have some papaya that grew from store brought fruit, they are about 18 mounths old,one is a big red its about 8ft tall, the other is a smaller size fruit and its about 5ft tall, they have been blooming this summer but they drop there blooms, the frist blooms were yellow now there white if that make a difference.how do tell if its a male or female

Your tree may be male, female or hermaphroditic. Male blooms are borne on branched tentacles that hang down may be more than 18 inches long. The female has a slightly larger single white blossom borne on the head of a miniature fruit close to the stem in a leaf axil. The petals tend to be straight. If the fruit shrivels after the bloom dies, it has not been pollinated. - Millet (1,261-)

thanks for the info millet...both trees bloom from the leaf axil as you mention, the blooms today are longer and curved but how do i get a male plant,i have some other plants that were killed back last winter but are still short...

Actually you don't want a male papaya, you want a hermaphroditic papaya. If you purchase your seed from a papaya seed supplier, your chances of obtaining a hermaphroditic papaya is approximately 95 percent sure. If you get your seed from a papaya purchased at the store, I do not have any idea what the chances are of getting a hermaphrodite. Hermaphrodite papayas produce true flowers with both the male and female parts, therefore no other papaya is required to obtain fruit. I have raised a lot of papayas, so many that my family got tired of eating them. They were greenhouse raised, and I never hand pollinated them. They achieved pollination on their own. What you are growing might be a hermaphrodite. Normally the first few flowers do not produce fruit. I always purchase my papaya seed from Aloha Seed Company. http://www.alohaseed.com/ - Millet (1,260-)

checked out aloha seed web sit.There so many to choose from.I could use some advice in selecting two or three varieties, i am open for suggestions...larry

I just saw a nice dwarf listed at Logees.

http://www.logees.com/prodinfo.asp?number=R1776-4

I grew the Gold Maradol F-1 Hybrid from Aloha Seed. The tree produced fruit in one year from seed, and grew to approximately 10-ft high. My guess is that the tree must have produced at least 100 4 to 5 pound papayas (the size of an over grown zucchini). You can see my Papaya on the link below. - Millet (1,249-)

link