Red dwarf papaya just flowering, no fruit

[derekcentrico]

I've done quite a bit of reading but feel totally ignorant as I cannot figure out why this plant is not fruiting.  It may be a female and not a hermaphrodite although it's sold as a hermaphrodite I guess.  But, I don't know how to tell.

I reviewed some of the threads here but am lost.  Here are some photos, too.  Please let me know if you have any thoughts out there!  Thanks y'all.

[Grapebush]

This image don't help too much, we can not see clearly the flowering area.
Try to take a closer photo, showing the flowers, so we can see if there are both, male and female flowers.

[derekcentrico]

Roger that.  Here are two new photos.

The flowers continue to look the same to me...but again my eyes aren't so good as to what to look for.

[gunnar429]

that top flower looks male to me

[greenman62]

the flower definitely looks male
but, normally a male tree with have lots of male flowers on a stem.
so, it could be a bi-sex tree.
papaya sex is very strange, so wait until you get several flowers before
you can decide what it really is.

what variety / type ?

[Galka]

derekcentrico Looks like male flower but you will get female flowers soon. Here's my Red lady and female flowers for example.

[derekcentrico]

Wonderful replies, thank you all.

Yes, my plant is the red lady papaya (Carica papaya).  Got it from Pine Island Nursery in South Florida.

Let's see how long until I get those wonderful female flowers -and- hopefully some fruit.

[bsbullie]

I am a bit curious where PIN got their seeds from.

Also, Red Lady is not what i would call a dwarf.

[derekcentrico]

Well, it's been a hard few weeks for the papaya with temperature fluctuation and rain.  And, it was unlucky to have to endure the tornado that struck our small neighborhood on Tuesday. 

It lost all of its green, long leaves.  The rest have just yellowed out instantly.  I can't tell if the one or two new leaves are alive or not.  Should I be buying a new one soon, or keep up hope?  I'm not sure how or if these plants can recover.

I haven't had any female buds to date.   

Photos:

[From the sea]

I would leave it alone for a few weeks and see if recovers.

[DimplesLee]

I would start over. Is there a way you can get Papaya seeds and grow your own? I can teach you an almost foolproof way to tell if your seedlings are going to turn out male or female? Hopefully you have access to heirloom or OPV seeds not GMO.

Here you go have a read of this blog entry

https://arlene1027.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/how-to-recognize-a-female-and-male-plant-seed/

When you are pricking out seedlings from the tray, the single taproot ones are usually male, those with forked taproots are female. As long as you use fine sifted compost/seed starting mix so you don't artificially induce forking, from personal experience and those of local Pinoy farmers, this method is about 80-95% accurate.