Papayas in my yard are almost wild. Maybe not the same kind you had. I let the seeds fall where they may, grow where they want to, and then just pull up the male plants and all that grow in the walkways.
theo

I save all papaya seeds that come from an especially sweet fruit, clean them off, get all that gell stuff off, and save them, they will dry out... or plant them, I put them in plastic cups in potting soilw/some perlite for drainage... when they get big enough plant them...due to the freezes in the winter, i plant a few in nursery pots so I can wheel them under shelter... if you are getting male plants, maybe you have the old-fashioned kind that also has females, well, keep a male or two for pollination, that fruit is much sweeter than the new hybrid plants.. I had some years ago but a freeze took them all and I miss how good they were....sally

Hmm that leads me to more questions. The papaya I had had been flown in from Brazil- it said right on that little sticker. Would that be a good bet it's a hybrid? And, living almost on the Georgia border, will I be wasting my time and energy trying for a season long enough for ripe fruit? oh - and how does one tell a male from a female papaya? cora

Cora, one year I grew seeds from a papaya from the grocery store. I think it was 'solo'. Anyway, the plants turned out to be male and female, not the self-fertile type. I tried to eat some of the ripened fruit but the taste was so incredibly horrible. Since you are so far north, dwarf varieties are your best bet.

Christine

Sounds like good advice all around. Thanks, everyone! Think I'll plant a few seeds just to see if I can nurture them thru to spring. cora

Lowes had red lady papaya for $10. It is a dwarf and one that doesn't need a male and female. :o)

Thanks, Kat!! There is a Lowe's just minutes from me. Will check it out. I wonder if the Red Lady is a red fleshed papaya, which is what mine was.

I don't bother trying to remove the gel sac - just plant the seeds as-is. I have a couple seedlings right now I grew from store-bought - read that they tend to be hermaphroditic...

The male plant will have what looks like a deformed fruit, hanging down instead of up close to the trunk, if you eat that thing you will realize it is not the female fruit, usually the female looks like a regular papaya fruit and tastes good, especially if it is open-pollinated, they are much sweeter than the hybrid type....if you are in a colder area you can grow in a large pot and just wheel it inside so it doesn't freeze, I lived in Canada and a neighbor did just that, he brought it in his warm garage during the winter, he had strong lights he hung over the plant... if you have a greenhouse it works, or a room facing south with big windows, so you get the sun... it's nice to have something like that growing in the house when there is 3 feet of snow outside that window....sally

Just a couple of points on growing from seed. I've found that planting fresh seed they germinate faster than seed that's been dried. Also, male plants tend to grow much faster than female. I usually cull most of the faster growers and end up with mostly females. With their percentage germination rate you still end up with more than enough plants.