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Germinating papaya seeds
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Posted by coff62 z8WA (My Page) on Sun, Dec 18, 05 at 14:50
| My wife is eating papaya, I want to germinate the seeds. What advice can you give? What type of soil? Heat and light requirements? Also do I keep the seeds moist and cool until I plant them?
Thanks |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Germinating papaya seeds
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| I have found the best way to germinate papaya seeds is to remove the arils surrounding the seeds, rinse them under warm water to remove the juice from the arils and soak them overnight in warm water. Discard any seeds that are floating after the soak. Plant them in a soilless mix (do not cover them very deeply) and keep them in a warm (80 degrees F or so) area until they sprout. Don't keep them too damp or they are likely to suffer from damping off. I have actually started using seed starting plugs to germinate the seeds. With these there is a small hole in the center of the plug and seed is inserted into the hole and not really even covered. The 2 biggest factors seem to be lots of warmth at sprouting time and never allowing them to stay damp. Even when they are monsterous trees they will develop root rot very quickly if allowed to have wet feet. One other word on seeds from store bought papayas. If the fruit came out of Hawaii it probably was irradiated to kill any pest on the fruit surface. If that is the case the seeds will probably not sprout. I have never had any luck with seeds from the papayas from Hawaii for that reason. The fruit from Mexico, Belize and other locations in the Caribbean do not have this problem. A great source for seeds (if you are interested) is Alhoa Seed Company in Hawaii. Their seeds are of very good quality and they offer some nice varieties. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Aloha Seed
RE: Germinating papaya seeds
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| In case this wasn't clear, the aril is the semi-mucoid goop that surrounds each seed. If you squeeze one end just right, the bare seed will shoot out, ready for planting. You can also do this to shoot seeds at unsuspecting people nearby. |
RE: Germinating papaya seeds
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| Eric-Thanks for clearing that up. I also like your method for shooting seeds. I picked a papaya this afternoon from the greenhouse and will give it a try in the morning. |
RE: Germinating papaya seeds
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- Posted by Honu z11 HI (My Page) on
Fri, Dec 23, 05 at 20:42
GAtrops has good advice on germination technique. Keep in mind they can take as long as month to sprout. I didn't know it took that long, and thinking my germination had failed (I simply buried a bunch of seeds after eating a sweet papaya from a local farmer's market), I dug into the planting hole after a couple weeks, and saw a whole bunch of long tap roots forming, so quickly reburied them. A year later they are trees taller than me and bearing fruit.
I agree w/ GAtrops that it's best to germinate seeds from a reputable seed company, rather than from store bought fruit. The University of Hawaii is another source for buying papaya seed (see link below).
Store bought fruit are probably hybrid anyway, so your best guarantee of good fruit is with purchased seed.
However, I have grown trees from fruits sold at the farmer's market, and I know others who have good trees that sprouted from bird droppings, but you are taking your chances when you grow this way (my fruit was sweet, but not as good as the parent).
Since it's best to have only hermaphrodite trees, as they will self pollinate and be most productive, it's recommended you plant several trees at the same time, let them grow till they flower to identify which are the hermaphrodites, and chop down any male (will have very skinny flowers, and will not fruit) and female trees (very fat rounded flowers, and needs pollination from a male to fruit).
Also, an interesting thing I learned from the University of Hawaii seed program folks is that papayas in Hawaiian supermarkets are most likely GMO to tolerate ring spot virus, a problem that hit the papaya industry hard here. However, I understand GMOs are not allowed to be shipped out of state. |
Here is a link that might be useful: U of Hawaii seed program
RE: Germinating papaya seeds
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| These are very reliable seeds to germinate. I eat the fruit, sometimes scrub off the goo, sometimes not, let them dry a couple of days in the sun, put 1 drop of bleach into 12 oz of water and soak 24hrs. Pull out the floaters and soak again, put the sinkers spread out in a paper towel, wet with the soaking water, put in ziplock, place in a warm place. In a week or 2, they'll start sprouting. Transplant into the ground or sm pots. They do not like to be transplanted, so do it as little as possible. I usually watch them closely, and when the seeds crack, I plant them or pot them 2 or 3 in the same hole or pot. I've got many, many sm pots going right now, choose the strongest of the bunch for the ground: Wilamano, Hawian Solo Sunset, Caribbean Red, and Red Lady Solo. I can't wait until spring:) |
RE: Germinating papaya seeds
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| I just dried them for a couple weeks, stuck them in the dirt and they all came up easily and they don't seem to be picky either. We have poor, alkaline dirt here. |
RE: Germinating papaya seeds
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super thread with all the info i hoped for. i have a bunch of fresh seeds to try out. i am experimenting with aeroponics with yacon, jerusalem artichokes and now papaya.
If it works I will make the results available. |
RE: Germinating papaya seeds
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| I did find them easy, though I'd add that keeping them long term seemed near impossible as houseplants for me, but if experimenting with very inexpensive seeds, which are at hand is the goal , they are fun and unusual! I just noticed a very old dried up kiwi in the frige and was much tempted to try those seeds, though they're very old, and still in the fruit! Oh well, but I have space problems as it is and out it went into the rrash! |
RE: Germinating papaya seeds
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| I have also found it very easy to sprout papaya seeds straight from a fresh papaya--just using a light rinse (with the aril on) in a very dilute soap solution (with the idea to prevent mold taking over in the soil), and then can put them by the masses into a pot and they practically all germinate after a month. I am wondering if someone has some pointers for after that point, because each time after sprouting 50-100 seeds in a batch, I have run into the same problem later of the seedlings reaching a couple inches in height just when they are starting to make their secondary leaves, then they suddenly stop growing, and all the leaves quickly dry out and crumble off the plant. I'm sure that getting enough water (and not too much) is not the issue, but I'm wondering if I just need to have them in a different sort of environment in terms of humidity/sunlight or such, as I am growing them indoors at a very sunny window, somewhere far outside their natural climate region of growing! Perhaps they do better in a greenhouse environment? If someone has pointers on what the seedlings like to stay growing strong, I'm so eager to see some of these favorite 'trees' of mine grow up! Thanks in advance for any suggestions! |
RE: Germinating papaya seeds
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| There's a new book out called "Grow your own garden at no cost from store bought produce" that seems to be very helpful. I just graudated from college last may and my friend recently go me interested in gardening. Since I don't have much money right now with college loans, I got this book. It is very helpful, the author organized the book in such a way that is so quick to get the information you need and get started right away. Currently I'm trying to grow an avocado, tomato and parsley. Best luck to you and hopefully I can report soon on how my first attempt goes. |
RE: Germinating papaya seeds
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there's another good book--I think it's out of print so look for it used--"The After-Dinner Gardener" tells you how to sprout a variety of seeds from edible plants. I don't have the book any more, but I remember he covered papayas and mangoes (and following his directions, I wound up with a mango tree!) and he talked about kiwi fruit, but I don't think he had any luck with them.
Lee |
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