Good morning. My wife loves papaya. We cant grow them here, so we go to
the store. They are usually green when we find them, and slowly turn
yellow. Then she eats them and they are very good. I would imagine, like
everything else, they would taste better if left on the tree until ripe, but
I imagine you could get away with picking them now.

Avocados are the same way. We used to live in Puerto Rico and had two
avocado trees. When it got windy in the spring, a lot of them would fall
off and I had to get rid of them. My neighbor stopped me and said they
would ripen if kept inside, even though it was still several weeks before
they reached their maximum size.

Could you attach something sharp on the fence, or build some type of barrier
on, or near it to keep them off?

Dwayne


"MC" mcathomalidotcom wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I have a nice papaya tree that I planted 12 months ago ... the two biggest
fruit are beginning to get some orange/yellow colour to them.

I am worried that the possums will pounce on them any night now ... should
I pick them or otherwise protect them on the tree to ripen?

Cheers,
MC