Anyone else growing papayas in zones colder than 10a?

[Ben G.]

I like to grow papayas as annuals every once in a while to fill in spaces quickly and provide large tropical foliage. I like to sprout them from seed in July or August. I keep them in pots over the winter, then plant the following spring.

I planted four of them at a former home in zone 7a Oklahoma City some years ago. I got 13 pounds of green fruit though, because I ran out of time to ripen before our first freeze was coming. They were really nice looking plants, even without getting ripe fruit.

It had been several years since I had grown any, so I sprouted a few seeds last summer. I planned to keep two to fill out a bed near my pool, but one suddenly died on me in the spring. So, I was left with just one this time. It is looking good even though it went about a month without water while I was working out of the country in July:

I am hoping that I can get at least a little bit of ripe fruit this time around, since my first frost here in the San Antonio Texas area will probably come a good bit later than my former home in Oklahoma.

Is anyone else a fan of growing papayas like this in colder zones?

[TropicsEnjoyer]

Im growing them in zone 9b inland st augustine. Nowhere near as cold as 7b but I think it’s possible. My tree is around 3 feet tall and is already showing female flower buds which surprised me. They grow super fast I swear my tree grows like an inch per day. I was near coastal st aug yesterday and I was seeing multiple people with like 8 foot tall papaya trees loaded with fruit which had me jealous bc 30 mins away from me ppl grow basically zone 10 stuff. I don’t really grow them for the fruit tho, I actually prefer getting male trees “machos” because the copious flowers attract a bunch of pollinators. 

Anyhow, how do you protect yours (if you do)? This is the first time I’ve grown one to a decent size and if you can get them through the winter I’m sure I could too.

[dalmatiansoap]

Here's my, zone 9, third year, regular bloom, set fruit but never get it bigger than walnut size due fall temperature.

[Ben G.]

1 hour ago, TropicsEnjoyer said:

Im growing them in zone 9b inland st augustine. Nowhere near as cold as 7b but I think it’s possible. My tree is around 3 feet tall and is already showing female flower buds which surprised me. They grow super fast I swear my tree grows like an inch per day. I was near coastal st aug yesterday and I was seeing multiple people with like 8 foot tall papaya trees loaded with fruit which had me jealous bc 30 mins away from me ppl grow basically zone 10 stuff. I don’t really grow them for the fruit tho, I actually prefer getting male trees “machos” because the copious flowers attract a bunch of pollinators. 

Anyhow, how do you protect yours (if you do)? This is the first time I’ve grown one to a decent size and if you can get them through the winter I’m sure I could too.

I am not surprised they grow fast for you in St. Augustine. That's a nice humid area with a good bit more rain than I get here I'm San Antonio.

I haven't ever tried to get one through a winter in the ground before. When I lived in Oklahoma, it would have taken way more effort than I was willing to put in.

It might be possible at my current home, but I still haven't given it much thought. They grow so quickly that I really just rest them like annuals. Since they can fruit within 9 to 12 months of growing weather, starting them in pots the summer before I put them in the ground gives them a chance to possibly get ripe fruit before they freeze.

[Ben G.]

1 hour ago, dalmatiansoap said:

Here's my, zone 9, third year, regular bloom, set fruit but never get it bigger than walnut size due fall temperature.

That's very nice that you have been able to keep it alive into its third season. Have you protected it in the winter? Or has it just survived with relatively mild winters and good siting against that wall?

That is interesting that yours has been unable to get fruit any bigger than a walnut during the warm season. I know that papayas really like warm temperatures to grow. They seem to only really start growing well when nighttime temperatures are above 21C. I am not familiar enough with Croatian climate to know how much of your year is that warm. Here in my part of Texas, temperatures stay very warm/hot from mid March through the end of October.

Even though our warm season is long though, we have at least one or two hard freezes every winter. Last year our lowest temperature was around -4.5C. That is pretty average for this area. So, I haven't tried to protect mine over the winters. I just sprout new plants. 🙂

[dalmatiansoap]

I did protect it first winter with agil cover. It loose all leaves in Jan/Feb and then resprout from stem in April/May. I think it's still alive only thanks to position below that wall.

[Mazat]

Yes, we also grow it in USDA Zone 8b.
It grows well and relatively quickly, and the trunk is becoming noticeably thicker, The picture with the trunk was taken around mid-July. Since then, it has become much thicker.
Of course, we will protect it in winter.
I got the plant from a good friend who likes to challenge me, or rather us, with excotic plants...

[Mazat]

18 hours ago, Ben G. said:

I like to grow papayas as annuals every once in a while to fill in spaces quickly and provide large tropical foliage. I like to sprout them from seed in July or August. I keep them in pots over the winter, then plant the following spring.

I planted four of them at a former home in zone 7a Oklahoma City some years ago. I got 13 pounds of green fruit though, because I ran out of time to ripen before our first freeze was coming. They were really nice looking plants, even without getting ripe fruit.

It had been several years since I had grown any, so I sprouted a few seeds last summer. I planned to keep two to fill out a bed near my pool, but one suddenly died on me in the spring. So, I was left with just one this time. It is looking good even though it went about a month without water while I was working out of the country in July:

I am hoping that I can get at least a little bit of ripe fruit this time around, since my first frost here in the San Antonio Texas area will probably come a good bit later than my former home in Oklahoma.

Is anyone else a fan of growing papayas like this in colder zones?

wonderful specimen, Ben.

[Mazat]

12 hours ago, dalmatiansoap said:

Here's my, zone 9, third year, regular bloom, set fruit but never get it bigger than walnut size due fall temperature.

Great, Ante.

[Ben G.]

I had to add a couple more photos because I saw a nice little green anole using my papaya as a hunting ground today:

[Mazat]

10 hours ago, Ben G. said:

I had to add a couple more photos because I saw a nice little green anole using my papaya as a hunting ground today:

Great 👍 

[Mazat]

Here are the latest pictures from today, almost 70 cm high, trunk much thicker, with larger leaves.

It's growing rather broadly now, that's our impression 🤔

[eevans]

I have grown them here in central Austin (8b or 9a) a few times as semi-annuals for decoration.  Given a mild winter, I've even had them survive to grow for a 2nd season and get large enough to produce fruit a few times (see example below from 2016).

 

[eevans]

This one is a 1st-season plant from 2024:

[Mazat]

On 9/7/2025 at 6:33 PM, eevans said:

I have grown them here in central Austin (8b or 9a) a few times as semi-annuals for decoration.  Given a mild winter, I've even had them survive to grow for a 2nd season and get large enough to produce fruit a few times (see example below from 2016).

 

Great, Eric. Excellent work 🤗👍

[JohnAndSancho]

Soon. 

[Ben G.]

32 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Soon. 

Nice! Papayas are some of the easiest to germinate seeds on the planet. Cantaloupe is another close competitor though.

[JohnAndSancho]

1 hour ago, Ben G. said:

Nice! Papayas are some of the easiest to germinate seeds on the planet. Cantaloupe is another close competitor though.

I think they're gonna live in pots forever here. So I'm half hoping they stay relatively under control because I've got this huge anxiety of running out of pots and dirt, and this recurring nightmare where all of my seeds sprout at the same time, and also the whole point is for quick fast foliage while I wait for the rest of my natural life for my palms to grow. 

 

And just like everything else on the internet, there's tons of conflicting information - so I'm gonna do what I always do and ignore most of that information and just wing it and hope for the best. 60% of the time, that works out 90% of the time for me. 

[Mazat]

On 9/26/2025 at 5:20 AM, JohnAndSancho said:

Soon. 

You have to control yourself so you don't eat them right away, because they are just so delicious 😁

[JohnAndSancho]

1 minute ago, Mazat said:

You have to control yourself so you don't eat them right away, because they are just so delicious 😁

Ehh. Maybe it's the American in me, but I like the dried out stuff that's drowning in sugar better 😂 anyway...

 

This is A LOT of seeds. I'm not even gonna try and count. I'm just gonna put 3 or 4 in bags, a bunch in cups to sell and give away and still have hundreds left. It's ridiculous. And I don't think I'll have much luck selling seed because it's cheaper to buy a fruit and get your own thousands of seeds than it is to mail them... 

[dalmatiansoap]

On 9/1/2025 at 8:07 AM, dalmatiansoap said:

Here's my, zone 9, third year, regular bloom, set fruit but never get it bigger than walnut size due fall temperature.

And again

[Ben G.]

10 hours ago, dalmatiansoap said:

And again

Very nice! I don't think I noticed how good papaya blooms smell until recently though. Mine is close to my back porch, and it has been nice to smell the blooms while I sit outside in the evening.

[JohnAndSancho]

Whoever said cleaning these seeds is easy is a liar. I soaked these things for 3 days and then one by one had to wipe the gel off of every last freaking one of them, and I don't know how many I cleaned, but it's pretty much every one that was in the papaya. 

 

I dunno what the hell I'm gonna do with all of them, but they're cleaned and drying now. 

[Ben G.]

I've cleared away some more low branches from my papaya, and I even cut some of the newest developing fruits as well. I am hoping to get more sun and energy focused in on the largest (oldest) fruits in an effort to get as much fruit as possible to ripen before we get a freeze. We probably won't get a freeze for at least another month or more, but I was concerned at how long the fruit was staying green.

I have finally start to see the first signs of ripening today:

[Mazat]

16 hours ago, Ben G. said:

I've cleared away some more low branches from my papaya, and I even cut some of the newest developing fruits as well. I am hoping to get more sun and energy focused in on the largest (oldest) fruits in an effort to get as much fruit as possible to ripen before we get a freeze. We probably won't get a freeze for at least another month or more, but I was concerned at how long the fruit was staying green.

I have finally start to see the first signs of ripening today:

Wonderful, Ben. Congratulations! That's great news. Sabine was also thrilled about this development. Now we hope they ripen well and then you'll reap wonderful fruits.

[Hu Palmeras]

Mango!!!

Azucar!!!

[Robert Cade Ross]

Here is a pair growing at my moms house- Z9B Brazoria county Tx they should be fine if we have a normal winter once again lol 

[JohnAndSancho]

3 hours ago, Robert Cade Ross said:

Here is a pair growing at my moms house- Z9B Brazoria county Tx they should be fine if we have a normal winter once again lol 

This reminds me it's probably time for me to start pulling and potting up sprouts. If not now then soon. 

[Ben G.]

On 10/21/2025 at 1:03 PM, Robert Cade Ross said:

Here is a pair growing at my moms house- Z9B Brazoria county Tx they should be fine if we have a normal winter once again lol 

That's great that yours may well survive the winter. I am certainly not expecting a winter that mild here. So, I am racing to get fruit to ripen before my papayas bite the dust. 🙂

[JohnAndSancho]

I got your papayas. 

 

RIGHT OVA HERE

[JohnAndSancho]

For the more visual folks that don't mind hearing me cuss. 

[Ben G.]

It's Papaya season in Texas!

[JohnAndSancho]

I got a ways to go. Just pulled all these off the heat mat and chunked a bunch of seeds and dead sprouts into the yard. Culling the herd. Now I need the Waimanalo/Solo to sprout and I'm legit stoked about the Oahu variety from @WaianaeCrider. Gonna grow some mangoes in here too because why not? 

 

[WaianaeCrider]

Glad you got the seed.  They are Kahuku papaya.  Much bigger than the Waimanalo Solo which are also from Oʻahu.  Kahuku is on the north end of the east side of the island and Waimanalo is on the south end of the island.

To you Texas guys....If your trees get to tall you can top them and they should sprout branches.  We often do that here to make harvesting easy.  Of course it setʻs the trees production WAY BACK.

[JohnAndSancho]

11 minutes ago, WaianaeCrider said:

Glad you got the seed.  They are Kahuku papaya.  Much bigger than the Waimanalo Solo which are also from Oʻahu.  Kahuku is on the north end of the east side of the island and Waimanalo is on the south end of the island.

To you Texas guys....If your trees get to tall you can top them and they should sprout branches.  We often do that here to make harvesting easy.  Of course it setʻs the trees production WAY BACK.

Oh man I haven't even checked the mail today. I guess I will in the morning when Sancho has to make the sausages. I think those will sprout fast because they're fresh. God only knows how long these Waimanalo/solo seeds have been sitting around. 

[JohnAndSancho]

12 hours ago, WaianaeCrider said:

Glad you got the seed.  They are Kahuku papaya.  Much bigger than the Waimanalo Solo which are also from Oʻahu.  Kahuku is on the north end of the east side of the island and Waimanalo is on the south end of the island.

To you Texas guys....If your trees get to tall you can top them and they should sprout branches.  We often do that here to make harvesting easy.  Of course it setʻs the trees production WAY BACK.

They... How... Lol how did they get here from Hawaii faster than something from like 2 states over? They got here yesterday apparently. 

[WaianaeCrider]

 2 states over go by truck

From paradise goes by air. 

LOL

[JohnAndSancho]

2 hours ago, WaianaeCrider said:

 2 states over go by truck

From paradise goes by air. 

LOL

From paradise to hell in 2 days. Story of my life. 

[WaianaeCrider]

21 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

From paradise to hell in 2 days. Story of my life. 

LOL

[SeanK]

On 10/28/2025 at 7:41 PM, JohnAndSancho said:

I got a ways to go. Just pulled all these off the heat mat and chunked a bunch of seeds and dead sprouts into the yard. Culling the herd. Now I need the Waimanalo/Solo to sprout and I'm legit stoked about the Oahu variety from @WaianaeCrider. Gonna grow some mangoes in here too because why not? 

 

Pots look all the same. Did you buy a stack on-line?