3/8/24: Oviedo, Florida – The day I ended the life of my T.R. Hovey papaya tree. Why? Simply because I am done growing it after a year and a few months. This papaya tree has produced at least 50 fruits for me last year. We only ate less than five and gave away the other fruits to friends, local folks, community service workers, and delivery folks driving by. My $15 T.R. Hovey papaya tree sure did a good job feeding many people in its short life. 😂

Taste Profile:

12/4/23: After about a year of growing T.R. Hovey papaya tree, I finally got to taste the ripen fruit from the tree. I like the subtle sweetness. The texture is somewhat creamy, but I am not sure if I like the mushy texture.

T.R. Hovey papaya has a firm green texture but not crunchy firm like I hope for pickling. When T.R. Hovey papaya is ripen, it has cracking issues and the worst part, the mushy texture. Some folks said it’s great as a smoothie but we didn’t even get to try or thought about making a smoothie out of it. I prefer firm sweet ripen papaya. I finally can say I dislike eating T.R. Hovey papayas.

My Papaya Growing and Tasting Quest:

Whether I like the fruit or not, it’s still going out. That has been the plan of growing any papaya tree on my tiny property. I only have one space for one papaya tree at a time and I am on a quest to grow and taste a different papaya variety every two years.

Cutting Down the T.R. Hovey Papaya Tree

A local tree service guy once gave me a quote of $350 just to take down a papaya tree! How silly is that? My husband said I can do it myself since papaya trees are hollow inside, soft tender trunk, and with a shallow root system. So that’s what I did. Little me took down this T.R. Hovey with my handy dandy Corona hand saw I bought from Lowes within 30 minutes. I will be using the cut pieces to fill a raised bed later.

My husband helped me butchered the main roots so it can rot faster with whatever you call that tool is in the picture. It only took him a minute or two to do that.

Can you take a good guess what fruit tree will take its place?

From the Beginning

The beginning stages of my T.R. Hovey papaya tree… Pictures only …

(image when I first bought the tree)

September 2, 2023:

I love my homemade Vietnamese green papaya soup with my homegrown TR Hovey papaya, Taiwanese bunching scallions, and Thai Tower Basil leaves. But darn it. Husband likes it but my kids don’t. They still prefer fuzzy squash over green papaya in soups instead. That’s a lot of green papayas I will have to find a way to use up.

I used my frozen homemade broths to stir up this pot of green papaya soup within less than an hour. Vietnamese green papaya soup is traditionally cooked with pork bone broth, pork feet, or pork ribs. I cheat my way out using my frozen homemade broths I have been stashing up in my freezer for a quick fix.

November 1, 2023:

About the Seller

Where did I bought my T.R. Hovey papaya tree? I purchased my young T.R. Hovey papaya tree from Nick Finan of Nick’s Edibles  in St. cloud in April 2022 in a three gallon pot. If interested in buying a T.R. Hovey Papaya Tree,  contact Nick for availability. T.R. Hovey is a dwarf variety that bare fruits at a short height. The tree will continue to grow taller but not as tall as the non-dwarf varieties. This T.R. Hovey papaya variety produces about 40 to 60 fruits a year. He currently have the trees in one-gallon size. Come in Spring 2024 and he will have them available in 3-gallon size.  My favorite thing about Nick is that he has an organized inventory link I can always look at to see what fruit trees he has, what size, and what price so I don’t have to waste time asking him.

Nick’s Edibles
4035 Hickory Tree Rd
Saint Cloud, FL 34772
407-406-8939
https://maps.app.goo.gl/grPMFXSAojv6S9qp8?g_st=ic

Facebook Page link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/147955578957442/

Nick’s Inventory list link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FW9xsl2a7wPRqqDtawuqvVJGzw-i9TudBI0HVWs_8DI/edit?fbclid=IwAR1piAj3ZuRg1zZaz8JsqbcCyoWkGxXktVq5GiXOJBKkiA5se4RxTL-ah8k#gid=236474127)