Funkthulhu

Greetings 'Nanner-heads!

The seasons are changing up here in Zone 5 Nebraska. That means warmer temperatures, longer days, planning out the backyard garden and getting ready to move the container ranch back out onto the deck! We've got palms, and cycads, and palms, and Nanners, and random citrus grown from lunch leftovers, we even have pineapples and a chermoya (that has somehow not died in 2 years with only 5 leaves...).

Of note, I have receive in the mail several seeds I ordered on a whim and I'm curious about the most efficient route to fruity cultivation. In particular I have on order a packet of dwarf papaya seeds (the variety name escapes me at the moment). Assuming successful germination, what would be the best pot to put them in?

I have no experience with papaya (plants) and so I am wondering how they fare when faced with repotting? Is it ideal to put them in the pot they will stay in? Or will they do okay by getting upsized as needed for the first few years?

Aside from my papaya related questions, what other tips can you give for the prospective container rancher of all species?

Cheers!

-Erik

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"Ph'nglui musaglw'nanna Funkthulhu R'Omahaea wgah'basjoo fhtagn"
"In his house at Omaha, dread Funkthulhu plants bananas."

Abnshrek

Growing Papaya is not difficult.. I fed mine Banana Fuel, some azomite to kick start them. Upsizing pots is no problem, but thee effect of having to small a pot for a plant can seriously hinder these fast growing plants (in optimal weather). I have not gotten one thru the Winter yet, but things happen. I had no problem getting my seeds to come up.. Keep in Mind for your area you would like to have a plant w/ a 1-2' stem come May so you can make the most of your natural growing season.. :^)

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Lancelot

I have several still living Papayas that I've overwintered the last couple years. If they dry out I've found, they will likely die on the top and not come back. I've got one that is about 3 ft. tall, and a Hovey that the tip died and now has two upward growing stems.

I probably don't move them to larger pots soon enough as they tend to stay on the small side. I also find that some plants grow tall and spindly, and some stay nice and compact, possibly a variation of the seed genes.

I yet have gotten one big enough to fruit, but the leaves are so cool, I just love them.

raygrogan

I don't know about re-potting with papayas, but I can tell you that with taro re-potting is the ticket to superb growth. As mentioned, timing / doing it often is the tricky part. With taro it takes about 30 to 60 days for the roots to fill the pot, which is time to re-pot. The easiest clue is when roots start coming out the bottom of the pot. Taro plants like "zero disturb" repotting, meaning you have the new pot all set up, ready to plop the plant on after a little tap and sliding it out of the old pot without moving any roots or dirt. Then fill the new pot up. (With taro good to go an inch or so higher that old soil level, with papaya probably keep it the same.) The dirt I use has, in 5 gal of dirt, a gal of peat moss, 4 oz dolomite lime, 3 oz 10-20-20, and 1 oz Ironite. The nutrients seem to last about 60 days also, which fits into the re-potting schedule. Each step up is roughly 2-3X the size of the old pot. Good luck with your papayas.

Funkthulhu

Wow! That's aggressive repotting and aggressive rooting too!

__________________
"Ph'nglui musaglw'nanna Funkthulhu R'Omahaea wgah'basjoo fhtagn"
"In his house at Omaha, dread Funkthulhu plants bananas."

raygrogan

Errrppp - I should be clear that when I say "ounces" what I really mean is volume, like fill a measuring cup with dry fertilizer up to the 3 ounce line.

Hammocked Banana

I just ordered a bunch of new varieties of papaya seeds to experiment with. I have got many container papaya large enough to bloom, but none have set fruit yet. For me they are hard to overwinter but possible. They are mite magnets and ofter get damaged very bad from sprays and even just soapy water. After seeing pics of very small papaya plants, I did some experimenting really restricting pot size to try to keep the plants very short, however after 4 years the plants in small containers show no sign of wanting to flower and are just sad little plants. I believe the best bet is as abnshrek says, once u have a decent sized seedling, transplant into its final 30gal container and pound the water and fert to it. They grow so amazingly fast on a huge container. You should be able to get it to flowering size one one season, then if u manage to overwinter it, the second season you should be able to get a decent amount of fruit. This season im trying different varieties to see if I can find a good variety for pots which will set fruit at a very low height and is better at overwintering.

raygrogan

Roots - I have no experience with re-potting tap root plants like papaya. With taro when I go to a bigger pot I put most of the new dirt below the existing root-dirt block (and don't break it up), say 3", and around, and then an inch or so above the block.

bananimal

Here is my source for quality seed at good prices. Click the store button.
papaya seed Aloha Seed

For low bearing fruit try Solo Waimanalo low-bearing. I'm growing this one and Gold Maradol.

One thing all the pros say is do not disturb the roots. Start seed in say 4 inch pots. Carefully extract the rootball and pot in bigger pots. Helps to dampen the rootball with water spray and sprinkle mycorrizae powder. Water with dilute fish emulsion.

Hammocked Banana

This is where I ordered my seeds. Just waiting for them to ship.

bananimal

Excellent! I think I posted this link before. Got the tip from a buddy that runs a certified organic farm. All he ferts with is chicken litter. His paps are huge and prolific.

Hammocked Banana

I know I found the link in a old thread somewhere so it was likely your post.

merce3

i picked up some seeds there too. i got the solo sunset, solo sunrise, red maradol and f1 tropical hybrid. i've seen where people just cut out the bottom of the pot so they don't disturb the roots and just plant the pot in the ground

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bananimal

I gently push the rootball out thru the bottom holes with a dowel. Need lateral exposure to the planting site. Some folks will take a depot and squeeze the rootball to loosen up the roots. This you don't want to do.

Hammocked Banana

How did the tropical hybrid work out? I was on the fence about this one.

merce3

really poor germination rate compared to the others and appear much weaker. i have tried starting them outside and under some t5s and I still only have 4 growing out of 10-12 seeds i planted. i potted all of the ones i sprouted indoors yesterday and moved them outside under indirect light. hopefully they'll pick up because i was the most excited about that one.

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merce3

btw, what did you go with?

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Hammocked Banana

Ya hopefully they'll work out for you, keep us updated. I passed on this one because I got Improved Red Maradol, Waimanalo X-77 (Kamia), Gold Maradol (Amarela), Known You #1, Red Lady, and Tainung #1. So needless to say I'm probably in over my head already, not sure if i'll start one pot of each or not yet, but I need to get a good system worked out. I might also try pushing growth to the point of flowering first year and then ground planting in their second season and just see what I get. We'll see, just winging it at this point.

merce3

i just realized your growing zone. well, good luck and keep us posted. i will definitely give the play by play, once they're worth showing.

have you ever tried any of the varieties you bought? i was looking primarily for red ones

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Funkthulhu

To be honest, I've been so busy preparing the food garden that I've not even had a chance to get these seeds planted yet.

I'll put them on a soak tonight!

__________________
"Ph'nglui musaglw'nanna Funkthulhu R'Omahaea wgah'basjoo fhtagn"
"In his house at Omaha, dread Funkthulhu plants bananas."