The Tribune

By Gardener Jack The papaya is such a common fruit in the Bahamas and has so many wonderful features that I feel we sometimes take it for granted and do not get the most out of its qualities. It is easy to grow, very productive, has good food value, is a handsome plant, and is tough enough to withstand hurricane force winds. Papaya is native to the tropical Americas and although we call the plants trees they are really herbs. Carica papaya is a fast grower and can go from seeds to fruit in about a year. This will only happen, however, if the jelly-like aril is removed from the seed before planting. If this is not done the seed can remain dormant but viable for years. Several papayas should be planted at one time, which is not a problem because most papaya fruits have dozens - if not hundreds - of seeds. Some papayas are male (or boar) and other female (or sow); others produce perfect flowers. In the case of single sex plants you will have to sow enough seeds in order to make sure you have both boars and sows. It is usually reckoned that one boar tree will service about half a dozen sows. Unfortunately you can only figure whether a tree is male or female once it has flowered, and by that time the tree will be quite large. Female flowers are short and stubby and single, while male flowers are small and hang down in panicles. If you have an excess of male plants you can cut their trunks off about two feet above ground level. The severed tree will often enough continue its growth as a female and bear fruits. The downside to this is that three to six branches are produced and these are not as pretty as a single-stemmed papaya. The upside is that each branch will bear as many fruits as a single-stemmed specimen. When a female tree grows too tall to harvest the fruits you can lop it down too. It will not turn into a male. The papaya is not a fussy plant and will grow in the most unpromising areas. It produces better with some tender loving care. Applications of general purpose fertilizer every season will also help keep your papayas healthy and productive. The one snake in the Garden of Eden is the papaya fruit fly. This resembles a wasp with a large stinger, which is in fact its ovipositor. When the fruit is young, just after the flowers have dropped, the papaya fruit fly pierces the tender skin with its ovipositor and lays eggs. You can see a lump of clear sap where the piercing occurred. You may as well pick that fruit and dispose of it. When the fruit reaches the ripe stage it will be full of worms and totally inedible. There are no chemicals to prevent papaya fruit fly attacks. The best defence is a paper bag to cover the individual fruits. By the time the bags succumb to weather conditions or the growing fruit sheds it, the skin will be too thick for the papaya fruit fly to pierce. Another accidental aid in controlling the papaya fruit fly is a hurricane. Hurricanes disperse the fruit flies and it is often months - sometimes years - before they return. Papaya fruits are not usually very sweet and can be an acquired taste. All parts of the plant contain papain, a substance that digests protein. Papain is the active substance in meat tenderizers and wrapping cuts of tough meat in papaya leaves for a day or two will also do the job. Papain makes papaya an excellent digestive aid. Elderly people in particular can benefit from eating a slice of papaya immediately before or after tackling meats. Perhaps the most impressive feature of a papaya tree is that it produces fruit - on and off - year round. If you have a dozen female trees you will almost certainly have ripe fruits at any given time. If not, pick a full green fruit, peel and deseed it and cut it into one-inch cubes. Drop into boiling salted water and cook for a few minutes until tender. Drain and mash, add butter and black pepper, and you have a vegetable dish that is remarkably similar to pureed summer squash. gardenerjack@coralwave.com