Unusual fruiting of Papaya

[Tropical Farmer]

Hi,

I received some papaya seeds from a friend and planted them. The seeds were from a papaya she had bought from the grocery store and she thought it was super sweet, very little seeds and had thick meat.

Attached is a photo of the plant now fruiting, however it is the first time that I have seen papayas fruit on a stem  away from the truck of the plant. Each stem is between 12 to 18 inches from the truck, then the papaya.

Additionally, if you look at the long stem blossoms in the picture, this is what I am accustom to seeing on a male papaya tree, but of course on a male tree there are never any papayas.

Any ideas? Maybe this type of fruiting is normal for a specific type of papaya? If so, what type could it be?

Looking forward to your feedback.

[Vernmented]

Papayas like to change sex. That may be it.   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Tropical Farmer]

Was not aware that they change sex.

Thanks

[simon_grow]

I’ve read about papayas changing sex too. Someone wrote about having a male plant and then he/she topped it several feet above the ground and it turned hermie or female, I forget the specifics. That’s pretty cool what you have there, let us know how the fruit tastes and please keep us updated on your plant!

Simon

[Tropical Farmer]

Will do.

Thanks

[Tropicdude]

Yep that's a male tree, that produced a few female flowers.   must be that frog DNA they inserted to fill in the blanks 

[greenman62]

I’ve read about papayas changing sex too. Someone wrote about having a male plant and then he/she topped it several feet above the ground and it turned hermie or female, I forget the specifics. That’s pretty cool what you have there, let us know how the fruit tastes and please keep us updated on your plant!

Simon

they will  do it under stress.
some have topped it, cut an X in the trunk, any stress.
i think someone had results from over-fertilizing too.


and yeah, thats a male tree with fruit
it happens on occassion
i read somewhere there are 8 different types of flowers.

some info here.

Determining the Sex of Papaya for Improved Production
 (look under -)GENETICS OF SEX EXPRESSION
http://www.fftc.agnet.org/library.php?func=view&id=20110803134005

[Tropical Farmer]

Thanks. Appreciate the info.

[Grapebush]

I've seen plenty like that arround here.
It's a male plant with some female flowers at the end of the stalks.
Most hermaphrodite papayas have female flowers, and on or two males by it's side, but from time to time, there's the oposite, male flower stalks with a few female at the end.
All the papayas I ate from trees like that one were of very good quality.

[xshen]

I've seen people drive a long rusty nail on the bottom of the trunk of a male papaya and this will stress them into changing sex and produce fruit a month or two later.

[Tropical Farmer]

Thanks. I will let you know how the papayas turn out.

Note that they are a pretty decent size already and are only about 2 and 1/2 months old so they still have a while to go. I am hoping for them to be of a good size and quality. I will measure and weight them as well.