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​Papaya or Fruta Bomba? Carica papaya     

  
Fruta Bomba is what Cubans call Papaya, it's the same fruit as Papaya. In Miami Florida, Cubans are everywhere, so always be polite and ask for Fruta Bomba. Trust me on this one. It's a cultural thing.

Fruta Bomba is fairly easy to grow. This is one of several tropical fruit trees you can grow here in our lovely subtropical South Florida. Some very common varieties, and good ones for our area, are the Dwarf Red Lady, Caribbean Red, Solo, Sunrise & TR Hovey. Both Red Lady and TR Hovey grow fast and produce medium fruit. Solo produces small one lb average fruits. Papaya tastes a bit like cantaloupe and the sweetness depends on how evenly ripe the fruit is. It is best to harvest them when they show yellow along three sides of the fruit. Leaving the fruit till it is completely yellow will often attract birds and other animals. Birds will peck at the fruit and squirrels, possums and other wildlife will have a feast. 

​Caribbean Red is taller and produces a large fruit of exceptional flavor.

Here are a few new cultivars we just planted seeds of.....
Excellent dwarf and semi dwarf Papaya plants that are excellent for container or in ground growing
Tainung 1, Golden Thai and Nana Pusa AVAILABLE SOON IN OUR STORE!

​Click here to shop for starter fruit trees

The enzyme papain is found in the fruit and is excellent for a healthy digestive system. Papain is also used as a meat tenderizer.

These fruit trees grow best with at least 7 to 8 hours of full sun. They like to be kept moist and warm but in well drained soil. Plant them on a raised bed if you are flood prone. We recommend growing these trees for two years and then replacing them. Papaya, often suffers from viruses after the second year so replacing them controls the spread of the virus. Grow your own by saving the seeds and planting or just buy some more plants when you are ready to replace them. Remember that seed grown papaya can produce a mix of male, female and hermaphrodite plants. 

Generally two plants a male and a female are required for pollination. Red Lady and some other varieties are hermaphrodites, with flower arrangements that have both male and female flowers. These plants may be described as "bisexual" or having "perfect flowers". Now isn't that just absolutely amazing? 

Keep your plant healthy and productive

The papaya plant grows faster and is more productive when grown in the tropics.They like it warm, humid and with a steady supply of rich organic soil. Now remember we can grow them, and some other tropical fruit crops, in Florida with the right knowledge.

The papaya does not grow like a branched tree. Think papaya vs mango tree. A mango tree and most fruit trees are branched. Branched fruit trees, unlike single stemmed fruit crops, require some level of stress for best fruit production. The papaya, *banana, *coconut  and let me add the *pineapple are not happy with stress. They are all single stemmed fruit crops. Now I can hear you saying that the papaya grows branches. Yes the papaya will grow branches when injured, but it is considered a single stem fruit crop.  

Click here to shop for starter fruit trees

Here is what to remember. The papaya and the other *three plants mentioned have a growing point that is always active as long as the weather and growing conditions are optimal. As temperatures cool, these plants grow slower or stop growing until conditions improve.

With branched trees like avocado, lychee and most other branched fruit trees a certain level of stress is beneficial to fruit production. Stress may be due to colder temperatures, drought, injury etc.

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Papaya Fruit Fly
Control these annoying critters that lay eggs in your papaya fruit. Don't eat a nasty worm.

​Strategies:

• Sanitation is important. Pick up all fruit from the ground around your fruit trees. All your fruit trees!
• Bag fruit on your papaya tree with plastic produce bags. Make a tiny hole at the bottom for water drainage.
• Spray protein baits on three or four different areas of the plants in your grove or food forest. The spray attracts fruit fly's and kills them. Spray when flowers appear and every seven days till flowering cycle is completed. Spray trunks and under the leaves.
• Set up Delta traps with Fruit Fly pheromone. 1-3 traps per 1/4 acre are needed. Place traps up in the canopy providing some shade.

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Pepe's Tip:
You can order a gal of GF-120 OMRI certified Fruit Fly Bait concentrate at a cost of about $200.00 dollars U.S. Google it and see for yourself if you like. The product contains Spinosad and molasses so hint, hint. Make your own and save a ton of money. 

​Hey don't stress me man!
Stress is not welcomed and a stressed papaya plant will fruit poorly!  Here in Florida we are in the Subtropics and we can in fact grow papaya plants. Our Subtropical climate often brings us temperatures in the low 40's. Sometimes just above freezing too! These lower temperatures generally hit us around January and February. Your papaya plants will grow well and give you great fruit during the warmest parts of our season. Even if your tree gets some stress from drought or cold they generally bounce back with a little TLC. The tree in the photo above is just about six feet tall and look at all that fruit! Papaya plants do in fact grow and produce fruit in the Subtropics, but  just remember they don't like stress!

An excellent fertilizer would be any balanced blend like 8-8-8 or 13-13-13. Be sure to fertilize at 1/2 strength based on label recommendations every two weeks and provide minor elements monthly. Consider growing your fruit trees organically with Compost Tea. It's good stuff.

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​Pepe's Tip: 

​Fruta Bombas/Papayas don't like to have their roots disturbed. Be sure to plant them from a well rooted container. For best results cut the container open with a sharp razor blade. See our planting a tree tab for more information. In winter months do not overwater your papaya tree, you will most likely cause root rot.

​Click here to shop for starter fruit trees

Sale: Click to learn more....

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