[Arid_gardener] Fw: Growing papayas South West Turkey

[Dick]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Dick 
To: info at crfg.org ; Jose Oltio Espinoza 
Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2007 1:22 PM
Subject: Re: Growing papayas South West Turkey


Jose, I believe any variety of papaya will grow heartily in any well-drained, warm soil. It should easily reach 8 feet in one growing season on a decent diet.  I fertilize with 21-0-0 but too much at a time can burn foliage. One thing you must keep in mind, however, is that growth virtually comes to a standstill when the soil temperature approaches about 50 degrees F. The carrot-like root of papaya is deep and highly susceptable to root-rot that can set-in in cool, damp, anaerobic  soil almost overnight. Plant them on a slight mound to discourage standing water near the trunk. Unless drainage is perfect, do not irrigate at all after the soil temperature drops below about 55 degrees F.  The species must have excellent drainage such that, when the water table travels down all the way through the root zone, it pulls fresh air in behind it effectively discouraging the pathogen causing rot to flourish. I usually irrigate only in the drip-zone and only when I detect a slight loss of luster and/or droop of the foliage and the top three inches of soil are quite dry. Papaya can survive dry periods well but any prolonged episode of several days or so of wet soil is almost always fatal. Rot is quick and permanent. A tree can appear healthy one day and be flat on the ground the next. The stem of the Carica species, like a carrot, has no woody structure. I believe that is the defination of an herb.

Papayas have only one very frost-tender growing-point but nipping it off will often force branching. I would normally not do that but only, however, after the plant is about 3 or 4 feet tall.

Buy a fruit at Safeway, separate the 400 or so seeds, break the clear bubble encapseling each seed, wash, clean and dry them thoroughly but soak them again over-night before planting several in the same hole no deeper than a half inch. They will break the surface in 5 to 10 days. When they are 4 to 5 inches tall, use a pair of nail sissors to clip all but the heartiest one cleanly just above the soil line. You can plant several hills but try to keep them four feet apart. Papaya seedlings are highly susceptable to damping-off. They do not transplant well unless done quickly before true leaves are formed. Use the cotyledens to handle them to transplant and never grip the stem when transplanting.
Papayas can be started in 6oz styrofoam coffee cups with several holes in the bottom for drainage. When transplanting, plant the pot first, then remove the seedling and plop it right back into the same hole where the root mass fits perfectly with virtually no root exposure or disturbance.

Respond if there are further questions, Jose

Dick Gross, Master Gardener Volunteer
University of Arizona Maricopa County
Cooperative Extension

Bcc: Arid Gardener; AzCRFG

 ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jose Oltio Espinoza 
  To: info at crfg.org 
  Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2007 4:46 AM
  Subject: Growing papayas South West Turkey


  Dear Sir,

  Is it normal that a young growing papaya tree could lost leaves or have them colored yellowish instead of green
  like before?

  What could be the reasons?.  We planted the seeds on plastic pots in March this year, from a Mexican
  variety.  Then we move them to larger pots 3 to 4 months after.  Now, 8 to 9 months from the beginning of
  this experiment  (there are no papaya trees in this part of the world, South West Turkey, Bodrum.!),
   we have planted them on firm soil.  We have a total of 20 little trees planted in three different places.

  Some of them look fine but we shall need to protect from rain and cold, as winter temperatures at night
  time, sometimes might reach closer to freezing point, (normally it is around 6 to 12 Celsius at night and
  12 to 20 Celsius at day´s time which are sunny most of the times.

  Enclosed some photos to illustrate the situation.

  Many thanks in advance for your kind reply.

  José Oltio Espinoza.
  Bodrum. Turkey
  jocajina at superonline.com 
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