you can see a current picture of them. The tallest is about 7 feet now.
I stared growing Red Lady papayas now which are supposed to resistant to the ring spot virus. These too are a small trees that are very productive. I have grown many and sold them but I have to get rid of my large papayas so I can have room to plant my own. I cut down my Hawaiian solo which was at least 18 feet tall and I had to take life in my hands using an extension ladder to pick the fruit and dead leaves off.
I have an area that I have removed all the tall papayas from except one productive one. This tree is still 12 feet tall and requires a ladder to pick fruit and dead leaves off. In the spring I will cut it down and dig out all the rots from it and the other trees that were planted in that area. I then can plant the new Red Lady papayas there.
Good luck with your tree and I hope the fruit as sweet as mine have been.
Dale
Picture of the fruits on tree 1
Picture of fruit on tree 2
Picture of fruit on small tree
Dale, you do remember where my seeds came from, don't you? ;-)
Stressbaby, thank you for the pictures. I will keep an eye out for what types of flowers pop out.. :)
Stressbaby, those are female flowers, males have pollen sacks.
edric, what do you mean pollen sac?? Do you have a picture of male flowers?? Do the male flowers appear different on different cultivars?? **all confused**
edric, I, too, would like clarification. To which picture are you referring? My pics labelled male match these perfectly: http://www.uga.edu/fruit/papaya.html. They have never set fruit (even when I tried hand pollination).
My pics labelled female are not great, but the flower buds became pear shaped and match these perfectly: http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/F_N-5.pdf. It is possible that some of these are hermaphroditic, but unlikely, I think.
I'm referring to post #4318405, this link should help http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/papaya.html
I have both Mexican, and Hawaiian hermaphroditic. the one in the photo is the mexican.
Thanks edric. I have read that link several times over the years. Unfortunately, it doesn't help at all. There are no pics. And the phrase "pollen sac" or "sac" or "sack" [sic] don't appear in the article.
Until shown convincing evidence to the contrary, I stand by my assertion regarding the sex of the flowers, with the notation that my female flowers could turn out to be herms.
More matching pics, first male: http://toptropicals.com/pics/garden/m1/raznozw/carica_papaya047.jpg and http://users.telenet.be/cr28796/CariPapa.jpg
Then female: http://www.ozpolitic.com/gardening/trees/photos/papaya-female.jpg
Then both: http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org/MM/MX1-4/4P124_Cari-papa_RR_GM1a_MXa.jpg
I have been misinformed, here is your information, http://www.uga.edu/fruit/papaya.html
Stressbaby
Yes I do remember.
Dale
Got it.. Thank you everyone for clearing that up for me.. :)
Stressbaby
You may want to try the Tainung #1 F1 Hybrid. It is self fertile 50%herm/50% female and produces excellent fruit.
I germinated these seeds in February and they were producing fruit in late October. I am still picking fruit but the last frost really zapped them.
I am going to try the Red Maradol in the spring since it sets fruit sooner.
Good luck.
Oldude
Here's the link to Aloha seed
http://www.alohaseed.com/MediumFruit.htm
Thanks, oldude! I need to try a different variety. I have too many non-fruiting papayas taking up valuable GH space. I was looking at your link and the Red Lady looked good, too.
Any idea how tall they get? I'm talking about Red Lady, Tainung #1, and Red Maradol.
Stressbaby
The Tainung #1F1 reached approximately 8 feet tall this year but the Red Maradol is shorter. I was told by the nice folks at Aloha seed that it reaches approximately 6’ tall but starts fruit at approximately 35cm.
Here is a better link. http://www.shop.alohaseed.com/product.sc;jsessionid=C6F70A7C0BC8BDBB5D2FC0F0B932CEB3.qscweb23?categoryId=4&productId=19
I have some Carica Papaya seeds coming from a friend.. Does anyone want to swap some papaya seeds? I'm not sure what type Carica Papaya is but I'd interested in a few hermaphrodite/bisexual variety..
I just wanted to add that I lived in the Philippines for four years and they eat green papaya cooked like a veggie. I learned to make a chicken stew with the peeled green fruit seasoned with ginger, garlic and onions. It was delicious!
Also my gardener would cut off the tops of the male papaya trees and sometimes they would turn into fruit bearing trees, changing sex I guess. The ones that didn't he destroyed.
The tree doesn't change sex; that's an old wives' tale. Male trees often bear fruit; it is usually smaller than the fruit on the female trees.
katiebear
Interesting to know, thanks!