Growing Papaya & Mission Olive in Zone 8b (Southeast U.S)

[R2Orth]

The local Walmart's in my area have started selling papaya and olive trees, which I had never seen before. I thought it was pretty interesting so I bought one of each. The papaya is already around 2-3' tall and the Mission Olive is around that same height.

I have experience growing hardy palms and veggies in my area but these two trees are a first.

Where I'm at we usually experience our first frost of the year around mid-late November. What can I realistically expect growth-wise out of the papaya? I'm planning on winterizing the olive but not the papaya. Is there any chance to get fruit out of before November?

 

[cpp gardener]

Just how cold does it get where you are? Olives can take temps in the mid- to low 20s without protection. Older ones are hardiest.
Papayas are way more tender. You probably won't get any fruit this year.

 

[R2Orth]

Just how cold does it get where you are? Olives can take temps in the mid- to low 20s without protection. Older ones are hardiest.
Papayas are way more tender. You probably won't get any fruit this year.

Coldest for 2024: 11 degrees on one night. This is pretty rare. Other than that one night there were a few other nights with lows in the upper 20's.

Coldest for 2023: 28 degrees on one night. Most other nights the lows were in the mid-30's to mid-40's range.

The lows for 2023 are much more typical of an average winter here.

 

[cpp gardener]

Fairly close to here, except for the 11*. That would have killed it, but if that's really unusual you could grow it unprotected.
The papaya wouldn't stand a chance. It would need a couple of years to get big enough.

 

[R2Orth]

Fairly close to here, except for the 11*. That would have killed it, but if that's really unusual you could grow it unprotected.
The papaya wouldn't stand a chance. It would need a couple of years to get big enough.

Yea I'll definitely be wintering the olive just in case, at least on sub-32 nights.

As for the Papaya I'm planning on using an old portable greenhouse I don't use anymore over winter. Our winter highs are usually 55-70 so I'm hoping using the greenhouse plus winterizing it will keep it from dying.

I attached a pic of it, it was already decently big 2 weeks ago when I bought it and has since grown a little more. I'm hoping it gets to a good size before late October.

It's a little difficult to tell from the pic but it's already just under 3' tall.

 

[cpp gardener]

You could put 1 gallon milk bottles full of water in the greenhouse to absorb and release warmth on cold nights. Or run an extension cord with a small lamp that has a nighttime reptile heat lamp bulb. I did that with a small greenhouse here and it worked to keep some tender things going through the winter.

 

[R2Orth]

You could put 1 gallon milk bottles full of water in the greenhouse to absorb and release warmth on cold nights. Or run an extension cord with a small lamp that has a nighttime reptile heat lamp bulb. I did that with a small greenhouse here and it worked to keep some tender things going through the winter.

That's a good idea, I've never heard of doing that