Usually they do fine when grown from grocery store fruits. Are yours in pots? Maybe suffering from damping-off from this humidity? Are you cleaning the seeds before planting them?

If you want named/known varieties with certain characteristics, the source below is excellent. I bought many of the low-fruiting ones.

Papayas are odd. I just picked 6 huge fruits from one of my trees, and some are long and narrow, some flattened and wide, and two are HUGE and bulbous. All from the same tree.

Green Papaya salad is in my near future(G).

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Aloha seed page

Lisa,
Yes, I scrape the "sack" or whatever it is, off of the seeds before I plant them. I have both planted the seeds directly into the ground, and started them in pots, then planted them where I wanted them. The results have been dismal either way.
What's the difference between Aloha's seeds and my "Sunrise" seeds from my grocery-bought papayas?
They're sprouting, so that must mean they're fertile, right?

Fertile yes, but disease resistant, maybe not? Seedlings are very prone to fungal diseases.

I had no issues with Aloha's seeds (they all grew well), so I assume they were very well cleaned/dried. But, I've grown grocery store seeds, and seeds from gifted fruits too. I use ordinary potting soil to start seeds.

Usually, Papayas are easy to grow. I don't know why you are experiencing die-off. I suspect a fungus, but that is a guess.

In the ground, they like lots of water, rich soil, and a deep layer of mulch.

Lisa

In the past I grew some papaya plants from seeds from a store bought papaya. Boy, was that a mistake. The fruit had a terrible flavor. I learned my lesson. Now I buy my seed. I buy 'Red Lady' papaya now and I have been quite pleased. They are a self fertile variety that is dwarf so the fruits are low to the ground. The flavor is very good too. If you are interested, I mail order my seeds from ECHO in Ft. Meyers. The website is www.echo.com, I believe.

I live in zone 9 so what I do is start some new plants every September, near the end of the month. I keep them in a pot until March when I plant them in my garden. About one year from starting the seeds I am eating papaya. Pretty good for zone 9.

These pictures are from year, taken in September.

I agree with Lisa, Papayas are 'easy'. I am growing papaya for 19 years, always from bought fruits (if I liked the flavor). The simplest method for me is to throw the seeds in a designated corner of the compost pile and let them sprout freely. After a while the strongest survive, and those do not mind being transplanted (learned that method from a Mexican friend)
But I finally have found the best papaya I ever had. I got a seedling from Tony, the fruit is super sweet, fragrant with a beautiful orange color, and - it has no seeds! Today I was 'lucky', the fruit had 1 (one!) seed kernel in it.

So brute, my suggestion is to toss them into an undisturbed area of where you want them to grow (with some compost) and just wait and let them fight it out.

Good luck :-)

Evelyn

How do you handle the issue of male/female plants when growing from seed?

If purchased from nursery I look for the the self pollinating .. but I tried 3 times and they died (too wet soil, learned experience..)

Thanks

Fagopher--If they are not a self-fertile variety, then you have to wait until the plant sets a flower to know which flower you have, male or female. Grow too many plants and save only one male, unless you just want to grow some extra males for their ornamental value.

Is anyone growing the solo papaya from seed? I bought one, and plan to grow some from seed, if they will grow here. I really like the taste, and that they are small.

Oh Papaya, the only fruit I'm allergic to.
Mom found out when I was a baby. Am I missing out on something wonderful?

Thanks for all the great advice, everybody!