Do you live in growing zones 9 and 10? If so, then you are lucky enough to have the ability to grow papaya in your yard. This tropical fruit is a great addition to any breakfast or other meal in your day.
To grow papaya, you must grow the papaya tree. This should come naturally as it is just like growing many other kinds of trees. Enjoy papaya grown in your yard by reading on and learning how to grow a papaya tree.
Planting
When you are first growing papaya trees to produce fruit, you will want to make sure you grow a female or bisexual tree. The male papaya trees don’t produce fruit. Finding female or bisexual papaya seeds is pretty easy.
Your first step to growing a papaya tree is by obtaining a seed. You can find papaya seeds at many local grocery stores, or, you can extract a papaya seed from the fruit.
Most of the papayas that can be purchased at your local store are female or bisexual papaya, meaning that you will be able to use those seeds to grow your own fruit!
Extract the seed by cutting open your papaya, being careful that you don’t cut the seed. Scoop the seed out and give it a thorough wash under running water.
It is recommended to obtain several papaya seeds in case one doesn’t germinate.
Planting The Seed
Start off with a large pot where you can plant several papaya seeds at once. Again, this ensures that at least one of your seeds germinates. You can also plant your seeds straight into the ground, just plant several of the seeds close together and make sure that the area that you’re planting the seeds in has plenty of sunlight.
Papaya trees grow in zones 9 and 10, which have lots of sunlight and warmer weather.
Caring For Your Papaya Seeds
After you have planted your seeds in a pot or in the ground, there are several conditions you must make sure are met for your papaya seeds to turn into papaya trees.
These plants need lots of sunlight each and every day. Papaya seeds need to be exposed to full sun. This means at least 8 hours of direct sunlight should shine down on your papaya seeds each day.
Papaya seeds also need to be watered regularly for the best growth. Keep the soil moist as seedlings begin to sprout. If you stick your finger down into the soil and it is dry underneath the surface, then that means you should give the soil a good watering.
After about 2 weeks, though it can take longer, you will see seedlings begin to sprout. If you have planted several papaya seeds in a pot or close together in the ground, you will hopefully see several seedlings where several seeds were able to germinate.
Keep up with the sunlight, water, and regularly give your seedlings fertilizer until they are about a foot tall. This can take a few months. At that point, you can separate your seedlings.
If your seedlings are in a pot, transfer them to the ground in your yard a few feet apart from each other. For seedlings already in the ground, spread them out so each seedling is a few feet apart.
Caring For Papaya Trees
The care you need to do for your sprouts will be different from the care you gave to the seeds. As trees, your papaya plants will still need full sunlight so make sure to keep them in an area where they will get 8 to 10 hours of direct sunlight a day.
Younger trees will require fertilizer every 2 weeks and will need ¼ pound of fertilizer. Older trees can be fertilized every month with a pound of fertilizer each time.
You should continue to water your papaya trees regularly, but make sure that the soil has good drainage so the roots don’t stay wet for too long.
Place mulch around the base of each tree to keep moisture locked into the ground. Wood mulch is the best to use for papaya trees.
Note that your papaya tree can grow up to 15 feet tall, so space your papaya trees as needed.
Papaya Tree Flowering And Fruit
You will notice your papaya tree first beginning to flower after about a half year of growing. This time starts after the seed has germinated and you first see a seedling. Keep up the care for your papaya tree until you see flowers form on the branches.
After a few more months, papaya fruit will grow on the trees. As the fruit grows, it will need to be exposed to sunlight just as much as the rest of the tree. Once the fruit grows and matures, you can harvest the fruit and enjoy a tasty snack.
Pests
When the fruit of your papaya tree is first growing, you will need to check often for pests. Small insects and creatures love to eat all the fruit they can on trees.
The new addition of papaya fruit to your yard can attract pests and you will want to repel pests as they become a problem.
Checking on your tree often will allow you to catch problems early so you don’t find all the fruit on your papaya tree munched on by unwanted pests.
Conclusion
Papaya are a great fruit to grow in your yard when you are wanting something new in your garden. Unlike some other fruit trees that will take years to first flower, papaya trees grow quickly and start to produce fruit within the first year.
Growing papaya trees is fairly easy to do and doesn’t require a ton of space on your part. Purchase some papaya seeds from the store and grab a pot.
As long as you have full sun and plenty of water, you will have papayas growing in your yard in no time at all. That way, you can have papaya whenever you want.
