Mountain Papaya

Neutral because I only recently purchased two papaya that are supposed to be dry forest and more cold hardy than Mexican papaya. ...Read More"http://sacredsucculents.com/" target="_dgnew"rel="nofollow">http://sacredsucculents.com/ From the site, “Carica pubescens. Seed collected from Ollantaytambo, Cusco Dept., Peru, 9300′. Highly drought tolerant, though dislikes prolonged excessive heat. One of the parent of the ‘Babaco’ hybrid cultivars grown throughout South America. Fruits surprisingly well here in northern California in areas of mild frost. Z9a/b.”

And “Carica quercifolia. Large drought deciduous leaves. Fragrant yellow-green flowers, unisexual. Deep orange papaya fruit to 2–4″, highly edible and borne in mass. An Andean dry forest native, we’ve observed this stunning species in habitat between (6000–9000’+) in central Bolivia and northern Argentina. Tolerant of some frost but only when kept relatively dry. Z9b.”

Both are planted in 20 gallon tubs on the south side of the house where quercifolia gets shade after 2 PM. So far, they look good! The pubescens gets shade most of the day. Tempted to, but not keeping my fingers crossed about production, let alone winter :)

I purchased seed from Trade Winds and planted 2/1/10. I was a bit late in re-potting, but the plant proved to grow vigorously and by Aug...Read Moreust it had grown to a height of about 8' and produce flowers and latterly fruits which did not mature due to a light frost 11/5/10.
Information with the seed suggested that plants are generally male or female requiring several to ensure fruiting. This plant proved to be bisexual. I live in rural Covington, LA within zone 8b. and by the above experience I can say that it will not survive the winter here, though it remains to be seen if a new shoot will appear this spring. When re-potted in May it had a base diameter of 1" and a height of 3'. Prior to the frost it had grown to almost 9' with a base diameter of 4".