PAPAYA GROWING | COLD CLIMATE PROBLEMS | POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Growing Mexican Papaya Fruit In California is a challenge.
This video is an update of the two tropical papaya trees purchased at a big box store and this problems experienced growing them in Northern California z9b. #GrowPapaya , #GrowTropicalFruitTrees

[TropicalGardenGuy]

While it looks bad, this papaya may make it.
I’ll know better once the air temps warm in February.
Follow along with the progress of this and all of my tropical growing adventures.
Make sure to click the subscribe button, Have a wonderful day!

[AvobProject]

Thumbs up for being willing to post a video that things do not always go as planned! Gardeners learn by observation and making adjustments to technique.

[northeasthardytropicals]

These real life reports are helpful. Thank you for putting this together

[marcos]

My mexican papaya non raised bed huge loaded with fruit completely healthy I learned never to water it I just water the surrounding trees and seems to get water that way and when it rains I cover it with a plastic tarp so the soil around it won't get wet then remove it after it stops raining

[ophira]

I am in zone 9a. Grew Maradol papayas from seed in a raised bed. They are doing very well. I am looking to find out if they survive the winter!

[lyonheart]

They sure do hate the cold Jeff, near impossible to keep alive here, even indoors 🤪🤪

[nicolassaarni]

My papayas are suffering from above ground fungal rot on the trunks. So far I’ve cut 3 8’papaya trees to 5-6’ trunks and lost 2 smaller ones to sub surface root rot. I have them in a in un-heated greenhouse so they stay very dry during winter but it’s still cold and the wet humid weather still gives them trunk infections. I hope 🤞 the rest can hang in there as they were flowering just as winter arrived. Seems like it’s going to be a wet cool winter.

[shawnonthego]

Do you think any of these would survive in my area, Northern California foothills around 2, 000 ft elevation?

[GiuseppeDucaDiParma]

I have been trying to sprout mountain papaya and solo papaya (these are for indoors) using a heat mat, wet paper towel, and transparent Tupperware containers and good lights but they don’t seem to respond, instead molding. Any suggestions?

[passionatefruit]

Has anyone tried hybridizing some of the tastier tropical papaya varieties with more cold-hardy plants like mountain papaya or babaco? Crossing with plants that are known to withstand cold weather and wet soil could potentially yield some good results. It should be fairly easy to evaluate seedlings on cold hardiness by leaving them out unprotected in the winter and allowing the weaker plants to die. I know that babaco is already a hybrid itself and generally doesn't produce seeds, but that doesn't mean that it's incapable of being pollinated. Plants like this are classified as parthenocarpic: they're able to set fruit without being pollinated at all, both by another plant or its own pollen. This is a subtle but distinct difference from self-fertile plants, which are able to accept their own pollen to get fertilized and still produce viable seeds. Despite often growing without seeds, many parthenocarpic plants are still able to accept pollen from another source to fertilize their eggs and produce viable seeds. You mentioned you have babaco growing, so you might want to consider doing some experimental cross-pollination in this coming season.

[montypalmer]

Looks like Hawaiian varieties. Not good for 9B. The Mexican Maradol do much better. Grow them from seed. I'm in 9B Phoenix and I have flood irrigation so my papayas get heavy water in winter. I have one around 12 years old and still producing. Some fruit has been 12 to 15 feet off the ground, thank global warming. If planted on a mound, so later the mound can be removed, the trunk can avoid rotting. Frost damage can cause branching which can be good in the long run with more fruit. A good papaya should be airlayered, watch the videos. Maradol tastes wonderful grown to ripeness or near.