Create the right conditions for growing papayas
In order to obtain the desired papaya variety when growing from seeds, you should pay attention to the origin of the respective fruit. In this country, the smaller papayas from Hawaiian cultivars are often available, but sometimes the papaya varieties of Mexican origin weighing up to 5 kilograms are also available. Spoon the dark kernels out of the halved papayas onto a piece of kitchen paper. The transparent layer around the seeds can hardly be removed with just washing up, but it can be rubbed off by lightly rubbing the seeds between the paper towels. A nutrient-poor soil substrate such as peat or coconut fiber should be selected as a growing substrate (9.05 € at Amazon *) for the plants so that the young roots can develop well.
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Growing and caring for a papaya
For sowing the papaya seeds, the window sill or a relatively constant warm place in a winter garden or greenhouse should be chosen. In order to spare the young plants the prodest of pricking, which is usually poorly tolerated by papayas, you can put only one seed in a small seed pot and cover it with a thin layer of soil. During the germination phase of around two weeks, the substrate should be kept evenly moist, but not too wet. The special thing about papayas is their rapid growth with an unbranched trunk, although botanically it is not a tree or shrub. With some varieties, the first fruits can be harvested after about a year.
Hibernate the papaya properly
Papayas grown in buckets must be brought into the house before the temperatures drop below 10 degrees Celsius in autumn. Otherwise, papaya flowers and fruits may fall off due to the cold. Since papayas need sufficient light even in the colder months, a slightly cooler place in the winter garden or under a skylight is an optimal location.
Tips & Tricks
Depending on the seeds used for breeding, you can get monoecious or dioecious papaya plants. The former can self-pollinate, while the latter require one male for every 10 to 15 female plants for pollination. This can be distinguished from the female specimens on the basis of the somewhat earlier and longer-stemmed flowers.
