How to grow papaya from seeds at home

Exotic plants at home are no longer a wonder, but they still delight the eye with their singularity and bright tropical greenery. Papaya is one of these plants, in appearance it resembles a palm tree with wide and long leaves. In nature, its height reaches 10 meters, at home - up to 6 meters in height.

Growing papaya seed

Melon papaya tree becomes a popular home plant, it adorns the rooms and closed terraces or heated balconies and verandas. This tree is quite capricious, therefore, care for it and growing conditions must be strictly and consistently followed.

Requirements for planting material

The main requirement for growing papaya from pits is fresh fruit seed. The fruit is cut, remove the seeds, washed with clean water. For about a day, the bones need to be dried, then discarded the damaged ones.

Seed preparation

Landing preparation can be made. two ways:

• The first is to place the material in wet sand (moss) for 12 hours and cover with a film;
• The second is to soak in a growth stimulator for the same time.

Optimum terms for landing

Planting seeds is carried out in March. At this time, the light day begins to increase, and the plant receives the required amount of light. When sowing in another season, it is necessary to provide additional coverage.

Soil and planting capacity

Before planting papaya, a suitable soil mixture is also prepared: to do this, mix leaf and sod soil, sand and peat in equal proportions. If it is not possible to prepare the soil on your own, the purchased soil for ficuses, supplemented with sand, will be suitable. As a container, you can take a long container, on the bottom of which a drainage is laid, for example,fine expanded clay or pebbles.

Sowing seeds

For sowing, take a large number of seeds to be able to choose the strongest seedlings. They are planted at a distance of a centimeter from each other to a depth of 2 cm. After processing, the germination percentage should be high, sprouts appear in 12-15 days.

Sprouting conditions

Papaya is a resident of the tropics, so it’s easy to understand how to grow it from seed at home enough to provide heat, light and moisture. The container with crops is covered with glass, thereby creating a greenhouse effect. Be sure to air crops about an hour every day, removing the glass. Emerged shoots are seated in separate pots.

Care of seedlings

Shoots watered regularly, but in small doses, so as not to provoke root rot. It is also important to prevent the soil from drying out. A young plant needs light, if there is a lack of it, additional artificial lighting is provided.

Further care and conditions for growing papaya at home

Papaya is the birthplace of southern Mexico, and the tree is also grown in North and Central America.In the northern latitudes on open ground, the plant can not live, so it is grown only as a room decoration.

Lighting

The tree needs to be provided maximum lightpreferably solar. If this is not possible, fluorescent lamps can be used.

A tree always stretches to the light, for even growth it must be periodically rotated on different sides. In summer, adult trees are determined on the balcony, gradually hardening them.

Temperature conditions

As already mentioned, the culture is tropical and needs constant warmth, the optimum temperature of + 18 ... + 24 ° C. air (balcony, loggia, porch).

Watering and moisture

Papaya has large leaves, from such a surface moisture evaporates quickly and in large volumes, because of which watering is needed daily. To maintain high humidity, spraying is carried out.Excess moisture is highly undesirable, so papaya at home in a pot should have good drainage and drain pan for excess moisture. In cool weather watering is carried out a little less.

Feedings

The plant begins to feed two weeks after the first transplant. Make a complex of mineral dressings with an interval of once every two weeks, according to the instructions for the fertilizer. The tree responds well to organic compounds: humus and manure. During flowering need phosphorus-potassium fertilizer, and for growth - nitrogen. Do not forget about the mulch, the ideal option would be shredded grass, through which you get an imitation of flooring in the rainforest.

Transfer

In young specimens, roots grow rapidly, filling the entire container. A transplant is needed every year so that growth does not slow down. Here it is necessary to remember the extreme fragility of the root system of a plant; even minor damage to it will lead to death. Without transplantation, growth will slow down, there will be no flowering, you can forget about fruiting. Each new container when transplanting 8-10 cm more than the previous one in volume.

Reproduction papaya cuttings

How to grow papaya house cuttings? For this purpose, cuttings of plants of one or two years old are 1.5 cm thick. They are cut to a length of 10 cm, cutting off almost all the leaves, dried for about three days: they should not have a lot of juice, and the cut place during this time will be overgrown and protected from bacteria.

Then they are planted for rooting in a container with coarse wet sand or peat, the planting depth is about 3 cm. The shank is covered with a plastic bottle cut, rooting will not occur without a greenhouse effect. The first transplant is carried out in a container 2-3 cm more than the previous one.

In the future, care is no different from the conditions of detention of an adult specimen.

What diseases and pests threaten?

Papaya when grown at home is prone to a few pests and diseases, but they can also damage the tree. The spider mite and aphid are dangerous because they suck the sap of the plant, destroying the foliage and stalks, leaving their offspring.To combat them, drugs of acaricidal action insecticides, such as "Aktellik", "Antiklesch", biological - "Akarin" and "Fitoverm" are used. Of the popular methods help spraying soapy water, decoctions of yarrow or garlic.

The most common disease is powdery mildew, the causes - high humidity or coolness. Prevention will serve as a strict temperature regime content, control irrigation (the same applies to root rot). To combat the powdery mildew, which manifests itself in the form of white scurf, it is most effective with the help of copper sulfate or colloidal sulfur. The fungicide preparations “Hom”, “Kuprozan”, “Vitaros” help to overcome the disease. Folk methods of struggle: soap-soda solution, ash solution, weak pink solution of potassium permanganate and decoction of onion or garlic.

Does papaya produce at home?

Fruiting papaya at home is a controversial issue: according to one data, the fruits fall, not having time to ripen, according to other reviews successfully ripen.Plant growers, who are fortunate enough to eat the fruits of their plants, insist on the ideal conditions of care and maintenance, then the desired becomes possible. The first flowering occurs after 10-11 months from planting, and after, naturally, fruits appear.

Papayas are loved for its beneficial properties, used as a dietary product, vitamin, and as a preventive measure against some diseases, for example, flu and cold. Fruits and juice are used in cosmetology, as part of skin care products for the face, neck and hands, and for hair.