Tropical Zone Gardening: Papaya 101 "My Experiences", 1 by rjuddharrison

rjuddharrison wrote:
Re-potting
I usually will pot the plants in an 8 inch nursery container with large holes. Good drainage is imperative- This variety of Papayas are not forgiving when they have "wet feet". I treat Papayas like an anual. I start my crop for next year this season. If the winter is bad - I have my new trees in the green house to replace them. The growth rate is extremely rapid! Overwintering I leave the Papaya trees in the 8 inch container root bound- where they stay in stasis. When stored in the green house - I do not water them hardly at all. I will mist them. The Papayas are about 4 feet tall at this stage- and remain root bound. This gives them the good drainage advantage.
I have a rule of thumb - not to repot the papaya more than 3 times before going into the selected location. Keeping them in pots gives you the advantage of climate control ..you can move them out of the rain etc. I will upsize and repot for the last time into a 20 inch or so pot. The tree will start growing rapidly again. Papayas like to be in the ground. I was successful in growing 1 that bore fruit in a large pot- but as a rule of thumb- after about 5-6 feet they do not fare well.