Exotic as they may be, papayas can be grown in your own yard.
By JOHN A. STARNES JR.
Published December 6, 2003
[Photos by John A. Starnes Jr.]
The first step in growing your own papayas is to scoop out the seeds and put them in a 3-gallon pot with garden soil or bagged compost.
Treat yourself to the taste and feel of the tropics with papayas, which can thrive in Florida.
Being able to pick a fresh papaya in winter is one more reason to adore Central and South Florida. Even though papayas, sometimes called "tree melons," are considered exotic fruits, we can grow them in our own landscapes.
Papayas come in many sizes and flavors, and when you get one that is especially flavorful, scoop out those pungent seeds and put them in a 3-gallon pot nearly filled with garden soil or bagged compost, cover them with an inch of soil, water and set the pot in full sun. Keep the soil damp but not soggy; water two to three times a week if there is no rain.
Within two to three weeks, the papayas will pop up in droves. Give them one good drenching of fish emulsion (3 tablespoons in a gallon of water), or sprinkle menhaden fish meal on the soil about as heavily as you would Parmesan cheese on spaghetti. When they are a few inches tall and frost danger has passed, plant them in your landscape beds - wherever you need the drama of tropical-looking plants 8 to 15 feet tall.
Keep in mind that papayas are sexually ambiguous and frequently change appearance. That's why buying papaya plants can be risky because that fruit-bearing female can change into a male if conditions are right. Or you can end up with bisexual plants, or all male or all female.
To get plenty of papayas you need mostly females, those that bear a cuplike bloom close to the plant's main stem. You also need two males to bear pollen for a good fruit set. The blooms on boy papayas are long, thin stems that protrude several inches from the main stem.
The key is to plant your seedlings in rich, slightly acid soil in full sun. You will be amazed at their growth rate. Last March, I planted two inch-tall seedlings along my fence and by September they were 8 feet tall and covered with male and female blooms. In March, July, September and December, I feed my backyard soil with either menhaden fish meal, horse manure, Calf Manna or cottonseed meal - available at feed stores. Once a year I feed all my soil the animal feed mineral DynaMate to supply the extra potassium that blooming and fruiting plants love.
You can also grow your papayas next to your compost heap and let them lap up the natural nutrients. Like most plants, papayas love a thick mulch of coastal hay, leaves or chipped tree trimmings.
It is important to protect your papaya from freezes (use blankets or old sheets if the temperature drops well below freezing). But don't plant your seedlings until April if you live inland, where frosts and freezes can be more severe than along the coast. Papayas grow in summer and ripen in winter. Pick them when they turn chartreuse and smell ripe.
Grocery stores and produce stands will offer the greatest varieties, like the coveted extra-flavorful red-fleshed papayas. Raw papayas are a digestive aid, and sliced green papayas will tenderize tough meat because of papain, a protein-digesting enzyme.
Filipinos make a delightful sweet-and-sour "slaw" by mixing shredded green papaya (salted and allowed to sit an hour, then squeezed to remove the bitterness) with chopped onion, garlic, red and green bell peppers, fresh ginger root, vinegar, hot pepper and sugar.
This winter, treat yourself to this tantalizing taste of the tropics, then plant those seeds. Hey, this is Florida.
- John A. Starnes Jr., born in Key West, is an avid organic gardener and rosarian who studies, collects, cultivates and hybridizes roses for the diverse regions of Florida. E-mail him at JohnAStarnes@aol.com
