That's great Kristin - so, just to clarify, you placed the tuber cut-side (flat side) down? I would have expected that the flat/cut part was from the top vegetative growth and that would make the plant upside down.. who knew! - keep the photos coming!

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

Loved your photos, getting spring fever and it's only January!

Some of us like to learn how to do things in more efficient, controllable, repeatable ways. It wasn't some kind of ordeal for me to learn how to do things properly--it was great fun. If you're the kind of person who gets joy out of growing mystery unstablized tomatoes from your compost scraps and don't mind taking the risks that come with not fermenting seed, then all power to you--whatever gives you joy. But don't make it out as though experienced people on here who try to teach others best practices and point out realities such as the fact that you might get a dud from the offspring of a hybrid commercial tomato or that some varieties don't do well in some places or that tomatoes need time and care to produce *optimally* are sucking the joy out of anything for anyone. They're just trying to give people a way to maximize their harvests, avoid diseases, and avoid unwanted genetic surprises in their tomatoes. People are free to learn from their advice or not--nobody is sending in stormtroopers to arrest them for using compost to start plants. I don't always follow everyone's advice here, but I do appreciate that they take the time to give it.