The most famous papaya trees are the Hawaiian and Mexican types. If you go to the nearest supermarkets, then you will most likely be finding the Hawaiian variety. This variety has a pear shaped fruit. The weight is about 1 pound and the skin is yellow when it is ripe. When you peel of the papaya fruit, you will find the flesh of bright orange or a little bit pinkish. In the middle part, there is a hollow part and this part is filled with small black seeds. For the farmers, this variety is easy to harvest as they will almost never grow more than 8 feet high.
On the other hand, the Mexican papayas are so much larger in size than the Hawaiian variety. In fact, the Mexican papaya can be 10 to 15 times bigger than the Hawaiian type with the average weight of 10 pounds and 15 inches in length. The flesh of the Mexican papaya is similar but sometimes you may also find the yellow flesh papaya instead of the orange and pink. Although they are bigger, but in term of taste usually they do not have the same intense taste as the Hawaiian papaya. However, you can still find this type of to be quite sweet and delicious. When the fruit is properly ripened while it is still on the tree, the flesh is juicy and has a taste that is similar to the cantaloupe flavor but it is a bit muskier. This variety may grow taller and more difficult to harvest, but it is easier to grow.
Papaya trees love the warm weather. They also like sunshine, lots of them. So if you do not know where the best spot for your papaya tree would be, simply look for the hottest place available. When other plants would not thrive in this area, the papaya tree would. On the other hand, the tree can also grow in the shade, but of course it would not be thriving. In fact, the fruits from the papaya tree living in the shade would almost never sweet.
One of the most critical care is the watering. The papaya tree should always be kept on the dry side. When it receives too much water and the soil is wet, then the root would be rotten and the tree will most likely die. However, it does not mean that the tree does not need water. In fact, it does need quite a lot of water so that it can continue to support its large leaves.
