Eight months ago I planted papaya trees from seed and I've obsessively watched the trees grow inch by inch. A couple of the trees are now taller than I am and the flowers are finally opening up. This is a big deal, at least in my little papaya excited mind, because papaya trees have gender and the male trees do not bear fruit. At my husband's advice, I planted seven groups of five trees. Two or three trees sprouted in each group. We'll keep the best tree in each group and cut the others down.
From what I can tell, about half my trees are female and half are hermaphrodite. I am pretty sure none are male, but one might be. So my long wait is paying off, I will end up with about seven fruit bearing trees.
The Hermaphrodite trees are actually preferred because they self-pollinate. Female trees must be pollinated by other papaya trees nearby, which means they can cross-pollinate with other trees that may be inferior. And their fruit is shaped funny. Either way, I am stoked that soon we'll have fresh, delicious papayas to eat and to share.
Hermaphrodite papaya flowers. Yes!
A blossom from a female papaya tree.
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