34 
BULLETIN 6.1, HAWAII EXPERIMENT STATION 
YIELDS 
The papaya is recognized as an enormous producer. Definite 
data on this point are of little value, however, because the papaya 
varies greatly in yields in different localities. Variation is due to 
many conditions of climate, soil, methods of culture, and the like. 
Records of several small plantings at the station for the first eight 
months after the plants came into fruit are given in Table 1. 
Table 1.- 
-Yields of papayas at the Hawaii station for the first eight months 
after the plants came into fruit * 
Accession No. 
Shape 
Plants 
Total time 
of fruiting 
Weight of 
fruit per 
plant 
Total 
weight 
4617 
Round.. . 
Number 
31 
28 
38 
33 
Months 
8 
7 
8 
7 
Pounds 
36.25 
25.00 
19.25 
28.00 
Pounds 
1 124 
4616 
do 
700 
4618 
Long . . 
731 
4619 
do 
924 
1 The plants were set 8 by 8 feet, permitting 680 to the acre. 
ENEMIES 
Insects, birds, and plant diseases give very little trouble to the 
papaya grower in Hawaii. Occasionally the red spider is reported 
as attacking the plants. Its presence is usually indicated by a yel- 
lowing of the foliage. The pests themselves may be found in small 
scattered colonies on the under sides of the leaves. Red spiders, or 
mites, are also occasionally found in masses on the surfaces of the 
maturing fruit. The skin of the fruit then becomes roughened and 
of a very unnatural brownish color. The mite and its destruction 
of the plant tissues can be accurately detected only by means of a 
magnifying glass. Ordinarily this pest seems to be held in check 
by several kinds of predacious insect enemies. Attacks by the red 
spider may be controlled by dusting dry, powdered sulphur on the 
under surface of the leaves with a sulphur blowgun. Mediter- 
ranean fruit-fly maggots have been reported by entomologists as 
occasionally found in papayas which ripen on the plant. It has 
been observed, however, that eggs which are laid in the green fruit 
are rendered inactive by the strong outward pressure of the acrid, 
milky juice which gushes from the wound. Ordinarily the fruit 
is harvested when it is firm in texture and beginning to show the 
ripening color. There is then little or no chance of its being in- 
fested. Neither of the above-mentioned enemies is considered to 
be injurious in the sense of seriously affecting the crop. The mynah 
bird occasionally eats parts of the ripening fruit, particularly when 
it has difficulty in getting other food. One or more forms of fruit 
rot have been reported in Hawaii, but they apparently develop only 
at times of unusual climatic conditions. One form affects the apex, 
or stigmatic point, of the fruit. The disease may injure a number 
of the fruits, but the period of attack is usually of short duration. 
An application of dilute Bordeaux mixture has been recommended 
for its control. 
