Red Lady Papaya Seedlings – Indoor Overwintering Setup (10 Days Old)

[Jollygoodshow]

Here’s a video of the seedlings. Probably a better view this way: https://imgur.com/a/flkzi0b

Hey papaya growers! These are my Red Lady papaya seedlings, about 10 days old. Since I’m in a non-tropical zone, I’m growing them indoors under lights through winter, planning to transplant them outdoors in mid-March once temps warm up. They should be at least 2ft tall by then. I plan to transplant about 4 on the ground and 5 of them in 30 gallon containers.

Setup:
💡 Lighting — 100W (6000K, 12,000 lumens) + 50W (6000K, 6,500 lumens) floodlights = ~150W total. 15 hours on, 9 hours off. These are floodlights.
🌡️ Temperature steady at 77°F.
💨 Small fan for air circulation.
💧 No humidifier yet, but that’s next.

I made a few adjustments early on — the lights were initially too close (3”), which caused slight yellowing on the first true leaves. Now they’re 10 inches above the canopy, and the new growth looks better?.

How do they look so far? I’d love to hear from anyone who’s started papayas from seed indoors or overwintered young trees successfully — any tips on light distance, humidity, or soil management would be awesome. Please be kind.





This is not the first time growing papaya for the first time ever. Check out my TR Hovey papaya trees below. They are in 27 gallon storage totes






I planted them from seed around mid April and that’s what they look like in October 13th. Not too shabby for 6 months of growth. Unfortunately though they both turned out to be males. Pretty much useless but I gained a lot of experience.

[BP]

Very cool! I wonder if the one light is enough, or if they will get leggy? Light falls off so much over distance and on the edges ya know?

[Jollygoodshow]

Thank you for the reply BP! So there are two lights (not pictured) but it’s right behind the fixture in the first picture. It’s a 50 watt light- in total it’s 150 watts with a combined Lumen of 18500. I have it currently at 10 inches above canopy. This is my first time doing this so I’ll be monitoring very closely! My cheap light meter reads that all the pots we receiving just about the same light distribution. I’ve talked a lot with ChatGPT and gave it the same setup information I’ve given yall, and it suggested to raise my lights up to 10 inches since anything below 5 inches may cause light stress- hence the leaves showing a lighter green/yellow tint.

The video on Imgur might even show both light fixtures. I’ll have to double check

[Jollygoodshow]

Also I just noticed I posted this on temperate forum rather than the tropical discussion.  Papaya is not a temperate grow.

[BP]

Sounds like you are on it, I look forward to seeing your trees pop off!

[Jollygoodshow]

Sounds like you are on it, I look forward to seeing your trees pop off!

Thank you so much brother 🙏

[jbclem]

Could you tell me the dimensions of the 27 gal storage totes you grew the TR Hovey in?  And do you remember what brand they were.   

...just saw these on the Home Depot site, look like the HDX ones with the yellow lids removed.  How are they holding up in the sun, have they been outdoors more than a year?  The plastic doesn't have UV inhibitors, so that could be an issue.