Very Slow growing Papaya

Tha'ts a surprise - I thought they grew on big trees?

They do. I meant "they dont get big here in the SF bay area". How big it gets ultimately is the big question. This is new ground. ALL my other trys with them ended with rot in winter.
The last two winters have been mild.

:)

It looks great! My plants were looking flawless until the very hot, dry weather came and burned the leaves. My papayas are ripening now.

How much sun does this plant receive? It won't produce flowers or fruit not unless it receives full sun for at least 5 hours. Give it lots of fertilizer in summer and it'll grow much faster.

This Mexican 'Maradol' variety grows slower. Solo varieties grow very quickly and only produce fruit well for 3 years or so. I had a 'Maradol' which produced good fruit for 9 years (which is a long time for a papaya).

Thanks Andy.I think that's about the amount it gets- maybe more in high sun summer. Its one of the hottest spots I have..the heat and light reflecting off of white walls is blinding If I have to anything over there. Or do it early before the sun hits it.

Whatever you're doing, you're doing it well. Because it looks happier than my papayas right now. You're lucky you don't get the really bad SOSA's (Sort of a Santa Ana) like here. The humidity goes below 5% with very high temps and everything dries to a crisp! It's really so bad for all my plants and people.

I've seen very large, mature trees burn when we get super high temps with 3 to 5% humidity (which is typical in fall and winter) during a SOSA.