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.

The weirdest part is this papaya tree is a "chance" seedling in my front landscape bed likely courtesy of a passing bird. I was going to cut it down when I first noticed it. Then a week or two after that my wife was helping in the yard and managed to weedwack my 3 foot tall pink lady papaya off right at the base. Since I lost the Pink Lady plant I just left this chance Papaya growing. Last year, I saw that it was a male and thought about giving it the old chop but it had kind of grown on me. I was thinking about taking it down once again just a few weeks ago but never got around to doing it. After all that I'm just hoping this papaya tastes good. Who knows maybe its a new type, hows "Chance" or "Mystery" sound as a name? Harry - I'll make sure you get some to try. Tony

They look like female flowers to me. they could be Herm flowers but, even with female flowers, its possible they can prioduce fruit. it depends very much on the variety, and where yo got the seed from. i cant really tell from the pic, but if there is any solid mass at the base of the flower, it is a fruit. you may even need a few more days to be sure. Papaya sex can be a funny thing. if you get a male tree, and chop the top off (or put a nail in the trunk) , most of the time it turns into a herm, or a female. Most of mine are from a store bought fruit caribbean red. and most of what i get are herm flowers i have grown at least a dozen (or 2) to full size and have never even seen a male flower. they all seem to produce fruit. i am pretty sure there are no males in the area either. i just got my first small buds of the year too. this last winter killed most of my adult trees. most of the time, they would just loose leaves and come back strong in the spring. this last winter was brutal on them. these are my trees last summer, before the freeze... good luck its a really kewl plant. and very healthy.

Hi! I'm a beginner but I'm going to give advice as if I know what I'm doing because your soil and weeds look just like mine (dry clay and most of the weeds being dead from the drought). I'm in southern CA, not northern, but it seems like we've probably got similar conditions. And my first attempt at an orchard failed miserably, so maybe I can tell you what I learned that I did wrong that time. You are doing better than I did - my trees looked like yours for the first year, but the second year they died. This year I replanted and it has already gone much better. First, here's something you've done right: Drip irrigation. Here in CA, if you want your trees to live, keep them on drip. Folks who said you need more mulch are right. Mulch was the biggest thing that made the difference between my first attempt at an orchard (that looked like yours the first year and died the second) and the second attempt (that I planted this year in late may/early june and the trees have more than doubled in size). Here's what I'd do. Take the bottom stake ties off your trees before you mulch so you do not forget they're there. Then move the drip emitters farther from the trunk as others have suggested, you do not want the trunk to rot once there is mulch keeping the water in. Also the roots will have an easier time getting into the soil outside the hole you dug if that soil starts getting some water in it. Then mulch. Mulch a lot. As soon as the trees start showing new growth loosen or pull off the other stake ties so you don't choke the life out of the tree. It sounds like you've got some good fertilizer recommendations. I use organic fruit tree fertilizer - whatever Home Depot has. One thing I don't think people have mentioned is be sure to water your fertilizer in. That is one thing with drip is that it might not hit the fertilizer so the fertilizer could sit on top of the soil and not do any good to the tree. It might be a good idea to apply some fertilizer and water it in just before applying the mulch.