Growing Papaya Trees from Seeds, Days 0-102

Based on my limited experience trying to germinate papaya seeds, the seedlings are very prone to damping off, even with frequent hydrogen peroxide sprayings. Even with my latest method of indoor seed germination the germination rate isn't high; at least half of the seeds don't germinate, and out of those that do, very few make it without damping off from fungi or fungi-like microorganisms. Out of many seeds, only a few at a time will germinate at any given time up until 2 months after being sowed. This is a very slow growing plant for the size of the seed; it lacks structure in the early phase, but if it survives it will grow upright with a thick stem relative to the size of the leaves.
I germinated my seeds indoors at 75-87 Fahrenheit, or 24-31 Celsius. My germination attempt with the Caribbean Red cultivar halfway through the first episode shows that seed germination occurs in 10 days using my conditions and the shoots should be popping up by 15 days. My seedlings were planting in a 90+% sand sandy loam with 1 volume of filtered clay soil for every 7 volumes of sand. The pots have drainage holes at the bottom. I flood water once a week, and fertilize every other week with a small scoop of Miracle Gro and a pinch of crushed vitamin powder. My first fertilization was done on day 82.

[@c2hh571]

I just put the seeds under water for two - four days. Then let them dry for a week. Then plant the seeds. I plant all the seeds. It takes along time for them to germinate, just keep them moist. My problem, as you pointed out, is the soil. I will you your mix for my transplant and my jackfruit starts. Look into topping the papaya. It works. When the tree gets some side shoots, cut the top off. My last jackfruit just died. Try again next season

[@laurynastruskauskas6586]

I had liked 420 videos and i thought id never like like a video again to keep the number like that, But man, I can proudly tell: You earned my 421 st like

[@waynelamont4078]

Love your channel! By the way congratulations on 37k subs!

[@waynelamont4078]

Also can u give a shout out to me

[@waynelamont4078]

Thanks we love you

[@PompomYourkey]

the same actually happened to me once. I was growing papayas from seeds and after a month I really started to think they died so I grew beans in their spot and after the beans started flowering I saw these tiny plants in the ground next to them I thought it was a weed but it looked kinda like a tiny tree with giant leafs, when they grew large enough I started to notice they took space, I looked it up and I learned it was a papaya tree, they were not actually dead in the first place, they just took a long time to germinate.

[@nickde6339]

what temperature was the medium at? i suggest coconut coir and 79 to 86 F in very small containers first.

[@VWilt-so3ws]

Really great and at times confusing video. I like that you explained everything your doing, think that's going on, why your doing it and the results. It's how anyone trying to grow might, mostly likely go thru their own experiments. Thanks for sharing. Gonna find the other video: 's you might share about this. Great!

[@rosecollins8850]

I have a question for you that I don’t see anybody else asking: During germination of the seeds, are you keeping the light on the soil? Or are you keeping them in a dark place? I have 20 seeds I’m trying to germinate right now, in Tupperware containers, in regular starting seed mix soil. I am doing this indoors in Ottawa. I have a heating pad on low under a cutting board that the containers are resting on. It’s been 3 days so far. Nothing yet. I’m not sure how wet the soil should be kept. I also have some seeds in a paper towel by int dried out by scent wen tho it was also in a Tupperware. Any tips highly welcome! ❤️ But I am only ordering bout the light during germination time

[@aydankelly1321]

Wow that took a long time!! I grew 7 Hawaiian papaya trees from seeds and now they are huge!! It only two months for them to reach 5-6 inches.

[@thatgrumpycatmc6497]

I think that also depends on the weather

[@aydankelly1321]

I have the same weather as him

[@TheMelvinWei]

I only have partial sun. Do you have full fun?

[@aydankelly1321]

Some grew in the shade and some in the sun. They were all outside in raised beds with good drainage. Once they were big enough they were all moved to full sun. They love water and my specific variety grew best by watering it every other day once the plant reached over 2-3 feet.

[@CJtheGen-X]

Thanks MUCH for this! Great explanation without being boring or talking for the sake of it.. SO appreciate this. GREAT video quality as well! I am in southern Canada and experimenting with various fruits this information is valued :)

[@mermaidokalani3322]

Im trying to get the green papaya for coming, can i do the same with the white seed??

[@karamee78]

I actually just throw the seeds in soil and al of them sprouted! All the extra stuff isn’t necessary

[@BrothersNBolts]

Hey man, cool update. I wondered when we will see more of the mango tree? I've been away from mine for about a month now so I'm really antsy to get back to it. I traveled up to Alaska to do some work for a friend and left my tree with my folks to keep them watered. How is yours doing man and have you thought anymore about doing a coffee tree series?

[@TheMelvinWei]

My mango really took off in the last few weeks so I'm ready to start working on a new episode.

[@justvideos2245]

@@TheMelvinWei would you plant it or do a giveaway to a sub

[@growtropical1781]

Melvin wei can you please give the update of papaya soon?

[@PompomYourkey]

you deserve more attention, you have been doing this channel for so long and only gained 38.8k so far, I feel sorry for you...

[@TheRodrigo0987654321]

Melvin I love each and every video from those series that you make but I have to be honest. I feel like some of your plants would be doing much better if you had something like 10% humus or something rich in Nitrogen in your mix. I understand that you don't want the organic matter in your pots as you said in other videos, but sometimes I get the feeling that some of your plants would be so doing a bit better with that boost in Nitrogen. Anyway, just a tip, I still love all of your videos!

[@myrnajames1460]

Do you dilute the Hydro-peroxide

[@iikandy4512]

And papaya seedlings don't need a lot of watering. Ones in several days probably. I have papayas growing like weeds from, probably, birds pooping seeds out. I never water them. I just found 4 seedlings in-between of weeds, all doing good with rains falling ones a week or so

[@GraftingTactick]

Great job my friend, Thanks for sharing 💕💕👌

[@Fingersandnoiseamsr12345]

Why would you put an advertisement for 5minutes and not have the button to skip ad nkt

[@Pepso8P]

I was looking forward to the series revealing what the plants actually are. When I saw the seedlings in your Jackfruit series, I was pretty sure it was papaya and not figs. I grew several fig plants from seeds, although it wasn't the dark variety, and I think they looked different. Also, it wasn't that long ago that I watched a video about growing papaya plants from seeds, so I could tell they looked more similar to those. Good luck with these, I've heard it is easy to get fruits from this plant even under 2 years!

[@TheMelvinWei]

Wow that's fast! It takes these seedlings a long time to get big, they are putting out new leaves continuously and growing but it's already been over 3 months. They look like they'll really accelerate over time though.

[@mslick4655]

I actually had quite good luck growing mine, I found them not really fussy at all. I planted three seeds in a pot and they all germinated, the first germinated in about 15 days and the last in about 20. All three are still alive and have been growing for about two months, the tallest one being about three inches and the smallest being 2.5. I have no idea why they grew so well, perhaps it was that it was grown in the sun or a better climate for the plant.

[@mykvass]

what if that clay is not available ? peat moss ok ?

[@VeganChiefWarrior]

both types looking impressivly healthy, im trying to figure out how much sand i can add to my soil without it draining out the bottom, 3 part soil 1 part sand seems fine

[@diavalus]

You can use pure sand but you need to use a plastic filter screen on the bottom of the pot, so it doesn’t drain out. Personally I also use some coarse sand as well so it keeps it in place as well.

[@TheMelvinWei]

Depends on what kind of soil you're using. My neighborhood soil is always very clay heavy so even 25% of that would cause issues sometimes.

[@VeganChiefWarrior]

@@TheMelvinWei true yeah i sifted all the clay chunks out of my soil so its mostly just silt really, i put all the clay along with all the qurtz sand rocks that were over 5mil into a garden bed and i have used it to pot up some things lately and the water doesnt drain at all lol

[@jamestropicals8262]

Nice papaya tree! Do a plant growing Serious on growing starfruit

[@jakedingwall7688]

Also yes

[@thesilentone4024]

Lol I got a couple

[@justvideos2245]

I have one! Really hard to keep alive in Connecticut!!

[@iikandy4512]

The first ones were papaya seedlings. First 2 leaves come in circle shape, next ones are more triangle looking, the third ones are more like papaya

[@diavalus]

Hi, for how long do you plan to keep that pot which doesn't receive fertilizer? It would be really interesting to see how they develop side by side for let's say another 2-3 months or so, or until the difference is night and day. Anyway, really nice series!

[@TheMelvinWei]

I was thinking of the same thing, keep them around for comparison purposes. It's not a fair, perfect comparison but seeing a big difference would be educational.

[@venus1ntx18]

If you haven’t figured out the dampening issue yet, let me know! Great video!

[@Pyro_Piranha]

For some odd reason, my papaya seedling never grows past the seedling stage and it’s not dying either I’m so confused 😭😩

[@growtropicalgrowtropical2794]

Malvin wei; I am a huge fan of yours. I'm eagerly waiting for the next papaya update; can you please reply to my comment; and tell me the time it will take to make next video on papaya.

[@brankenflowery8416]

Papaya grow fast here in Hawaii.

[@n2n8sda]

They grow fast anywhere that is warm with good sunlight and doesn't flood, had a flood some years ago and most of my papaya trees that year died in a couple of days.

[@VijaySingh-ht7sy]

Nice documentary 👍

[@cvbdgb2044]

You shouldn't water covering the stem of seedling with water. I did the same mistake .

[@herbset804]

Before u plant the seeds keep them in a glass of water for a month. Yeah, a month. Then u can plant them if u see they are starting to crack

[@jamestropicals8262]

I got a Hawaiian papaya from the grocery store and I plant every single seed that was inside the papaya and only two seeds sprouted and they both have two true leaves

[@davensky1804]

Coconut is next like that your givin thought to new things and Ik you're gonna post another video please be Coconut

[@jakedingwall7688]

YES GREAT IDEA

[@TheMelvinWei]

ROFLOL again with the coconut. I have too many things going on right now and just started two series, it's going to be a long time before I start more.

[@davensky1804]

Okay

[@davensky1804]

Lol

[@cathiejohnson5869]

Very easy to grow just plant seeds straight from papaya to garden without doing anything to them they’ll grow in 2 weeks plant many keep the best

[@Thunderwolf1989]

Less light causing bigger (but worse quality) leaves is something I also see in my Starfruit tree. During winter, the leaves of my starfruit tree get huge, to full maturity in size, but those leaves are very thin. As soon as I put the tree outside for summer, these leaves will crisp up very fast due to being so thin. Conversely, the leaves grown during summer are much smaller, but are like three times as thick, and more glossy. When the tree then comes inside for winter, these leaves then have a hard time photosynthesising enough sunlight for the tree.

[@TheMelvinWei]

As I understand it the leaves make fewer chlorophyll discs in high direct sunlight conditions, so as not to burn internally from too much energy creating free radicals. And the leaves tend to be waxier and can vary in color too avoid too much light. So in winter indoors very little energy can be generated from sun-adapted leaves. The huge leaves of my avocado tree are burning now after months of seeing no direct sunlight. I realize that shade-adapted plants are generally not in a good situation because they waste a lot of resources building huge leaves that weigh too much relative to stems that are flimsy.

[@michaelleonardzolotko9168]

I always put my seedlings in compost because it's full of food for the plants and I always grow healthier because they are tropical plants out in the wild the fruit rots down and the seeds begin grow and I always dry my seeds out first up to 2 Weeks before planting

[@michaelleonardzolotko9168]

It has been the first time I've heard somebody planting it in clay and sand there is no food for the plants to make them strong and healthy

[@josepharaujo3356]

Thank you for doing this videos!

[@indarvishnoi2389]

I remember i had just put some 2 seeds in a cup of noodles with some red soil and it just sprouted in 7 days! So according to me it was a failure , and i think the problem was with the soil the soil u put in the bottom should be used for germination

[@jamestropicals8262]

Papayas from the store taste yucky too me there not very good at all but I know fresh papayas picked off a tree taste very sweet and delicious I’ve just never tried one.

[@universalmankind6970]

Don't use sand and H Papaya love natural soil and organic compost. Keep from direct sunlight and cold remember Papaya is tropical fruit nice try 🌻

[@GeorgeLoyal]

Melvin Please try growing date palms by seed that would be an awsome video

[@MsCherokee70]

So, your papayas appears to be males.... From the research I have seen: female papayas have a more of a saw-tooth look in the leaves. Males have a more smooth, with less saw-tooth leaf. As seedlings, the male has a longer main tap root. The females should have a more frayed out root system.

[@quasistarsupernova]

13:00 woah you're drowning the poor guy

[@AAHomeGardening]

I have few papaya growing as well

[@lorenbush8876]

I read that papaya tasted like cantaloupe and mango, if it just tastes like cantaloupe I might as well forget about trying it, I might not like it anyway and they are $5+ at one place I saw them I don't know if anyone else here has them or not. Thanks for the video.

[@TheMelvinWei]

Papaya tastes totally different from cantaloupe and mango. I like cantaloupe and mango much better.

[@loycemarch8409]

I thought my seedling was a sweet potato..it grew quickly and is a papaya. The seed was there almost 8 months.

[@TheMelvinWei]

Sweet potato grows really fast by comparison.

[@CSSuccessGamer]

melvin you are still working on these projects haha

[@KaplaWorld]

5 years later they turn into tree

[@florl.delgado4093]

Papaya is not my favorit AOLNE. Smoothie with one or more fruits will do you really good. Papaya had alot of great properties. Especially for the tummy.

[@edferro3574]

In the last video you hinted that there was a mango update coming soon but still no update

[@TheMelvinWei]

I had to wait for it to grow. It makes no sense to post a video of 10 months of nothing and then a tiny shoot grows 1 mm at the end of the episode.

[@edferro3574]

@@TheMelvinWei ok I can wait another couple of months

[@edferro3574]

@@TheMelvinWei you are my fav garden KZbinr and I love your vids keep it up

[@TheMelvinWei]

Don't know if you're still up but I just released a mango update!

[@edferro3574]

@@TheMelvinWei yes I was just doing jobs and just seen this I’m going to watch now

[@asifalikhan8851]

My papaya seeds sprouted in 3 days in potting soil. I won't recommend this video to anyone . Fyi I brought the seeds from Etsy

[@elvierobin477]

I think they sold you an already germanated seed

[@decentparks3597]

You have tought me much about growing mediums. They don’t need to be store bought

[@TheMelvinWei]

Potting mix probably started as a way to sell landscaping clippings and ground up dead trees. It's lightweight but full of bugs and parasites, and eggs.

[@snail9552]

@@TheMelvinWei sterilize it then.

[@michaelleonardzolotko9168]

It's like growing them in the desert your method of growing being a tropical plant you should have done more research in how to grow papaya seeds

[@Menuara_]

Excellent 🙂

[@Southgrow954]

I have one and thought it was a cantaloupe 🍈😂 it got big in a 1 Gal pot and I just planted it 4 ft away from a 1 yr old papaya. It grew up in partial shade and partial SFS (strong Florida sun) 😂 I 💯 percent don’t remember planting a papaya seed 🤨😆 so let’s just hope it takes the transplant steong

[@馬伕]

Wow! Such an expensive knife!

[@cindyq52700]

Offer your extra seedlings to sell someone in your area would probably buy it!

[@suessgarten1193]

You water this plant too much and you show a lot of attention that's why the seedlings are dying.

[@ThatAdelaideGuy]

try growing peach from seed, they grow so fast if you crack the seed out of the nut

[@justvideos2245]

IM TRYING CHERRY PLUM TREES!! Super hard to sprout 😡

[@snail9552]

@@justvideos2245 probably cause you keep them inside the shell of the seed.

[@deepsv09]

Cool

[@renatocb8923]

Porque haces tanta cosa aquí en Perú las tiro a mi jardín y en 1 semana ya tengo cientos de plantas 🤪😊

[@astrox9097]

I dont skip adds, 💵📈📈📈

[@thesilentone4024]

I got one for you you should grow some dead mans fingers man that stuff tastes asome 2 or 3 years before it fruits but still fabulous tast

[@TheMelvinWei]

People actually eat that? I never would've guessed!

[@thesilentone4024]

@@TheMelvinWei it looks gross it feels weird but great flavor and you can use the skins by boiling it and you made a cool tae add sugar of course but ya not bad if you can stand the texture lol

[@vynguyen6376]

I hope you have a female papaya plant because the male plant won’t give you fruits

[@snail9552]

Whats better then both? Bisexual papaya trees. Male and female at the same tree.

[@Gamerboy-jh6vg]

My tree grows very fast

[@smugnote5216]

Use Soil not sand

[@michaelleonardzolotko9168]

And so this is the reason your plans too long to grow

[@thecoolguy7085]

U will never be able to grow plants becoz u put more water than required

[@tigrisend]

Next stop, marijuana plant.

[@jakedingwall7688]

I tried a seed I didn't like it 🤢

[@VeganChiefWarrior]

they use papaya seeds to kill intestinal parasites in some countries

[@TheMelvinWei]

Wow that's an interesting use for seeds!

[@Galaeva-Alieva]

Tiresome video - boriiiiing!😴 . Using peroxide unnecessarily 😒

[@العساس-ك1ق]

مكثر كلامك

[@jakedingwall7688]

Second

[@ThatStevenLouis]

Glad I'm not the only one who's opinion is they have a puke taste

[@adamacheza2250]

THATS TO MUCH WATER

[@VeganChiefWarrior]

hes growing in sand in the desert bro lol this aint no bark potting mix

[@diavalus]

That sand will dry out on the surface in just a few hours. If it’s hot outside and sunny, it will happen in one hour. So that amount of water is just fine. Also, in sand there is plenty of oxygen so the roots won’t rot.

[@TheMelvinWei]

The water runs through in minutes, there's no standing water in these homemade pots.