Fort Valley State University near Macon, GA, conducted research on papayas in the late 1980s and found success in overwintering plants by mounding dirt around them. I suspect your method will work even better. The problem with papayas is that they need an almost 12-month growing season to ripen fruit.
Apples/bananas release ethylene gas. Papaya are climacteric fruit, meaning the fruit contains the chemical energy needed to finish ripening once the fruit has been harvested/removed from the mother plant so they can ripen on the kitchen counter like a banana or tomato. Super impressed by your papayas!
In Zone 7a Philly, paaaalllllleeeaasse give me a short outline on your care for the papaya, also I'm in the hood, so I'll be doing container gardening, I'll be sure to big up you if I can get this to workout for me, as well as you are currently.
It's so cool that you are growing papayas outside in the ground in zone 7. Hope you can get them to ripen but if you cant, green papaya is edible can be used like a vegetable
@sweethomealabamahomestead4504 Definitely, I had some a while back that I killed in the Fall/Winter due to root rot. I actually like eating papaya when they are green but the flesh has turned orange.
@@sweethomealabamahomestead4504 Tradewinds is currently out of stock on seeds but Raindance has seeds in stock. Rooted plants can also be purchased, Wellspring has em for $26 USD Fruit can also be ordered online (IHeartFruitBox). Weird Explorer did a fruit review on them in 2017, Episode 217. Some other varieties of papaya like Babaco sometimes get called Mountain Papaya, but I'm specifically talking about Vasconcellea pubescens. Wikipedia suggests damage below 36F, but some other sites say "high 20's for brief periods of time". They are one of the most cold hardy varieties of papaya. You might need a few of these trees for your collection, wink wink. I don't have any experience with them myself -- only learned about them recently. Again, the fruit size is pretty small so most people shouldn't get too excited for them, but they seem intriguing to the zone pushers and maybe its an exotic treat for local birds if they would know to have a go at them.
Fort Valley State University near Macon, GA, conducted research on papayas in the late 1980s and found success in overwintering plants by mounding dirt around them. I suspect your method will work even better. The problem with papayas is that they need an almost 12-month growing season to ripen fruit.
That is interesting and give me a little hope I can. I tried to pick varieties that had shorter ripen times.
Apples/bananas release ethylene gas. Papaya are climacteric fruit, meaning the fruit contains the chemical energy needed to finish ripening once the fruit has been harvested/removed from the mother plant so they can ripen on the kitchen counter like a banana or tomato.
Super impressed by your papayas!
In Zone 7a Philly, paaaalllllleeeaasse give me a short outline on your care for the papaya, also I'm in the hood, so I'll be doing container gardening, I'll be sure to big up you if I can get this to workout for me, as well as you are currently.
It's so cool that you are growing papayas outside in the ground in zone 7. Hope you can get them to ripen but if you cant, green papaya is edible can be used like a vegetable
Yes first time I have tried them green and they are not bad at all.
This is so cool man! Nect year i hope my payayas fruit like yours. I have several overwintering in pots right now.
I hope you can get them to go for you.
Incredible!! I hope some of them ripen for you. Please show us if they do! This is quite the accomplishment, I may have to try this too.
I will. They are not bad green either. They are also very pretty and fun plants to grown too.
@sweethomealabamahomestead4504 Definitely, I had some a while back that I killed in the Fall/Winter due to root rot. I actually like eating papaya when they are green but the flesh has turned orange.
I am very impressed. Have you ever checked out the more cold hardy Mountain Papaya? The fruit is very small.
No, I have not. How cold hardy are they and where can you buy seeds for them?
@@sweethomealabamahomestead4504 Tradewinds is currently out of stock on seeds but Raindance has seeds in stock. Rooted plants can also be purchased, Wellspring has em for $26 USD Fruit can also be ordered online (IHeartFruitBox). Weird Explorer did a fruit review on them in 2017, Episode 217. Some other varieties of papaya like Babaco sometimes get called Mountain Papaya, but I'm specifically talking about Vasconcellea pubescens. Wikipedia suggests damage below 36F, but some other sites say "high 20's for brief periods of time". They are one of the most cold hardy varieties of papaya. You might need a few of these trees for your collection, wink wink. I don't have any experience with them myself -- only learned about them recently. Again, the fruit size is pretty small so most people shouldn't get too excited for them, but they seem intriguing to the zone pushers and maybe its an exotic treat for local birds if they would know to have a go at them.