Cultural Practices 59
4.5 Roguing
As soon as the plants start flowering, the extra male plants are uprooted (Figure 4.3).
Weaker and diseased plants should be uprooted, after ensuring one plant/pit in dioe-
cious varieties. About 5%–10% of the male plants are kept in the orchards for adequate
pollination. The hermaphrodite plants produce complete flowers and should not be
confused with male while removing them from the orchard (Saran et al. 2014a).
4.6 Fruit Covering
At a very early stage, papaya fruits are infested with papaya fruit fly. Bagging with
cheesecloth, glassine paper or wax paper bags can be an effective control measure
for the fruit fly in small plantings. Bagging should begin when the fruit is small;
shortly after the flower petals have fallen off (crown stage). Each fruit should be
FIGURE 4.2 (See colour insert.) Papaya fruit size: (a) after thinning and (b) without thinning.
FIGURE 4.3 (a) Three plants per pit in dioecious and (b) roguing at flowering stage in papaya.