I don't know what to make of this papaya dilemma I have. I planted a hermaphrodite papaya that I purchased from a nursery about six months ago. It was two feet tall at the time and has tripled in height. It is just setting it's first fruits. About 20 feet down the yard, 12 volunteers have sprung up. I had no idea they were there, as they were originally obscured by other plants and trees. I let them grow. Now two of them are 10 feet tall. There are others nearly the same height and some smaller ones as well. I have never had papayas before, so I thought if some were female I would be fortunate. I didn't even know about the self pollinating papayas, as I do now.
Today I revisited the nursery. The guy who grows the papaya from seed there insisted that "papayas don't grow that way". He thought maybe someone tossed an old papaya with seeds in the yard. Nope! It's just me and the hubby. The house behind us was vacant for the last year while it was renovated, so no one tossed seeds from that yard.
Do papayas need to be grafted? Is there any chance that these volunteers will produce decent fruit? There are no flowers yet. I feel as though I may regret not pulling them before even more roots set in. I would love to hear from anybody who has experience with this. Thanks!
Topic: A dozen volunteer papayas! (Read 443 times)