A Great Papaya

Just recently I was introduced to a papaya that is the tastiest, sweetest one I've tasted. I thought I've had some good ones in the past, but this one is better. I haven't the foggiest idea what the name of this variety is, but the man I got them from said he was told it was from Thailand. He grew his own trees from seed he had saved from the fruit. So I'm trying the same. I know that papayas will cross with others around them, but since his trees are fairly isolated, I'm hoping the seeds grow pretty much true to type. 

This papaya is large and elongated. Red inside like a strawberry papaya, but far more sweet and flavorful. The tree starts producing early and low along the trunk. This makes picking far easier in the beginning. 

I have several hundred seeds that I've saved from the fruits I've eaten. Two weeks ago I sowed my first batch in some moist peat moss, kept them warm, and just now some of the seeds are starting to germinate. It takes that long for papaya seed to sprout. I just potted up my first 150 germinated seeds. Exciting, isn't it!!! 

I'm not sure if this variety will be successful in producing good papayas on my farm. My place is rather high in elevation and cool at night. But we shall see. The vast majority of my seedlings will end up at a farm a few miles down the road, at a lower and warmer elevation. It should be successful down there. Any if those farmers are successful in getting tasty sweet papayas from these trees, it will give them a year around income boost. Right now their farm income is rather seasonal and sporadic. 

I'm starting the sprouted seeds in cans......mostly old Spam cans, but also some cat food cans. Papayas are shallow rooted, with roots that spread laterally more so than vertically. So they will do ok starting out in these cans. I will be gently using a fork to extract them from their cans when it comes time to transplant them.

future papaya trees