Phoenix Tropicals Gardening

[saul4paz]

These are pic taken Yesterday at Bobs house these are all Hybrids (TAINUNG#1) PAPAYAS. The later shown is 16ft high, which clears the largest papaya to 20+ ft. there’s also pics of the trunk which has to be at least three feet wide.

The fruit is sweet and delicious, and seedless, Bob said It’s rare to find any seed from his fruit at all (strange for papayas). The best way to get them is online.

These plants were planted only 4 years ago as seedling, and froze all its leaves off twice but quickly recovered. Bob said it not the heat but the frost you have to get them threw the first two winters at least.

Amazing is an understatement, these are Monster plants and reliable Producers. They seem to be growing very aggressively I was really taken a back to see em.

[saul4paz]

More pics

[saul4paz]

More

[phoenixtropicals]

Incredible! They look like palm trees. Still, there is no frame of reference. Yes, the 16 foot ladder, but a long shot of them with the house in the background maybe? Ha ha. I'm such a pain aren't I? Or are they just so huge that you have to take a photo from an airplane? I have babies from those dinosaurs in my front yard (see other post). They are growing fast too. I can't wait! Bob didn't tell me they would that big! Maybe I have bitten off more than I can chew.

[saul4paz]

Dinosaurs, is right, the trunks look like dino feet. Incredible how vigorous these are too, I’ve never seen anything like it, they even have multi trunks that make them look like an edible umbrella, Yah you probably need more room for these guy but If I can get papayas to grow and produce like bob, Ill chop my citrus and MAKE ROOM . The pic's were taken by my phone, so I had no room to move, but they cleared the house easily, and you can see them from the road like Palm trees. I'll get you that pic of them from far (with the all the back round stuff)

He put about 6 inches of mulch on top. I think the key will be to start seedling and get on a plant rotation. My seedlings just started sprouting out. There s another Papaya Legend call "Hovey" :dwarf that is said to grow as well smaller plant a little less productive tho, but still quit hardy.

Info on the web is scarce; the only thing I could find is that they were made by a Horticulture comity in Asia to withstand root rot and extreme climates.

[phoenixtropicals]

Interesting info. Did Bob say how he fertilizes them?

[saul4paz]

I didn't ask him that time. But at the meetings he told me he does straight nitro 21-0-0 . He said he deluites it in water , and fertilizes when the tree gets pasted a foot high (morning or evenings). Didnt ask him how much.

He makes many points to do all you can to get it threw the first winters, He said he's tryed everything from heat lamps to frost cloths. Once you get them threw the first 2 winters your in the clear.

I had seen this papaya for the pasted 4 years as I drove to my dad's house, It wasnt Till I started going to the AZRFG meeting that I found out They were his, and begin to Ask him every meet since, how he grows them and what to do. He has harvested loads of fruit on a month to month bases. Most of the fruit is seedless, And some wieght up to 8lbs.

I bought two 6in. ones at the last plant sale, 1 my dog got to (i almost died ) the second is taking a while to establish but is growing like the seedling pic.

[phoenixtropicals]

Thanks Saul. I previously thought Papayas would burn easily in our soil, but it is possible I mistook the effects of root rot for fertilizer burn. For my new papaya planting I am going to try 36-6-6. Its a miracle grow blend that you mix with water that is meant for grass. It works really well on my banana plant (when the banana doesn't have fruit on it, that strong with fruit will burn the fruit). I put some in the watering trench I have near my new papayas this evening. So, we'll see what happens. I am only going to water these plants once a week. I think that should be enough considering how dense our soil is here. I'm thinking maybe in the past I did the following things wrong with my papayas.

1) Too much shade (full sun until 2 PM instead of partial sun until 12)
2) Too frequent of watering (once a week vs. every other day in summer)
3) Not enough fertilizer (36-6-6 instead of fish emulsion)

I'll keep updating my thread on my plants, and I'll definitely update my Papaya page if I find my previous observations are incorrect. The change I would make would most likely amount to recommending more sun and fertilizer, and less water.

Thread on my new planting: http://phoenixtropicals.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=191

Papaya page:
http://www.phoenixtropicals.com/papaya.html

[saul4paz]

Cool ,The more info we get from growers in AZ the better, The papayas Ive seen in AZ producing have a tendency of having there leaves wilt down during the hotest part of the day. But every morning and evening they spring back up. I dont think this is of concern. Your right about the watering they do need water once a week "soaking", but with the right blend of soil they can be rather dry too.

The secret has to be with the roots/ and stock of the seedling. (everyone is different) henc;


Tainung #1 may break all the Papaya rules;

LITTLE GIANT

[phoenixtropicals]

Hmmmm. I think your little papaya is getting too much water, because it looks pale and the leafs are hanging. Also, I notice you have a lot of compost. My new planting is doing really well, but I didn't use an once of compost on them. Just native soil. So, I'm starting to think that papayas and compost don't mix. I think maybe compost/mulch as a top dressing is good because it slows evaporation and therefore will allow you to water your plants less often. Less evaporation and less frequent waterings would seem to make the moisture gradient through the soil more even. However, mixing compost in the backfill might be a bad idea because it keeps the ground down deeper too soggy. I just checked my papaya article and I recommended 50% compost backfill. Yikes! I'm definitely going to update my page. Notice that my new planting is basically using rocks as a top dressing. I think this might be good because the rocks are a light color so they won't get as hot as a darker colored rock, yet they kind of cap the soil so that evaporation is lowered. Also at night, rocks like this will hold the heat and even out the swings in soil temperature.

Well, we'll see.

[saul4paz]

Thanks for the growing tip, here another pic from bob's

[phoenixtropicals]

Fantastic! I wonder if the neighbors think they are Mexican Fan palms, or maybe coconut palms.

[MKIVRYAN]

Any word on how these guys did over the winter this year?

[phoenixtropicals]

I talked to him the other day. He didn't protect them, and they froze back severely. I kind of doubt they will come back from the trunk in that case. Probably he could have protected the first couple feet of the base. Protecting all of a large one like that is impossible I think.

[MKIVRYAN]

That sucks! Like you said though, how do you protect something like that short of lighing a fire underneath it.