Papaya Growing By Accident. Can I Keep It?

One type of papaya. Fruit are borne on the
trunk like so many tropical fruits.

Q. I accidently have a papaya tree growing in my yard.  When we moved in I setup a compost bin.  Unfortunately I didn’t think about the irrigation pipes when I placed the bin and I eventually had to move it to fix a leak.  My wife had a thing for papayas while pregnant so quite a few papaya seeds went in to that bin prior to me moving it.  After moving the bin one of the seeds sprouted.  I didn’t know what it was at first and just let it grow out of curiosity.  My wife eventually identified it and, since I now knew I was growing a tree right on top of a pipe, I had to move it as well.  That barely succeeded and it almost died but eventually made a comeback and is now thriving at two feet tall.  Now I’m concerned about getting it through the winter which brought to mind your article in the weekly and I thought I would bounce the concern off of you.  I’m thinking about building a simple green house from sheet plastic and pvc pipe.  Would that work or should I take a different approach?

A. Very interesting story. Yes, I have encouraged people to consider papaya in Las Vegas because there are some varieties like the Hawaiian Solo types which are highly productive and some can bear fruit nine months after planting from seed. You can find seed sources online and refer to this website for growing instructions in mild climates.

http://www.extento.hawaii.edu/kbase/crop/crops/i_papa.htm

They will grow in the Phoenix area as evidence on this website

http://www.phoenixtropicals.com/papaya.html

         

Papaya in container

For our area the two enemies will be climate and soils. So you will have to modify both of these if it is to work. In the temperature end you have to consider the heat as well as the cold. I would pick a location in the yard that has some protection from the late afternoon sun as much as possible.
 

            However the plant will need lots of sunlight so make sure it gets it in the morning hours up to mid-afternoon. Winter cold will kill it for sure. So it will have to be protected from windy locations and a structure put over the top during night time.
 

            This structure could be opened during the day when temperatures are above 50F. Throw a blanket or protection over it when it gets cold at night. The papaya is a tree that grows straight up  so you will not be able to keep it very long before it is too tall. So plant in succession or even annually.
 

            Next is soil modification. The soil must drain easily and add lots of compost and phosphorus based fertilizers at planting time. This could be a lot of fun for you to try.