How Long Does it Take a Papaya Tree to Produce Fruit?

Papaya trees produce fruit the first year. Plant seeds or trees in full sun. Tender trunks often need staking during heavy fruiting. A mature tree produces up to 80 pounds of fruit per year.

Long Does It Take For A Papaya Tree To Produce Fruit?

Most healthy, established papaya trees (Carica papaya) bear fruit seven to 11 months after planting. Papaya trees grow the warm climates of in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 to 12. Male buds are slender and have no ovary at the base. Hermaphroditic flowers are self-pollinating because they contain both male and female parts, while female plants require a male to pollinate them. To bear fruit, papaya trees need warm weather, full sun and moist, loamy soil. In marginal areas below USDA zone 10b, grow papayas in a pot so they can be brought indoors in temperature extremes. A lack of male plants or insect pollinators may prevent or delay a papaya's first fruiting, which will shorten its useful life in the garden. To decrease the likelihood of damage, plant papayas in fall when the weather is mild and moist and cover the root zone with mulch to keep the soil warm.