papaya issues in SFL

[derekcentrico]

Howdy to my favorite planting forum...  Apologies if this is already answered...  I didn't see it.

My one hermaphrodite papaya from Pine Island in Homestead seems to be struggling.  I used my soil moisture gauge and it's regularly within the normal boundary of moisture to sometimes slightly wet due to intense rains lately in Miami.  However, irrigation remains off.  Plant has good soil and nutrients to it.  See photos and let me know.





Also, if anyone in the area can recommend a good place to pickup a definite hermaphrodite papaya plant I'd appreciate it.  I don't want to head to Homestead just for one of those again.  One of my two came out female...

THANKS for any input!

[pineislander]

Order seeds from here, almost all come out herm or female, out of 100 plants. They grow easy from seed and most of the plants I've seen come from nurseries have been set back at some point and may never perform to their potential. They need high levels of fertility. Highly recommend Rad Lady, best I ever ate.
http://www.alohaseed.com/

[derekcentrico]

Order placed.  Any advice on telling herm vs fem prior to flowering?  I'd hate to wait multiple months on it.

Additionally, any thoughts as to what's up with my current plant looking icky?  Due to all the rain and cloud cover the past couple months?  Not tons of sun lately?  Very odd to me.

[carcarlo]

Hi Derek check for Red Spider Mites, they are almost impossible to see with the naked eye, run your finger on the bottom of the leaves , if you see some brownish color streaks on your finger, you have them on that Plant. Some times plants with Mites look like yours
 I have had them on papayas here on W. Central Fl.
Here is a Papaya leaf with Mites, also a Papaya flower chart.

[derekcentrico]

Thanks for the information.  My mind was incorrect as I thought the flower I had was a hermaphrodite.  Didn't realize the bigger one was the female in reality.  Fascinating.  Turns out my mind forgot what papaya looked like entirely (been a couple years).  So, I have a male and a female.  Looking forward to those seeds so I can toss and shoot for an actual hermaphrodite.

[monkeyfish]

The shriveled leaves looks to me like root-knot nematode infestation. If so, the plant is likely a goner by the time it gets to that stage, based on mt experience.  It may be possible to save it with quick action, but don't get your hopes up.

[8keep]

I'm in East coast FL and I've had a papaya who's leaves looked just like that. It is nowalmost  fully recovered. It did drop a lot of fruit but that may have been due to stress from the hurricane, it was partially knocked over and I had to tie it back up to a fence.

I didn't do anything in particular to help it recover, I think I might have sprayed it with neem oil once or twice.

So there is hope!

[bsbullie]

Howdy to my favorite planting forum...  Apologies if this is already answered...  I didn't see it.

My one hermaphrodite papaya from Pine Island in Homestead seems to be struggling.  I used my soil moisture gauge and it's regularly within the normal boundary of moisture to sometimes slightly wet due to intense rains lately in Miami.  However, irrigation remains off.  Plant has good soil and nutrients to it.  See photos and let me know.





Also, if anyone in the area can recommend a good place to pickup a definite hermaphrodite papaya plant I'd appreciate it.  I don't want to head to Homestead just for one of those again.  One of my two came out female...

THANKS for any input!

Does your moisture meter know what type of plant is in the pot (papaya does not like to stay wet, whereas say banana and lychee do)?  From your description, sounds like it is getting too much water?  That pot is also not oprimal to say the least.  Will need to be up-potted soon.  Does that pot even have drainage holes?

[derekcentrico]

I was thinking too much water as well, but it gets no irrigation and only rain.  The pot does have holes.  What size pots are optimal?

[derekcentrico]

Order seeds from here, almost all come out herm or female, out of 100 plants. They grow easy from seed and most of the plants I've seen come from nurseries have been set back at some point and may never perform to their potential. They need high levels of fertility. Highly recommend Rad Lady, best I ever ate.
http://www.alohaseed.com/

Bought the seeds and got 'em a couple weeks back.  I planted four in little starter pots, no sprouts yet.  I figured I'd have a little fun and I placed 4 with moisture in a baggy like I do with veggies to germinate.  It's been about 6 days and no action.  What's the typical turnaround time on sprouting and do these bad boys need anything special to encourage it?

[pineislander]

They have taken 1-2 weeks for me. I used a fine sifted potting mix in flats and put seed a little less than 1/2" deep. Shortly after cotyledons opened and filled out I transplanted to 2x2" deep pots until about 4" plants then into i gal to 12" tall, then into field. I always used a generous scoop of Nutricote Total fertilizer with papaya, whatever you use remember they are greedy feeders and get stunted easily if abused. Very good germination rate with all their seeds.