i recently watched a few videos on methods to grow short papaya trees.
in one video, the guy took these steps: the bottom seeds of the papaya fruit were collected, put in water and the floating ones were kept, then the light colored seeds were separated from the darker seeds and these were planted in soil, after about a month, the seedlings were removed from soil and half of the main root was cut, some were not cut if the roots grew more laterally. these were replanted in pots. he said these three steps will guarantee a short female tree.
in another video a papaya that was already grown from seed had the bottom stems regularly pruned off when they were perpendicular to the main trunk, and he would regularly pinch off flowers, not letting too many form and he said he always had fruit and they grow into short trees just a few feet tall.
has anyone tried these or any other methods? also, can someone explain the mechanisms/rationale behind these methods?
Living whare I am unless I over winter it, standard papaya won’t work out well.
I did grow a dwarf variety that produced in my growing season.
Your posts about zone bending tropicals are things I’ve thought of off and on. I’m just not ready to invest in what it would take to protect them or create a space (greenhouse) just for them.
Though I don’t recall the name, the dwarf papaya I once grew was in a pot and produced fruit… So I can only speak for that one experience and one variety.
i got two dwarf papaya trees in early spring and planted them in the ground after my last frost, they started flowering in June, the first fruits are starting to turn light green, both are about 5 feet tall and have fruit hanging just a few inches above the ground. i can’t wait to harvest them!
Going forward I would try to sprout the seeds very early (maybe even fall) and grow them indoors in pots all winter and then plant them out as soon as you’re past the low temps. Maybe even sprout in two waves to extend your harvest season. In essence, treat them like a really long season vegetable
Did this dwarf variety have a name? Do you know if they would come true-to-type from seed? I’ve tried growing some from seed, but they didn’t even think about flowering until they were six feet tall, flowers being at least five feet above ground.
it’s supposed to be red glory which is like red lady, it is red inside but i never had either variety before so i can’t confirm if it really is or not, it does have some of the weird vomit smell/taste but not as bad as the regular store papayas
