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The papayas I planted from the seeds of a store-bought Maradol are looking sick although one has growing fruit on it. Can anyone identify the problem and offer a solution.The trees were planted as 30cm high seedlings about a year ago in a 50/50 soil/compost mix. There are a few tiny (2cm long) ants running around the trees and there are a few other black, oval shaped creatures about 1 * 1.5 mms on the underside of leaves.Newly sprouting leaves on two of them emerge malformed and shrivel back to the major leaf veins.The other two seem to be producing new leaves but the mature leaves are badly mottled.ThanksJohn
@Baja John That could be Papaya Ringspot Virus. Papayas will out grow it during warm weather but it will catch up when it slows down a bit. I don't think Maradol has any tolerance. If it is PRSV I would remove the infected plants. It is spread by aphids. You could plant tolerant varieties and there are some GMO varieties that are immune if that is your thing.