Papaya coming along. Slowly.

Thanks Jen!

It looks great! Your papayas are doing better than mine. My plants haven't set one fruit this year! :>((

Thanks Andy. It not fast..three years to get this far. But it is starting to look like a real Papaya plant. One day a tree?

That's still really good to get them to grow there. I was never successful growing tropical papayas outside in the SF Bay Area. The weather there has truly changed a lot in the 16 plus years since I moved from there.

It's funny here sometimes papayas will start producing fruit within 6 to 9 months...sometimes it takes them much longer. I need to find out from some of these people around here how they get their plants so huge. I pass by several dozen very large papaya plants on my way to work. The leaves are gigantic and the plants are so loaded with fruit. Some are only 3 or 5 feet tall and others are over 25' tall. I haven't fertilized mine so much lately...then there's them horrible drought factor. I think that's why mine are not doing so well this year.

I've noticed that. Some Papaya plants are short with thick trunks..and fruit that are sweet according to YOUTUBE people who posted- Wendy Phan -I think is her name in Los Angeles.
And then I've seen monster tall Papaya plants in soucal. Brandt posted one on his "Tree's and flora of San Diego" website.
I thought this one of mine was going to be one of a narrow trunk..but its beefed up. I'm not sure what it will look like if it makes it through the next and few winters.
The foliage did turn a dark green. Loves fertilizers.

As the the plants get taller sometimes, if they're watered and fertilized well...they will get a big trunk and very large leaves.

Yeah,since that photo its grown,and the others too.
Its not full of them top to bottom..but I'm tickled to get to see 3 or 4.

That's amazing! None of my plants have any flowers nor fruit. Not sure why.

Before the rains they said it would be followed up by warm weather,so I fertilized the Papaya. In late October. Its as deep a green as any I have seen on the net right now Andy. I might do another update of the fruit growth. Slow but steady still.

That's terrific! I would guess you're going to get some really good fruit.

Sometimes, papaya here flower this time of year and ripen in spring. My plants haven't flowered at all...this is even with the very hot weather. We had a few showers yesterday morning and it was around 87 degrees and cloudy or partly cloudy.