It has been 2 and half months since our arrival and we have finally harvested a papaya from our own "trees". Papaya are technically plants like bananas. This is a mountain papaya and now stands about 15' tall. Lilo planted a few of the mountain papaya around the property. M has sprouted several Carica papaya from seeds of fruit purchased from our Veraduranos.
Carica papaya is the strain that is commercially grown and that you would buy in the grocery store. All our papaya trees (the mountain variety) are less than 2 years old. This one (see left) is near the house by the driveway. We have a couple of really tall mountain papaya in the "Lower 40" down by the Banana Grove that are over 30' tall. There are a few fruit sprouting on those plants too. We haven't tried harvesting them yet though we have a very special tool ready. We purchased a "fruit picker" basket at one of the stores on the border. When Lilo saw it, he walked off into the jungle with his machete. A little later, he returned with a 20' length of green bamboo. He attached the bamboo to the basket and now we
are ready to harvest. It is not quite as simple as reaching up and pulling off the fruit. Most of our papayas a growing on steep inclines so establishing a secure stance is important. These papaya fruit weigh about 5 lbs and need some strong pulling to release from the stem. And when a 5 lb ripe papaya is falling from a 15' drop, you don't want it to hit the dirt or you. A hard fall and the papaya could smash into bits. Or if it stays intact, it may roll 10 more feet down the hill. M and I have developed a papaya catching technique. I wrap one end of my sarong around the trunk about 4' above the ground and under the area where the papaya will fall (hopefully.) I step away from the trunk while holding the other 2 corners open wide to create a "safety net." Then I look up and try to judge where the papaya will fall and catch it in my sarong. It looks rather comical but we've had decent luck in catching.
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