It often grows wild, and every tropical food garden has several papaya trees. Fertilizer. Tree sexual reproduction is much more nuanced, however. The flavor is less intense than that the Hawaiian papaya but still is delicious and extremely enjoyable. How early in the life of a papaya tree can you tell if it is a female or hermaphrodite that will produce fruit? The male trees do not produce fruit unless they change to hermaphrodite during hot weather. Papaya are often referred to as pawpaw in Australia, however this name is usually reserved for a tree native to the US (see lower photo). Some trees have flowers that contain both male and female parts, and some flowers have sexual parts that don't function or that function only occasionally. Help! Papaya are easy to grow and fruit quickly. Papaya are native to tropical regions of central and south America. Carica papaya. Protogynous flowers begin as females and change into male. Papaya trees can be male, female or hermaphrodites. But this from a 1914 publication "There is little necessity for pruning papaya trees. Papaya Tree Care. Sever pruning can transform a male to a female plant. Mulching your papaya tree will serve two purposes: It will keep moisture in during the summer and keep the roots warm in the winter. Illinois University has carried out the research on this topic. Mulching. You can mulch in any season, but doing so in the spring is most effective. We learned that Papaya trees have three sexes which are male, female & hermaphrodite. Despite their gender, male papaya trees can also end up changing their sexual orientation in response to seasonal changes and climate conditions. At this rate, pretty soon, I'll be over run with papaya trees! We have reached out to Papaya people so perhaps we can get more information. Papaya tree care is easy if you grow it in the warm conditions in full sun. To grow good papayas you need a frost free … IntroductionThe papaya, Carica papaya L., is a native of Central and South America. Likewise, some trees change sex from season to season while others change once or twice during their lifetime. Using a natural mulch around your tree is preferable, and papaya trees need only 3 or 4 inches of mulch to get the full benefit. Papaya originated in the lowland tropics of South America, but today you find papayas growing everywhere in the tropics and subtropics. The flesh may be yellow, orange or pink. Mulching papaya tree with organic matter helps in retaining moisture, which is essential. Carica is the largest genus, with 22 species (Purseglove 1968). "We're going to change the sex of the papaya to help the farmers," said University of Illinois plant biology professor Ray Ming, who will lead the effort with researchers from the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, Texas A&M University and Miami University. They are slightly easier to grow than Hawaiian papayas. It is a member of the family Caricaceae. My real dilemma is that, once I grow a plant, I can't bring myself to discard or destroy it! Papayas are heavy feeders. Mexican papayas are much larger the the Hawaiian types and may weigh up to 10 pounds and be more than 15 inches long.