32 minutes ago, TropicsEnjoyer said:

@JohnAndSancho Papayas are weirdly picky plants to grow from seed in pots. As you have experienced they’re never truly happy no matter what you do. I’ve only really had luck with them either by keeping the pots outside or just throwing seeds in a hole outside and waiting for one to assert dominance in a good spot. Moving/repotting one is like a 50/50.

Mm. I think it's dead. The Red Ladies I potted up were a lot more established. Oh well. 90% chance it was already dead. I take no responsibility. 

 

Unfortunately they have 0% viability in the yard here and they'd get smoked right around Halloween. I just started growing the grocery store seeds for rapid summer shade knowing they're going in the compost pile. 

I wish I had pictures but I was a gardener at a botanic garden in Jax FL and we had first year papayas in heavy compost full sun beds that survived several nights in mid to upper 20s in Jan 2024 (lowest of 24). The beds had a wide road on their north side so exposure was significant. This was with leaf loss but they did rebud. These were very thick plants so the diameter helps. I think under a sparse evergreen canopy they’d do better long term. I’ve seen a few longterm plants in the jax beach and ponte vedra area (9b) and they all were more nestled.

If one doesn’t care about fruit, Chaya looks similar and is surprisingly hardy and is a terrific pollinator plant. It’s on my top 10 exotics to acquire again once I have a garden to work here in the Austin area.