Those are papayas in the tall pots in the buspan. They have lost all of their leaves. The stems are still green, so I hope all will be well come Spring.
Papayas leaves are all gone...
Pamela
Papaya in containers are very sensitive to over-watering. Treat them like cactus and they will do much better. Can’t be sure of the problem but they are prone to root rot in containers. What’s your minimum temperature in the greenhouse? They are extremely cold sensitive
Oldude
I am going to poke holes in the container. The main reason they are in it is because the treepots are so tall they fall over. They are great though to encourage roots growing deeper. I suspect they may indeed be too moist. I'm not sure what the minimum temperature is in there as it is just a temporary area over the now spent garden we put together to cover the plants for the Winter. There is no heat or anything in there. Here is a far off shot of it.
I don't know about the big green caterpillar. I did see a yellow butterfly outside just be bopping around the yard all goofy looking.
I did see some spider webs and a couple of spiders, so maybe if they see it first......... if not and I see it, it's history.
I agree with oldude, watch the watering. They do not like to be waterlogged, especially when it is cool. Be sure that the media free draining and keep it on the dry side while it is cool. Water them when it looks like you will have a string of warm days.
The temp shouldn't be a problem as long as they don't get frost on them.
David, Fl
I have 3 in a large pot. I usually let them dry out a little between watering. It has seemed happy with that. It will prob need potting up soon. There is a little bit of white stuff on the leaves recently that I think must be fungal so I am gonna have to spray it, I think.
Some of the papayas are starting to grown new leaves. All the stems are still green. I have backed off the water and the weather has been warm. This week is going to get real cold, but no colder than it got down to in November. So, I'll see how they do through this week.
I've been growing papayas from seed for several years. damping off has always been a problem. Once established try not to over water and use a well-draining soil.
Nick
Has anyone had luck getting fruit from a papaya growing in a pot? I have several in my greenhouse. One of them looked like the fruit was going to hold, but we got a harder than usual cold snap and I drug the plant in the house. It did fine until I started back to the greenhouse with it and knocked the darn papaya off on the door frame!
It set another one in the greenhouse, but it also fell off.
How long does a papaya tree live, and will it fruit the second year?
Kay
Kay
I tried growing them in 16 and 20-gallon pots and managed to get them to produce a few fruit but they grow so fast that the roots just grew through the drain holes choking off drainage. I have learned to treat them like tomatoes but start them in pots much earlier. Start the seeds in mid-august and keep them in the greenhouse through the winter. Small pots no larger than 4-gallon nursery pots will keep them from getting too large. Take care not to water too much since they are prone to root rot in containers. In the spring they will be about 3’ tall depending on the variety and how well you have managed to choke them down. Plant in the spring (in ground) after the first frost and you will have fruit much earlier and they will produce over a much longer period of time. This way you get a big jump on the first frost. I have seen the Solo survive winters here but I would not bank on that. They seem to die back and produce double trunks in the spring but most are fried when temps dip down below freezing.
My first try at this was germinating seeds in January but they did not get enough head start to beat the first frost. I only managed to harvest about 40% of the crop.
If you could manage to produce fruit in a much larger container the production would decline after two or three years.
Oldude