The fruit of papaw (or papaya or pawpaw) is one my favourite tropical fruits. In Guyana it is normally eaten at breakfast time, but also for dessert and in fruit salads. It is also used for making soft drinks and for flavouring ice cream, and for tenderizing meat. The Latin name of papaw is Carica papaya and it is closely related to another species; Carica peltata found in southern Mexico and Costa Rica. The papaya has never been found in the wild, but it is believed to have come from Central and South America. Here at home the high temperatures result in fruit having a great flavour, and papaw grows best in my somewhat limited experience in a soil with a pH of about 6.5 in well drained ground. It will not stand waterlogging.
My experience and reading seem to indicate that most plants are dioecious (that is having male flowers on different plants from the female flowers). Plants are occasionally hermaphrodite (that is having male and female flowers on the same plant, in which case the flowers are fragrant, and I suppose that is because female plants are so designed so as to attract insects carrying pollen, and male plants to attract insects which will carry their pollen to female plants. What we want in our gardens is a plant or plants which is or are only female, with a male close by for pollinating purposes. Papaya is normally propagated by seed, and several seeds are planted in one place and all left to grow until it is possible to work out which are female and which are male. In a large property one or two plants which are female are kept and one male is planted nearby to provide pollen, and obviously great care is taken when transplanting to at least eight feet apart. It is possible to propagate by cuttings, but it’s not really practical. Papaws only retain maximum productivity for about three or four years and then in our climate they grow too high. Trees growing vigorously will need feeding regularly with organic fertilizer. For most of us this means garden compost to which we ought to add nitrogen, potash and phosphate in balanced proportions at about 21bs per tree to keep them productive, and you can take it from me that if you have to use step ladders to collect fruit you are near to the stage when you need smaller trees. Sometimes you get some nice fruits on the market about 3 lbs in size, and being a small household nowadays anything larger is a bit of a waste.
Whenever I can I always have a little bit of Cape Jasmine in the house. Just two or three flowers can be a little overpowering. Gardenia jasminoides (once known as Gardenia florida) came originally from Japan and China and has been in cultivation for over 250 years. It is a smallish evergreen shrub needing warmish, but not baking hot conditions. The house is probably the ideal situation for it, but the art in growing it well lies in providing a moist atmosphere. Like many plants a dry atmosphere will almost guarantee that it starts to suffer from Red Spider Mite, and I have seen gardenias covered with the fine webs of red spider when conditions have not been right. Regular syringing with a fine spray will generally fix the problem. Gardenias enjoy fine sprays a lot. Red Spider Mites do not. It’s a plant for the connoisseur.
All for now. Until I talk to you again take great care and may your God go with you wherever you are in this beautiful country of ours.
