Hovey Dwarf papaya cutting not doing well.

11 years ago

I bought a young Hover dwarf papaya plant off ebay. It took a little longer to arrive than expected. The plant looked in bad shape when it arrived. The 3 leaves that it had were yellowing and dropping. I immediately put the plant in some foxfarm ocean forest soil that was mixed with some perlite, and lightly watered it. The plant is under 240w blackstar LED light. The leaves kept getting more yellow and eventually turned brown and fell off by themselves. However, there was new growth popping out from the very tip of the plant, which I was excited to see. I am now experiencing another issue with the new growth. The new leaves are curling under like a taco shell. What can this be?

-The plant is indoors under a 240w LED
-I water it only when the soil is almost completely dry
-the room temp. is between 68 at night with lights out, and 75/77 during the day with lights on
-humidity bounces around between 40-55%
-I have not given it any fertilizer yet. should I?

Any help is appreciated.

Comments (4)

calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
11 years ago
I would not start the fertilizer yet. I imagine the plant was bare root and the roots may have dried during shipping. It sounds like you have done all you can for now and you will just have to wait for the plant. The good part is the plant wants to live and will spend all its energy to accomplish that. Al
Blazito
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the reply. The plant definitely wants to live. I'm seeing more new leaves sprouting. Just don't understand why these new leaves curl under and fold like tacos once they get bigger.
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Blazito
Original Author
11 years ago
Well I noticed that the new leaves are starting to turn brown at the edges where they curled under. Could it be the lights? Maybe the papaya doesn't like LED lights? Although I don't see why it wouldn't.
Blazito
Original Author
11 years ago
Figured it out...

PAPAYA APICAL NECROSIS
The first symptoms are drooping and downward cupping of leaves in the upper part of the plant. Blades of the youngest leaves are pale yellow, sharply cupped downward, and do not expand properly (Plate 3). Petioles are short and stiff, and stem internodes become very short.

100% the symptoms the plant is experiencing. Looks like this ebay seller sold a few other infected papaya plants, as the negative feedback is starting to pile up.