Yesterday I wanted to thin out my Papaya fruit to allow the fruit to grow larger and develop a nice shape, but also noticed a lot of ants going up and down the tree which is never a good sign.
The Mealybug lays its eggs on all parts of the Papaya tree, but primarily of the underside of the leaves. They lay up to 600 eggs that develop into nymphs or "crawlers" and go through several moulting stages. The female nymphs have mouths and can stress a tree significantly if they become too prevalent.
The Encyrtid Wasp is tiny, has no stinger and only lives a few days. It deposits 1-2 eggs in the Mealybug egg sac. The Wasp egg divides into thousands of larvae that consume the Mealybug nymphs.
Unfortunately, the Mealybug creates a nectar that ants love and in exchange the ants kill the Wash larvae.
So, after I thinned out the Papaya fruit I decided to wash down the tree with soap and water. I do my best to remove any debris between the fruit and wash the fruit, leaves and branches; unfortunately, Papaya fruit are extremely sensitive and quickly secrete a sap that is slippery and turns into a type of latex, which is extremely itches and if exposed to it long enough will melt your skin, so my finger prints are nearly gone and it is difficult to pickup anything smooth, like a glass.
The sap is a useful medication and dried to produce a crude Papain. Papain is an enzyme that helps break up proteins and used to soften meat; additionally, it is used in herbal medicine for digestive problems, helps breakup blood clots following surgery, and used in some cosmetics to smooth the skin since the enzyme has the ability to dissolve skin layers.
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