smeash

Best of luck with your papaya! Ive been growing mine for 2 years. I grow the small Hawaiian "solo" varieties. They fruited their first year, but not until late august so i had tons of green papaya (which i love too). This year they fruited in early April/late march and i had ripe papaya by the end of august thru now. I had two large trees in full sun planted near my boat dock, and i lost both after they were submerged in salt water by hurricane sally. I have 6 other trees on the south side of my house, and these get less sun and the trunks are smaller, however they fared MUCH better than my other 2 last winter, and never even wilted a leaf. They bloomed and fruited a month before my 2 down by the water.
I originally planted about 14 solo trees of 4 different varieties.. ALL produced only hermaphrodite flowers, so it must be a common trait.
Also of note.. cutting the main trunk at a height of about 4 ft, produced multiple fruiting offshoots on each tree, and made harvest much easier.. i will do that to several of my remaining trees. Just be sure to cover the hollow trunk with a coffee can or something similar, to keep out water until it closes off.
My 8 trees produced probably 120-150 fruits this year.. more than i could eat.
Fun and attractive plant to grow.. enjoy!