first carica papaya flowers... is it hermaphrodite?

[huertasurbanas]

Hi, I received seeds from Hawaii 4 years ago, from Micah.

I cant contact him

do you think it could be hermaphrodite? or we couldnt know it just by watching the photos?

[Mike T]

Female

[huertasurbanas]

Female

ok, but... Does not have the stamens? then it will bear fruit but it will be small, would it have seeds? worth it?

[sahai1]

I have several females bearing huge fruit now, I read online females canbe sweeter.

Guess wait and see.  Saw a guy at the ag. university here grafting papaya  hermie onto seedstock papayas, couldnt help but think what a hige waste of time.

Maybe I dont know anythimg

I also have a male near my females, so pollinating females not an issue.  My females are bearing larger fruit tham my hermies now, but could be other factors.

[huertasurbanas]

I have several females bearing huge fruit now, I read online females canbe sweeter.

Guess wait and see.  Saw a guy at the ag. university here grafting papaya  hermie onto seedstock papayas, couldnt help but think what a hige waste of time.

Maybe I dont know anythimg

I also have a male near my females, so pollinating females not an issue.  My females are bearing larger fruit tham my hermies now, but could be other factors.

Ok, thanks, so I must wait a year till my other 50cm tall papaya flower, right?

[sahai1]

depends, some of my papya trees are at about 70 cm and floweing, they were originally potted.

I’ve seen some sellers market ‘dwarf papaypa’ strains, but not sure about that.



i’ve been waiting to eat this females fruit forever!!!

[sahai1]

by the way there are two types of hermies (maybe more) when cut the flower lengthwise there can be 5 or 10 anthers the thin flowers inside.

I think many people researching this for gmo breeding.  University of Hawaii has alot of good info on papayas.

https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/F_N-5.pdf

https://gms.ctahr.hawaii.edu/gs/handler/getmedia.ashx?moid=2878&dt=3&g=12

http://www.extento.hawaii.edu/kbase/crop/crops/i_papa.htm

there is another old link pdf with illustrations, cant fimd now.

[RodneyS]

Here's the pic of the different genders' flowers

[Mike T]

The pics below don't show the striking difference between hermies and femalss. Size,thickness and number of flowers in a cluster are very different. Hermies produce longer, thinner, sweeter and more pigmented friut than females usually. A one second glance is all you need and it doesn't require detailed scrutiny to distinguish the 3 genders.

[lebmung]

I can see the stamens, it's a hermaphroditic for sure. I might help some brush pollination.

[Mike T]

Those are not stamens. They are female flowers. Look at some of the previous pics on the forum.

[huertasurbanas]

Those are not stamens. They are female flowers. Look at some of the previous pics on the forum.

I think you are right: the base of the flower is wider.

I just hope my other papayas will be male of herma and will pollinate this one... so I can get seeds to...

I want to know this: suppose this papaya's mother tree was very good: would it make sense to make it fruit even with female flowers at least to get some seeds and keep sowing? or the fruit and the seeds will keep the original mother tree quality of the fruit just only if it produces hermafrodite flowers and I collect just that?