Ideas for community gardens < fast fruits

Unripe pawpaw - fruit turns yellow when ripe.

PAWPAW

Botanic name

• Carica papaya

Growth form

• single stemmed plant with large, palmate leaves growing from crown
• grows to four metres in height
• fruit grows from upper trunk

Edible part

• fruit
  • turns yellow when ripe
  • unripe fruit cooked as a vegetable or grated as salad vegetable

Growing + harvesting

• propagation:
  • pollination - needs male plants (ratio about one male to seven female)
  • nurseries sell hybrid bisexual which fruits on single plant; these save space in small community and home gardens
  • propagated from seed - except for hybrid variety
• growing:
  • needs frost free climate.
• pests + diseases:
  • insect pests: fruit fly if fruit left to ripen on plant; mites on foliage
  • diseases: viruses; root rot

Centre of diversity

• South America

PAGE UPDATED... Wednesday, 16 January 2002