GOLDEN PAPAYA: Rediscovered In Lanao Del Norte
zbsarian
WE USED to love the Golden Papaya that was in the collection of a hobbyist friend in Quezon City. But that was a long time ago and we have but almost forgotten about it. Until we saw the same in Tubod, the capital town of Lanao del Norte.
The Golden Papaya is some kind of a curiosity because its fruits, whether mature or still very small, are golden yellow. At first sight you will suspect that the fruits are ripe. But no, they are not.
We found the unusual papaya in the home of Mrs. Teresita Bartolo in a barangaytowards the mountain. We were in the company of the provincial tourism officer, Minda Regis, lawyer Donato Calica and some employees of the provincial government.
Mrs. Bartolo was so gracious to offer us to taste a ripe fruit that was still on the tree. The fruit was 2.5 kilos but Mrs. Bartolo said that was quite small. She used to harvest fruits that are five to seven kilos each.
The fruit has bright red-orange flesh, thick, sweet and juicy.
Sir Zac, will you be selling seedlings/seeds of this Golden papaya sometime next year? This is that yellow papaya that gets quite tall right? I had this one tree a few years ago in the yard of the house I used to rent, too bad I wasn’t able to bring seeds or seedlings when I left – its quite similar to this golden papaya you described. It thrived on neglect actually, no fuss papaya plant. I used to just water and dump rabbit manure on it and it was happy enough. Unlike the red lady papayas I’m trying to grow in my backyard now – water and rabbit manure system as well, it still looks chlorotic.
I hope I will be able to propagate it from the few seeds I got. I was impressed because it seemed it is not affected by disease. And the fruit is delicious, too.
Sarian Farm has germinated a very limited number of seedlings of the Golden Papaya. If you are interested, please call Rose at 0915-434-4216.
Sir I’m interested for the drip hose materials of Mr Greg, how I contacted him