I have a papaya tree. It has fruit that ripens one or two at a time. Something is stealing my fruits, not that I wanted to eat them, but I wanted the seeds. I love to smell papaya blossoms, but don't like the fruit. Whatever is getting them doesn't leave any tracks or marks on the trunk of the tree. It's not a neighbor cause they all have their own trees. We have o'possums, raccoons, green jays, mockingbirds and golden fronted woodpeckers. What ever is stealing the fruit leaves no trace, no rind, no seeds, no pulp. It only gets them when they are ripe and doesn't bother the green ones that are hanging right beside the ripe one. The culprit steals at night or early in the morning around daybreak. Last night it also ate the grapefruit halves that I'd left out for the green jays.
I wonder what did it?
the gators did it lol.
Yeah, that's it! The gator whacks the tree and only the ripe fruit falls off!
I thought of that, but the gators are hibernating, we're having a cold spell(it was 50 this morning!)
Monkey's? I'm serious....
I haven't seen any monkeys but we have several varieties of wild parrots.
Any signs of other fruit, almost ripe, being nibbled on to test for ripeness?
None of the papayas are eaten until ripe. I have trouble with lemons, guavas, oranges and mulberries getting eaten but most of the time I catch the culprit(the birds especially the golden fronted woodpeckers and green jays are such theifs!) but they rarely take the whole fruit except for the mulberries which they gobbled right up. They usually peck at the fruits and I find pieces still hanging in the tree or evidence on the ground.
Squirrels???? Maybe they get them??
OH MY
I didn't think you'd notice
now I'm embarrassed
and how can you not like the fruit???
Moonlighting, we have a few Mexican ground squirrels in the area, haven't seen any on this end of the road(the ones I saw were a couple of miles away) and the only grey squirrels I've seen were down in Brownsville. I miss the little critters!
CC, I tried to like papaya, I really did. I tried it candied, boiled, fresh.........it is yuckie.
I love it
even dehydrated
and my parrots all love it too....
Thats why we stole all your RIPE papaya
hey where's kell
isent there a song...
a brought you a crate of papaya
and waited all nite by your door
Ah ha, you and Kell are in cahoots(is that how you spell that word?). Y'all stole my papaya to feed to the parrots!
Isn't a papaya fairly large (for a bird, I mean?) My guess would be a 'coon or 'possum. They are omnivorous and will steal anything edible.
Could be a squirrel or a (fruit) rat. Something stole one of my mangoes this summer. It was almost ready to pick and kind of high in the tree. Figured I'd pick it the next day. Well it was gone the next morning. Couldn't find a trace! A couple weeks later I found the large inner seed dried and tucked behind a large flower pot near the fence.
Hmmm
We do have palm rats(and field mice and assorted other rodents from the cane fields). Whatever took this took the whole thing, I didn't even find the seeds on the ground. Here is a pic of the remaining papayas, two are almost ready to pick for human consumption but whatever takes them prefers them when they start getting the orange color to the rind.
These are smaller papayas compared to some I've seen down here.
Is there a way to slip like an onion bag over them and secure it to the tree?
I figure an onion bag with that netting would allow air and the sun in the let it ripen it plus give the "creature" a fight for the fruit
if the bag gets ripped open you know your dealing with something that you don't WANT to get your hands on....LOL
Oh that is a good idea! I have orange bags, those would work(it's orange season). If something rips that bag open, it can have all the papayas it wants!
So you are going to grow more papaya trees from the seeds Susie? How long will they take to grow big enough to smell their flowers? Your yard sounds like a tropical paradise!
Susie, I think it is time for you to write one of your stories about the stolen papayas!
CC, I must buy one of these for Macho Baby this weekend. My poor bird has been denied these! Currently his favorite is pears.
I buy them and mangos,cut them up and put them in the dehyrator
That way I can buy them when they are cheap
also Kiwi.....
You are a woman of many talents, CC. Fresh bread, even if sunken, and now dehydrated fruit! I am impressed! I am going to start to call you MS! And the bird loves dehydrated fruit? I buy that fruit dried in sugar, like pinapple for Baby. I should try the dehydrated, better for his teeth!
It takes about a year. They grow pretty fast if you keep them warm. I love to smell the flowers(the male tree has the fragrant flowers)
I finally made a loaf that was normal....
but it was a mix from a box...
LOL
and most of the commercial parrot mixes contain dehydrated fruit
Susie
how big do they get?
I swear someone was talking about a dwarf form a while ago
They get tall CC, but will bear fruit when 3 or 4 ft tall so you could keep starting new ones from seeds to always have short plants I guess. I haven't seen a dwarf one, but that doesn't mean they don't have one out.
My neighbor thinks its raccoons stealing the fruit. She said they got into her exotic fruits last night(she has an exotic fruit orchard and she sells fruit). I went out today to check the papayas and something had been climbing the tree and left scratch marks and bite marks on the green papayas but it didn't steal one. I think the only time it can steal the whole fruit is when it's ripe and pulls easily from the tree.
A couple of years ago, I got a papaya plant from Kyle that he started in February. It had four inch long fruit on it by frost. Whatever kind it was, it didn't require a pollinator. Had gorgeous leaves.
Now that would be the kind to have Brugie. I wonder which variety it was?
I wish I knew. I think it was seed from a papaya that he bought at the grocery store.
Did you find the culprit?
It's an o'possum! Little thief!
I was going to post a tall tale about a fruit bat with big teeth, but figured you guys were wise to my stories by now.
Did you see it...up top? Was it a juvenile....a big mama....or....
It was a big momma. There are quite a few possums in the area. I've rescued a couple from the dog(babies) but didn't get to a half grown one in time, he got killed.
They are natures clean up crew, but guess they like fresh fruit too!
They eat anything. Had a critter trap (humane type) to catch feral cats in our area. Had it baited with catnip per usual. Came back from lunch and there was a feral cat with a dead bird, 6 feet from the trap! Who needs catnip when there are live birds about! So....when the cat fled, picked up the bird remains with two sticks and laid it in the trap just beyond the the little step that sets it off. When the cat steps on that, the weight springs the door closed. The next morning there is a big mama possum with two babies in the pouch...all in the trap! She barely moves when we walk past. She is in a stupor from eating that bird, feathers, bone and ALL! I opened the cage door later...she's still sleeping and the babies have crawled out of the pouch and are sleeping on top of her! Sure enough, come nighttime mama and babies vamoosed!
SOLVED - what a relief you must feel! No aliens lurking about for papaya!!!
No, the aliens were after the mangoes!