Grafting papayas for hardiness

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

It sure is frustrating to grow a beautiful tropical papaya during the summer here in the valley, only by Christmas they all get chilled by our cold soil and get root rot just like coconuts do.

So I got an idea to try to graft a tropical papaya onto a oak leaf papaya that is root hardy in area.

Btw, oak leaf papaya looks nothing like a regular papaya, it looks kinda like a regular tree with branches etc.

Anyway after several tries I finally got a chip bud of a tropical papaya to take onto an oak leaf papaya rootstock .

Now, hopefully The darn thing survives being indoors under light till next spring , when I plan on putting it inground .

Jeff

[QUINNPALMS]

way kool!

i don't know how you get away with this stuff in modesto!

definitely motivates me to push my limits here!!

hope she takes for ya!

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

  On 11/23/2013 at 6:12 AM, QUINNPALMS said:

way kool!

i don't know how you get away with this stuff in modesto!

definitely motivates me to push my limits here!!

hope she takes for ya!

I think the only difference is that while my climate has similar winter lows as inland socal, just our winter high temps are way colder, but we warm up fast in feb.

Also I use my yard microclimates to my advantage. I plant things under overhangs, next to walls, between houses etc

The only problem is our cold soil. If the plant cant deal with soil temps in the upper 40's then it wont survive... hense my grafting a tropical papaya onto a hardy distant relative plant rootstock.

Jeff

Jeff

[Cindy Adair]

Please keep us posted! Great job grafting!

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

The chip is forming into its own trunk.

The leaves are tropical looking with the smooth genetics of the oakleaf... Im calling this one the frankenstien Papaya.

The roots can take freezing weather but the fruiting tree can take more than 26f

Could have papaya growing in every garden.

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

Update !

Here is the Tropical papaya ( tr Hovey) grafted onto mountain papaya ( Oak leaf papaya) rootstock today.

Cant wait for the weather to warm so it can go into full sunlight.

Jeff

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

about 1 week later... close up

[_Keith]

I am watching this with interest from down here in Zone 9a south. You are breaking some new ground here.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

I've been telling Jeff to try this graft for a long time. I grafted a babaco onto a chamburro three years ago because I was sick and tired to watch the babaco decline during the last weeks of Winter. Babaco is more root sensitive to cold, whereas chamburro is active right down to freezing. It's been growing amazingly well for the last three years, no Winter decline whatsoever.

The Oak leaf papaya would not have been my first choice because it is not a strong enough rootstock for a tropical papaya, it will probably cause dwarfing. That actually might be desirable, but not for the TR Hovey. Chamburro would give you a more vigorous rootstock.

[Zeeth]

Awesome! What I'm worried about is that the top will freeze off to the rootstock, and the oak leaf will be the thing that grows back. Keep us updated on this one though, it's a really cool idea.

[doubravsky]

Can't wait to see the results of this experiment come spring!

[Alicehunter2000]

  On 12/25/2013 at 4:22 PM, Zeeth said:

Awesome! What I'm worried about is that the top will freeze off to the rootstock, and the oak leaf will be the thing that grows back. Keep us updated on this one though, it's a really cool idea.

My thoughts as well.........very interesting.

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

TR Hovey actually has a little frost resistance. But its roots chill easy.

My experiments with tr hovey show the plant goes into slow decline, though not death about midwinter here even if the temps drop a little below freezing. But it looks to be root related hense the graft onto hardy rootstock.

Once I have this papaya grafting thing down, I'll try several scion/seed combos to see if the can deal with the cold soil.

Jeff

[Zeeth]

bump

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

The one tr Hovey I grafted onto oakleaf rootstock eventually died of root rot before I got to plant it outside.

As much as I've tried, I haven't gotten any other grafts to take.

On a plus side , I did over winter a tr Hovey unprotected in my side yard.

The fruit is real musky.