How to Grow Papaya Fruit Throughout The Year.

How To Grow Papaya Fruit All Year
Round
I love growing papaya. They are easy
to grow (once you know how to!),
they are quick to fruit and they fruit all
year round. I can use them both ripe or green, I can feed them to my
chickens, and they attract lots of wild
birds into my garden.
Papayas are fast growing shade trees,
and they look really good, too.
Growing Papaya Growing papaya from seed is the
easiest and most successful way to get
started. And of course it's also the
cheapest. You can grow papayas
using seed from shop bought
papayas. However, the papaya can be a finicky
plant... Papayas are easy to grow, but
not necessarily so easy to keep alive
and get good fruit from.
Below I tell you how you can easily
grow papaya from seed, and how you can ensure a good supply of fruit all

year round.

Growing Papaya
Papaya originated in the lowland
tropics of South America, but today
you find papayas growing everywhere in the tropics and
subtropics. It often grows wild, and
every tropical food garden has several
papaya trees.
To grow good papayas you need a
frost free climate, lots of sunlight, lots of water and very good soil.
If you can supply all of the above you
can pretty much stick some papaya
seeds in the ground at any time of the
year, and six to ten months later they
will start fruiting. Ok, admittedly this sounds easier than
it is for most beginner gardeners.
There are some hurdles and traps to
watch out for when growing papayas.
But if you are aware of the possible
problems then there is no reason why your first attempt at growing papayas
shouldn't be a smashing success. Let's
look at the details...
What Do Papayas Look Like?
Here are some pictures of papayas, for
those who have never seen papaya plants.
Crown Of A PapayaYoung Papaya
Plant.Mature Papaya Tree.
Papayas are fast growing, single stem
plants. The trunk is soft and does not
have a bark, and papayas don't have branches.
The leaves are huge and don't last
long. Usually you have a tall trunk with
a crown of leaves at the top of it. The
overall appearance is a bit like a palm
tree. If a papaya loses the growing tip or is
cut back it can develop multiple
trunks.
The fruit grows on the trunk, and
since papayas continue to grow up
and up the fruit is harder and harder to get to as the papaya plant gets
older...
How To Grow Papaya From Seed
Growing Papaya Seeds
You can use any shop bought papaya
for seeds, but you get the best results if you use seeds from locally grown
papaya fruit.
Just cut the papaya in half, scrape out
the seeds, and clean and dry them.
(Actually, I never bother cleaning
them...) You will end up with enough seeds to
grow a papaya plantation...
Select a sunny and sheltered place in
your garden. That's right, in your
garden. Don't start them in pots!






Papayas don't transplant well. Anything that disturbs the roots of
papayas really sets them back. They
just hate it. The most fool proof way to
grow papayas is to simply plant them
where they are to live.
Papaya trees are very, very hungry. That means they need very good soil,
rich in organic matter and nutrients.
If you don't have fabulous soil, make
some. Dig a hole half a meter across
and fill it with a mix of good compost
and soil. Actually, make at least two or three such planting beds in different
locations.
Now sprinkle on some of your seeds.
A couple of dozen per bed is a good
amount. I usually use even more...
Cover the seeds lightly with more compost, and then mulch the patch
well. The seeds usually take about a
couple of weeks to germinate, and
may take longer.
Soon you will notice that your
seedlings are very different in size and vigor. That's why we planted so many.
Start culling the weaker ones. Pull
them out while still small, or cut bigger
ones down to the ground. Only keep
the very best.
At this stage you should keep about half a dozen plants. Papaya plants can
be male, female, or bisexual, and you
want to make sure that you have
some females or bisexual plants
amongst your seedlings. The male
papayas don't bear fruit. Male Papaya FlowersFemale Papaya
Plant
Papayas start flowering when they are
about one metre tall. The males flower
first. Male flowers have long, thin
stalks with several small blooms. Female flowers are usually single
blooms, bigger, and very close to the
trunk. See the papaya pictures above.
Cull most of the male plants. You only
need one male for every ten to fifteen
female plants to ensure good pollination.
And that's it. You should end up with
one very strong and healthy female
plant per bed. (And a male plant
somewhere...) If the weather is warm
enough, and if you are growing your papayas in full sun and in good soil,
then you could be picking the first ripe
fruit within 10 months.
How much water?
Papayas have large soft leaves. They
evaporate a lot of water in warm weather, so they need a lot of water.
But unfortunately papayas are very
susceptible to root rot, especially in
cool weather. Overwatering is the
most common reason for problems
when growing papayas. It depends on the temperature and on
the overall health and vigor of the
plant. A healthier plant will cope
better, but in general you should be
careful not to overwater during
periods of cool weather. How much plant food?
As much as you can spare. Papayas
need a lot of fertilizing. They are
particularly greedy for nitrogen.
Fertilize them regularly. You can use a
complete fertilizer, or something like chicken manure. Papayas handle
strong or fresh manures fairly well.
You should also be generous with
compost, and just keep piling on the
mulch as the plants grow bigger.
How much sun? As much as possible. It's ok if the
leaves wilt a little bit in hot weather.
Papayas love heat and sunlight. You
can get them to grow in partial shade,
but you just end up with a spindly,
sickly tree, and if you ever get any fruit it will be several metres up in the air
and taste insipid.
When do papayas fruit and how
much?
Papayas fruit all year round, as long as
the weather is warm enough. Keep them happy and they will keep
fruiting. (If the temperatures drop too
much they stop flowering. They will
flower again as it warms up.)
Young papayas are the most
productive. The older a papaya plant gets, the weaker it becomes. It will
produce less and smaller fruit, and it
may get problems with diseases. Also,
because the plants keep growing
taller it gets harder to reach the fruit.
I think it's best to just keep planting more. Put in another patch every few
months. That way you always have
some healthy and productive plants
around, and you don't need a ladder
to pick the fruit.
How long do papayas live? That can vary greatly, but most papaya
plants are short lived. As they get
older they get more susceptible to all
kinds of diseases. Most of mine die
some time in their second or third
year. We get big storms here and usually my papayas just blow over
once they get too tall.
But I also have some trees that seem
indestructible. Rather than blowing
over they snap off, and grow multiple
new trunks. I once saw a photo of a forty year old papaya!
Common Problems When Growing
Papayas
I already addressed the most common
problem: root rot due to overwatering.
If you get cool weather keep you papaya plants dry.
If you live in an area that gets
torrential tropical rains, like I do, then
there is not much you can do about it.
Every wet season I lose many of my
mature papaya plants. It's not a problem for me, since I regularly start
new plants. The young ones survive
ok, and I always have some papayas
fruiting somewhere.
Strong winds are another common
cause of papaya disaster. Papaya plants have a very shallow root
system, they get very top heavy as
they grow older, and they blow over
easily. Again, the solution is to replant
in time.
Then there are birds, fruit bats, possums... Everybody loves papayas.
The only solution here is to pick the
fruit as soon as it starts to change
colour. It will ripen ok on the kitchen
bench.
I don't mind sharing my papaya crop anyway. I pick what I can reach and I
don't worry about the fruit that's
higher up. The birds can have the rest
until the plant falls over and dies.
That is unless I get an exceptionally
productive or nice flavoured papaya. I'm too lazy to climb ladders to pick
papayas, so if a tree gets too tall I just
cut it down, about two feet of the
ground. Sometimes it kills them, but
sometimes they grow back with
several trunks. I get more fruit and it grows where I can reach it.
The best time to cut a papaya back is
during dry weather. The trunk is
hollow. If it fills with water it will rot.
You can protect it by covering it with
an upside down plastic pot or or a bag. Hot, humid weather can
encourage rot.
Papayas get a whole slew of viruses
and diseases, transmitted by sucking
insects. Those problems are greatest
during times when the plants are stressed already, for example because
they have wet feet.
I don't think it's worth worrying about
diseases, or trying to treat them. Just
plant more.
Young, vigorous papayas are least affected by insects or diseases. Just
keep planting lots of them, and always
keep just the best. The planting
method outlined above, and regular
replanting, are the best way to ensure
a regular supply of papaya. Save your own seeds from your
healthiest and tastiest plants, and over
time you will breed the perfect papaya
for your garden.
Growing Papaya In Cooler Climates
If you get at least long hot summers you could grow papaya just as an
ornamental plant. In this case you
would start them in a pot indoors to
gain extra time. Plant them out against
a sun facing wall and enjoy the
tropical look. However, you won't be able to keep your papaya alive long
enough to get fruit.
The only other option is growing
papaya in a huge pot, and to keep the
pot in a heated greenhouse in winter.
Still, I doubt you'd get reasonable fruit of it. I would grow papaya as an
annual decorative plant.
The tropical tree has many uses and
benefits, both in the garden and in the
home.
Summary from various sourcesHow To Grow Papaya Fruit All Year
Round
I love growing papaya. They are easy
to grow (once you know how to!),
they are quick to fruit and they fruit all
year round. I can use them both ripe or green, I can feed them to my
chickens, and they attract lots of wild
birds into my garden.
Papayas are fast growing shade trees,
and they look really good, too.
Growing Papaya Growing papaya from seed is the
easiest and most successful way to get
started. And of course it's also the
cheapest. You can grow papayas
using seed from shop bought
papayas. However, the papaya can be a finicky
plant... Papayas are easy to grow, but
not necessarily so easy to keep alive
and get good fruit from.
Below I tell you how you can easily
grow papaya from seed, and how you can ensure a good supply of fruit all
year round.
Growing Papaya
Papaya originated in the lowland
tropics of South America, but today
you find papayas growing everywhere in the tropics and
subtropics. It often grows wild, and
every tropical food garden has several
papaya trees.
To grow good papayas you need a
frost free climate, lots of sunlight, lots of water and very good soil.
If you can supply all of the above you
can pretty much stick some papaya
seeds in the ground at any time of the
year, and six to ten months later they
will start fruiting. Ok, admittedly this sounds easier than
it is for most beginner gardeners.
There are some hurdles and traps to
watch out for when growing papayas.
But if you are aware of the possible
problems then there is no reason why your first attempt at growing papayas
shouldn't be a smashing success. Let's
look at the details...
What Do Papayas Look Like?
Here are some pictures of papayas, for
those who have never seen papaya plants.
Crown Of A PapayaYoung Papaya
Plant.Mature Papaya Tree.
Papayas are fast growing, single stem
plants. The trunk is soft and does not
have a bark, and papayas don't have branches.
The leaves are huge and don't last
long. Usually you have a tall trunk with
a crown of leaves at the top of it. The
overall appearance is a bit like a palm
tree. If a papaya loses the growing tip or is
cut back it can develop multiple
trunks.
The fruit grows on the trunk, and
since papayas continue to grow up
and up the fruit is harder and harder to get to as the papaya plant gets
older...
How To Grow Papaya From Seed
Growing Papaya Seeds
You can use any shop bought papaya
for seeds, but you get the best results if you use seeds from locally grown
papaya fruit.
Just cut the papaya in half, scrape out
the seeds, and clean and dry them.
(Actually, I never bother cleaning
them...) You will end up with enough seeds to
grow a papaya plantation...
Select a sunny and sheltered place in
your garden. That's right, in your
garden. Don't start them in pots!
Papayas don't transplant well. Anything that disturbs the roots of
papayas really sets them back. They
just hate it. The most fool proof way to
grow papayas is to simply plant them
where they are to live.
Papaya trees are very, very hungry. That means they need very good soil,
rich in organic matter and nutrients.
If you don't have fabulous soil, make
some. Dig a hole half a meter across
and fill it with a mix of good compost
and soil. Actually, make at least two or three such planting beds in different
locations.
Now sprinkle on some of your seeds.
A couple of dozen per bed is a good
amount. I usually use even more...
Cover the seeds lightly with more compost, and then mulch the patch
well. The seeds usually take about a
couple of weeks to germinate, and
may take longer.
Soon you will notice that your
seedlings are very different in size and vigor. That's why we planted so many.
Start culling the weaker ones. Pull
them out while still small, or cut bigger
ones down to the ground. Only keep
the very best.
At this stage you should keep about half a dozen plants. Papaya plants can
be male, female, or bisexual, and you
want to make sure that you have
some females or bisexual plants
amongst your seedlings. The male
papayas don't bear fruit. Male Papaya FlowersFemale Papaya
Plant
Papayas start flowering when they are
about one metre tall. The males flower
first. Male flowers have long, thin
stalks with several small blooms. Female flowers are usually single
blooms, bigger, and very close to the
trunk. See the papaya pictures above.
Cull most of the male plants. You only
need one male for every ten to fifteen
female plants to ensure good pollination.
And that's it. You should end up with
one very strong and healthy female
plant per bed. (And a male plant
somewhere...) If the weather is warm
enough, and if you are growing your papayas in full sun and in good soil,
then you could be picking the first ripe
fruit within 10 months.
How much water?
Papayas have large soft leaves. They
evaporate a lot of water in warm weather, so they need a lot of water.
But unfortunately papayas are very
susceptible to root rot, especially in
cool weather. Overwatering is the
most common reason for problems
when growing papayas. It depends on the temperature and on
the overall health and vigor of the
plant. A healthier plant will cope
better, but in general you should be
careful not to overwater during
periods of cool weather. How much plant food?
As much as you can spare. Papayas
need a lot of fertilizing. They are
particularly greedy for nitrogen.
Fertilize them regularly. You can use a
complete fertilizer, or something like chicken manure. Papayas handle
strong or fresh manures fairly well.
You should also be generous with
compost, and just keep piling on the
mulch as the plants grow bigger.
How much sun? As much as possible. It's ok if the
leaves wilt a little bit in hot weather.
Papayas love heat and sunlight. You
can get them to grow in partial shade,
but you just end up with a spindly,
sickly tree, and if you ever get any fruit it will be several metres up in the air
and taste insipid.
When do papayas fruit and how
much?
Papayas fruit all year round, as long as
the weather is warm enough. Keep them happy and they will keep
fruiting. (If the temperatures drop too
much they stop flowering. They will
flower again as it warms up.)
Young papayas are the most
productive. The older a papaya plant gets, the weaker it becomes. It will
produce less and smaller fruit, and it
may get problems with diseases. Also,
because the plants keep growing
taller it gets harder to reach the fruit.
I think it's best to just keep planting more. Put in another patch every few
months. That way you always have
some healthy and productive plants
around, and you don't need a ladder
to pick the fruit.
How long do papayas live? That can vary greatly, but most papaya
plants are short lived. As they get
older they get more susceptible to all
kinds of diseases. Most of mine die
some time in their second or third
year. We get big storms here and usually my papayas just blow over
once they get too tall.
But I also have some trees that seem
indestructible. Rather than blowing
over they snap off, and grow multiple
new trunks. I once saw a photo of a forty year old papaya!
Common Problems When Growing
Papayas
I already addressed the most common
problem: root rot due to overwatering.
If you get cool weather keep you papaya plants dry.
If you live in an area that gets
torrential tropical rains, like I do, then
there is not much you can do about it.
Every wet season I lose many of my
mature papaya plants. It's not a problem for me, since I regularly start
new plants. The young ones survive
ok, and I always have some papayas
fruiting somewhere.
Strong winds are another common
cause of papaya disaster. Papaya plants have a very shallow root
system, they get very top heavy as
they grow older, and they blow over
easily. Again, the solution is to replant
in time.
Then there are birds, fruit bats, possums... Everybody loves papayas.
The only solution here is to pick the
fruit as soon as it starts to change
colour. It will ripen ok on the kitchen
bench.
I don't mind sharing my papaya crop anyway. I pick what I can reach and I
don't worry about the fruit that's
higher up. The birds can have the rest
until the plant falls over and dies.
That is unless I get an exceptionally
productive or nice flavoured papaya. I'm too lazy to climb ladders to pick
papayas, so if a tree gets too tall I just
cut it down, about two feet of the
ground. Sometimes it kills them, but
sometimes they grow back with
several trunks. I get more fruit and it grows where I can reach it.
The best time to cut a papaya back is
during dry weather. The trunk is
hollow. If it fills with water it will rot.
You can protect it by covering it with
an upside down plastic pot or or a bag. Hot, humid weather can
encourage rot.
Papayas get a whole slew of viruses
and diseases, transmitted by sucking
insects. Those problems are greatest
during times when the plants are stressed already, for example because
they have wet feet.
I don't think it's worth worrying about
diseases, or trying to treat them. Just
plant more.
Young, vigorous papayas are least affected by insects or diseases. Just
keep planting lots of them, and always
keep just the best. The planting
method outlined above, and regular
replanting, are the best way to ensure
a regular supply of papaya. Save your own seeds from your
healthiest and tastiest plants, and over
time you will breed the perfect papaya
for your garden.
Growing Papaya In Cooler Climates
If you get at least long hot summers you could grow papaya just as an
ornamental plant. In this case you
would start them in a pot indoors to
gain extra time. Plant them out against
a sun facing wall and enjoy the
tropical look. However, you won't be able to keep your papaya alive long
enough to get fruit.
The only other option is growing
papaya in a huge pot, and to keep the
pot in a heated greenhouse in winter.
Still, I doubt you'd get reasonable fruit of it. I would grow papaya as an
annual decorative plant.
The tropical tree has many uses and
benefits, both in the garden and in the
home.