Mike´s broad leaf papaya .

[luc]

This is the first I managed to save from the birds . Very sweet , I always put lemon juice on my papaya , this is probably the sweetest papaya I ever had .Thank You Mike .

[luc]

[treefrog]

is there a seed source?  i've got a corner in the greenhouse that would fit in.

[carcarlo]

Hi Luc Great looking Papaya cant wait for my to bear fruit.
Carlos

[Don]

Looks pretty good fella! Shall have to try one of these one day.

[JF]

Luc

That looks great! I have several that are size but they are taking a long time to color up. The tree keeps flowering and i thin out a few fruits to give the bigger ones a chance. How long did it take to color up after they reach that size?

[luc]

Luc

That looks great! I have several that are size but they are taking a long time to color up. The tree keeps flowering and i thin out a few fruits to give the bigger ones a chance. How long did it take to color up after they reach that size?

I cut this one green , took 2 - 3 days JF .

[Mike T]

Luc it obviously was a bisex plant. I was getting them up to 7 or 8lbs consistently and they do have a good taste. The fruit from females is not as good. The taste test I did with the best locally available types had them on par or even a little below the best solo types and not quite as good as the best bisex reds. They still were better flavoured than the majority and have firmer flesh with better keeping qualities.
The ornamental qualities of the plant and being strikingly different from typical papaya is their main allure I think. It is great they are now entrenched in the 'new world' so well done Luc.

[mangaba]

I  am the  lucky owner of 3 Mike´s broad leaf papaya from seeds he so kindly sent me. They are two meters tall, one year old and have just started flowering. Mike if you read this posting perhaps you could comment on  fertilizer recomendations.

[Mike T]

Mangaba you don't need to be a brain surgeon (inside joke there) just treat them like any papaya and ensure enough NPK as well as key micros. They don't like dense, hard soils or soils excessively sandy, prefer close to neutral pH and enjoy high levels of organic matter in the soil. The broaf leaf type is not a fan of wind due to their fan like foliage.

[greenman62]

do these have the same cold tolerance as normal papaya - maradol etc... ??

[JF]

Luc

That looks great! I have several that are size but they are taking a long time to color up. The tree keeps flowering and i thin out a few fruits to give the bigger ones a chance. How long did it take to color up after they reach that size?

I cut this one green , took 2 - 3 days JF .

Thanks Luc. So you harvest it green and it ripen in the counter in 3 days? I just harvest one the same size as yours there are too many and it is taking too long to ripen on the tree

[micah]

Congrats Luc!!!
The broadleaf is making its first fruit for us in Hawaii.  Soon .
Mahalo Nui Loa Mike T for these treasures.
Here is a bunch of broadleaf in a few spots we planted...some variation...I know I was supposed to take out the green stem type but they too are special to me. Maybe when the real purple stems ones start to fruit I'll take out the green type...after we eat the fruit.
 Please help to identify if they are male, female, or hermaphrodite. All the trees are the same age planted at the same time...full sun they stayed real short, part sun they are way up already.













Is this a the real broadleaf? 



This one in waipi'o valley is over ten ft tall and two fat fruit but green stem...and the top part has only male looking flowers. In the last pic you can see the top flower of green stem fat fruit type behind the purple stem type. 





Sorry bout those sideways pics

[JF]

My broadleft

[Mike T]

They are everywhere!

[BMc]

Mine has been pooping out fruit for a while. Mine makes two types of fruit, some massive beach ball fruit that aren't spectacular and some smaller torpedo shaped fruit that are much sweeter. A touch behind a good Southern Red. Probably not quite as good as Mike's original tree, which I was lucky enough to sample fruit from.

[Mike T]

Micah all yours are bisex and all your seeds came from a fruit of a dark petioled bisex plant.Your darkest leaf stalked ones appear full blood and identical to the original.Yours look as striking as mine was before it perished.
I suspect some seeds from other fruit had a high proportion of outcrossed individual seeds judging by the divergence from the original.My original bisex grew from a female parent rather than a bisex.As BMC observes the more elongate fruit are redder fleshed and sweeter.

[BMc]

Here is a pic of mine this afternoon. It makes these big round fruit through the winter, elongate fruit more in summer (elongate fruits just ripen quicker really). This one was a foot long, and nearly as round. Not far off a full in husk coconut in size. Weighed in at 3.4kg, so I expect a large cavity. Will probably cut it up tomorrow as its a busy night.

[behlgarden]

wondering of any updates on taste? JF yanked his out citing poor taste. I got one growing and is almost 5 feet tall, I got it from Mangodog.

[greenman62]

ive been wanting seeds for this
if anyone has some
bisex / sweet preferred.

[Mike T]

It sounds like they taste better when in a hotter tropical climate as mine were pretty good. Maybe when grown in cooler subtropical areas they are not as rich or sweet. BMc tried them at my place and was suitably impressed and it would be good to get his assessment of the taste of his ones grown 1750km poleward of me in Brisbane.