Papaya
Carica papaya | Familiy: Caricaceae
Water: Little
Sun: Hot
Challenge: Root rot, by to much water
Substratum: Light, well-drained soil, compost mix
Fertilisation: Every month
Temp.: Hot climate
Companion: -
Non-Companion:
Spacing: between plant 1,5 m, between rows 3 - 4 m
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Fruit: The fruit is a berry. The fruit of papayas is high in vitamin C. You can also pick the fruit when it is green and cook it like a marrow. Papaya flower bud can be cooked as vegetable. Medicine: In some parts of the world, papaya leaves are made into tea as a treatment for malaria. Native: To Central and northern South America Cultivars: Two kinds of papayas are commonly grown. One has sweet, red or orange flesh, and the other has yellow flesh. Sowing: Growing papayas from seeds. It is easy to grow the ordinary papaya tree from seed. Wash the seeds from a ripe papaya. Squeeze the seeds from the jelly bag that covers each seed. The seeds will only grow if you
Hermaphrodite
Female
The flowers will drop if they do not get enough water. If they are planted in clay soils, make sure that the soil does not stay too wet. To avoid waterlogging in clay soil, make a ridge and plant the papayas on the ridge. Watering is the most critical aspect in raising papayas. The plants should be kept on to the dry side to avoid root rot, but also need enough water to support their large leaves
Male
Description: Both green papaya fruit and the tree‘s latex are rich in papain, a protease used for tenderizing meat and other proteins. Its ability to break down tough meat fibers was used for thousands of years by indigenous Americans. It is now included as a component in powdered meat tenderizers. The latex of the plant contains rubber and protein decomposing enzymes papain and chymopapain. It is drawn from the bark and unripe fruit and officially used for indigestion problems and for the industrial use to treat wool and silk.
img: biology.stackexchange.com
remove the bag. Dry them in a shady place. Store in a tightly closed container and keep them until December. Plant the seeds in December. Put 5 seeds to a hole. Do not put any compost or manure into the holes. Keep the small plants moist. Seedling papayas do not transplant well. Plant them in large containers so the seedlings will have to be transplanted only once, when they go into the ground. Transplant carefully, making sure not to damage the root ball. You can only tell which trees are female and which are male when the trees start to flower. Therefore, you should always have more than one tree per hole, because then you can select the female trees. Water: Papayas need little water. They will, however, give more and bigger fruit if they are watered every 2 weeks in the dry season.
Source: web; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaya, www.nda.agric.za, www.crfg.org, book; Taschenlexikon tropischer Nutzpflanzen und ihrer FrĂźchte
Climate: Papayas grow best in hot areas. The frost-sensitive plants can be grown at 1500 m at the equator to heights mild frost if they are protected from cold winds. Papayas like to be warm with both sunshine and reflected heat, so the hottest place against the house where nothing else seems happy is an ideal location. They also like to be as free from wind as possible, although this is not as critical as their need for sun. Papayas can be grown successfully in shade, but the fruit is rarely sweet. Soil: Papaya trees are very, very hungry. That means they need very good soil, rich in organic matter and nutrients a good mix of compost soil. Papayas need a light, well-drained soil. They are easily killed by excess moisture. Do not cover the stem with soil because it will rot. Fertilisation: Compost or manure. Give the tree: 1 bucketful September, November, January. Sprinkle a few handfuls of manure evenly around the tree each month from September to the end of March. Phosphorus deficiency casuses dark green foliage with a www.PermaTree.org, Herbarium Page 8