Giant Papaya Tree

[Tropicdude]

Originally I posted this on GW, but want to try the video embed feature here.

Giant papaya tree

Easier than I thought....very nice!

[murahilin]

That's a huge papaya. I wonder how old it is. It appears to not have any fruit so I wonder if it was male or if it has just stopped producing after all those years. Did you take this video?

[Tropicdude]

Yes mura, I filmed this last weekend, while visiting a friends new farm he just got. I asked someone locally, they tell me its been some time since this tree has produced any fruit.  it even looks bigger in person.

Most people just cut them down when they stop producing fruit, since the farm hasn't been in use for a while I guess no one was around. I am glad they didn't. heck the thing is still alive too.

Which reminds me, I'll ask my friend to not chop it down. 

Seems the land there is really fertile, the banana trees are also huge, I even snagged me a bunch of manzanillo bananas, not sure what they are called in the states, these are the small thin skinned types with a apple-ish taste. anyway I filmed all that also, I will try and get those clips edited and uploaded soon.

[mangomandan]

The dramatic music was a nice touch!

[Tropicdude]

UPDATE:

Sad to say that this epic papaya tree was cut down shortly after I filmed this, they cleaned the lot, and took this one down.

On a happy note,  in its place a Sungold papaya plant was put near the same spot.  and it has already produced its first fruit. 

I can say that sungold variety is excellent,  the fruit when ripe  turns golden yellow inside and out.  I was able to sample the fruit, it is very sweet, and here is the great news, no musky smell !!  my wife was the one that noticed this right away when she cut it open.

This particular tree had no fertilizer, or anything applied, and the fruit was healthy, it was planted in an area with lots of rain, and naturally fertile soils.

according to Aloha where I got the seeds, its  PRSV tolerant .  so if anyone is considering buying some papaya seeds, I can recommend Sungold.

When I planted these in poly bags, I planted 2 seeds per bag so had only 5 Sungold plants,   I also planted around 40 Red Maradol.

I noticed right away that the Sungold looked stronger, stems were thicker, leaves bigger etc.

[fruitlovers]

Hi William, see lots of giant papayas like that here, mostly on roadsides, and mostly planted by birds. Usually they keep bearing fruits until they come down.