Once tropical fruit trees set fruit you shouldn't fertilize.

Oukay, you need to put some old socks or paper-bags on the fruit early-on to keep the fruit-fly from laying eggs , that make the maggots inside.... old nylons or socks or anything to cover the fruit and will let it grow inside..... cover the fruit as soon as it sets on the stalk good, don't wait...... Silvia posted some pics awhile back how to do this, she showed hers with paper-bags fixed on with rubber-bands.... and yes, judyk, they will freeze but usually come back, you can cut off the frozen top-part down to green, but cover the open-cut with a piece of aluminum-foil and fasten it with a tie or a rubber-band, to keep the water out, or it will rot...I never remove the small fruit, I just let it ripen, they ripen from the bottom up... the plants will last for years, I have some that are several years old and have frozen and come back, several times........ sally

Hello stanofh, Sorry for late reply...never got notice from email about follow up question. In past three years, coldest I can recall is maybe upper 30s/low 40s at nights during winter (but those are extreme cold spells that last for just few days...normally winter nights are upper 40's/low 50s). Strange thing is last year there was only one harvest of the hanging papayas in summer of around 12 fruits...it was surprise just to see fruit after nothing for 3 years. This year we were able to harvest around 20 fruits in spring and I thought that was it...butt now in fall there is another batch of 25+ fruits. Tree top is now probably reaching 12 foot tall, compared to last year when it was probably 7 or 8 foot tall. We don't use fertilizer or any plant food...the only difference in last year versus previous three years is actually less watering. Mother in law owns farm in thailand...she said to only water tree 2 or 3 times a week.

Hi! I was just looking at this post today lol, nice of you to respond. It's still there, hasn't really turned into anything too much yet (the papaya is growing a bit slow so I'm not worried) but it still definitely has that swollen base. I took of one of the non-hermie flowers and tried to pollinate it with the anthers from that and my finger so we'll see. I think the issue with using soft water is they use sodium or something similar to make the water soft (operates on an ion exchange basis, where they exchange carbonates (calcium and magnesium) for salts (sodium and potassium)) and the problem is I don't want salt (sodium) to build up in the containers. Adding the acid also works on the carbonates but changes them into salts (notably gypsum when using sulfuric acid) and takes it out of the pH interplay. I'm just using normal city water to irrigate, it's just that high because the city pumps it from the ground, and our ground is made up of limestone (like pouring dissolved lime on the plants when I water). As for lowering the pH in soil, irrigating with acidified water will do that over time, the same as watering with high pH/highly alkaline water with lots of bicarbonates will raise soil pH over time. The sulfuric acid performs the same job as adding sulfur to lower soil pH, just quicker ;D So to answer your question my papaya flower is still there, I just added 2 oz or so of slow-release fertilizer to the pot (for micros and such) this weekend, and will be irrigating it with ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) on a weekly basis. How're yours? :)