Already resembling a miniature papaya tree...

A month on and my papaya plants are growing at different rates. Some still look only slightly bigger than the 3-week old seedling (but with more leaves), and a couple look like they can’t wait to become big trees.

The biggest “baby” is about 18cm tall and is sporting the familiar palmate papaya leaves. It gets indirect sunlight for a few hours, and full sun until late afternoon. It’s possible that this could be a good growing condition as the two seeds I planted here grew exceedingly well, even surpassing the first plant that had the best growth spurt. I couldn’t help but break the golden rule about not transplanting the second plant because it was growing too well to cull. Whether it will survive remains to be seen, as I committed the “crime” just yesterday.

The first plant that seemed to grow fastest gets more sunlight than the fast growers. It is still growing steadily, but not as rapidly. In contrast, the other two pairs of plants that are growing oh so slowly get the full blast of the sun for most of the day. I may move some potted plants or grow some annuals near them to provide a bit of a sun break, just to see if that helps. The other two locations are near taller plants that give some shade, and maybe that makes a difference. Who knows? Anyway, the good thing is that all the papaya plants are still growing…

More on the Red Lady papaya saga…

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