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

g'day mc,

i think pawpaws are one of those fruit that benefit in not being
picked until right on ripe. maybe you could skirt the tree with some
flat tin to keep the possums away?

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.

Thanks Len ... I'll let them ripen on the tree then, but the tin won't work
unfortunately, as the tree is right next to a fence that the possums
frequent most evenings.

Can I cover the fruit with paper bags? Wire? Or something else to stop the
possums getting to the fruit? I suspect they will chew straight through a
paper bag, but you never know ... a half a meter of loose wire fencing
around my vegie garden is all that is required to keep them out of there -
it seems strange, when the possums could easily jump over - but for some
reason they don't? So, maybe a simple paper bag or something would work?

Cheers,
MC



"len gardener" wrote in message
...
g'day mc,

i think pawpaws are one of those fruit that benefit in not being
picked until right on ripe. maybe you could skirt the tree with some
flat tin to keep the possums away?

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the
environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before
you send.

g'day mc,

how about making a paste from the hottest chillies ands spreading that
along the fence where they may walk, won't do permanent damage but
when it gets in their eyes they won't come back.

or how about quassia chips fruit produce agencies should have that.

or maybe create a feeding station for them away from the pawpaws, feed
them apples maybe some bread with honey anything mostly while they are
happy feeding there they could stay away from your harvest.

for lots of wild animals the smell of human urine deters so maybe try
splashing some saved urine around? i think somewhere on my site their
is a link to somewhere that suggest natural deterents.

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.

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

Hi Dwayne,

Thanks for you reply and suggestions. I have actually picked (and eaten -
Yum!) the first two fruit from the tree. I left the first one to ripen fully
on the tree and the second one the possums got to the night before I was
going to pick it - little biggers!

Luckily they only had a chew on the very bottom end of the papaya, so I was
able to cut that section off and eat the rest.

Both fruit were delicious - I just had some in some fruit salad for dessert
actually!

I thought I would leave them as long as I could on the tree before I picked
them ... I left the second a day too long though. I still have 5 more
(green) fruit on the tree that I will probably pick a little earlier this
time round.

I have planted the seeds from the first two fruit and am trying to grow a
row of trees down my side fence! Figers crossed! They are absolutely
beautiful fruit!

Cheers,
MC







"Dwayne" wrote in message
...
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

"MC" mcathomalidotcom writes:
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?

I recall hearing a year or more back that some Qld gardeners had discovered
that a teddy bear in the tree would give protection against possums. One
theory for why it works is that the possum, a fiercely territorial creature,
perceives that tree as already being "taken" by another possum so moves on
to forage elsewhere. Apparently in the possum world there *IS* honour among
thieves! To cover all contingencies, I'd go for a large teddy bear just in
case size does matter!
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

Thanks John,

That's great mate! Got a chuckle and put a smile on every face in my
household when I read it out to everyone here!

I might even give it a go if I can get my hands on a *SIZABLE* teddy! LOL

Cheers,
MC



"John Savage" wrote in message
om...
"MC" mcathomalidotcom writes:
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?

I recall hearing a year or more back that some Qld gardeners had
discovered
that a teddy bear in the tree would give protection against possums. One
theory for why it works is that the possum, a fiercely territorial
creature,
perceives that tree as already being "taken" by another possum so moves on
to forage elsewhere. Apparently in the possum world there *IS* honour
among
thieves! To cover all contingencies, I'd go for a large teddy bear just in
case size does matter!
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

In Sydney we had just about everything eating our Paya, definately possums
and bats but still managed to get enough for ourselves. If its a heavy
cropper the natives go for whats easy and leave the rest. Otherwse you can
pick just before the natives attack and let ripen on the kitchen self.

Cheers


"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