Grow Papayas in Your Garden

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Garden Life
Garden Life
Sunday, September 13, 1998
This fortnightly feature was published on September 6
Papaya is extremely sensitive to waterlogging and

frost, which result in yellowing of the leaves and
drooping of the plant, warns Satish Narula
Grow papayas
in your garden
MOST fruit trees bear the
first crop after a wait of a few
years. People make frequent
queries about the trees that start giving fruit within a year of
their planting. The papaya tree starts bearing fruit in the
very first year of planting it. It bears fruit heavily and has
numerous nutritional and medicinal properties. Same is the
case with phalsa. The small fruit is available in summer and
its sharbat is extremely refreshing. Both these fruits grow
from seed, though phalsa is propagated by cuttings too.
What should we do to successfully grow these fruits?
The general complaint from gardeners who tried to grow

papaya trees is that they planted the tree which grew well,
started flowering and yielding fruit and all of a sudden the
fruits and leaves turned yellow and the leaves sagged.
Within a few days the plants died. There was softness of
the stem near the ground level. The reason was rotting or
collar rot.
In fact, at the time of planting we forget to consider two

main things. Papaya is extremely sensitive to waterlogging
and frost. In the protected areas of four walls, frost may not
be a problem when it is grown in the garden. The selection
of the site needs utmost care. May be, you have planted the
tree at the end of the slope in your garden. Perhaps there is
a slight slope and you did not even know about it. The rain
water stagnates or seeps through the roots that get
damaged very fast. Yellowing and drooping is a sure sign of
waterlogging. There is stunting of growth and poor fruit
development. Do not make mounds of mud with the stem to
give it support. The loose soil in a mound conserves
moisture and remains continuously in touch with the main
stem, thereby causing rotting. This also becomes a
potential breeding ground for insects. Do not think papaya
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needs less watering. Due to a superficial root system, it

needs plenty of water but it has to be light, but frequent,
watering. The drainage too has to be ensured. You can
even make a double basin around the main stem and water
the outer ring so that it does not come into contact with the
main stem.
Punjab Sweet, Pusa Delicious

and Pusa Dwarf are some
excellent fruit-bearing
varieties which are available
at the P.A.U. Ludhiana. The
height in these cases varies
between 165 to 210 cm.
Other varieties are
Washington, Honey Dew,
Coorg. Honey and Co-1.
Freshly extracted seed from a
delicious fruit, gently washed
and sown in a bed or in a
polythene bag, can serve the
purpose. There are chances that the fruit from such a tree
may not be similar to the one from which the seed was
obtained but it can be sown. After it emerges, drench the
soil with captan, added at 2 gm to a litre of water to prevent
the seedling from dying due to damping off disease early
on. Repeat drenching after four days.
As the papaya tree tends to overbear, it is necessary to

remove some of the fruit. This will improve the size and
quality of the fruit. In old plants, the third year onwards, the
size of the fruit gets drastically reduced and the quality
deteriorates. This is the time when the plant should be
removed and replaced. The reduction in size of the fruit is
due to reduction in the internode space (leaf to leaf).
In the beginning, at the time of transplanting you cannot

specify which tree will be fruit bearing and which one will
not. The male tree has no capacity to bear. If you find more
number of male trees, identified by bud like flowers on long
stalks emerging from the main stem, replace them with
fresh plants. Keep a ratio of one male plant to 10 female
plants. The female plant can be identified by flowers
emerging directly from the main stem. Even if you find a
male tree growing in the garden of your neighbour,
dispense with yours. Pollination is carried out by insects.
There are trees which carry both male and female parts.
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2/20/2018 Tribuneindia...

This fortnightly feature was published on September 6

Papaya is extremely sensitive to waterlogging and

The general complaint from gardeners who tried to grow

In fact, at the time of planting we forget to consider two

needs less watering. Due to a superficial root system, it

Punjab Sweet, Pusa Delicious

As the papaya tree tends to overbear, it is necessary to

In the beginning, at the time of transplanting you cannot

| Interview | Bollywood Bhelpuri | Living Space | Nature | Fitness |

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