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Papayas don't grow well in the desert. And you'll go broke watering them.
About how much does water cost? I suppose the answer is depends on where you live. What's the approximate cost? Is the cost of water price tiered in most areas, so you pay a much higher rate if you use a lot of water?
I've when viewed from the air, the area looks dry, but when getting in closer, there's a green with a lot of irrigation being done. Same thing in Waikoloa Village on the Big Island. From the air, it is very dry area surrounding the town. It's like an oasis in the desert, a lot of green lawns, shrubs and trees growing. Much of southern California is the same way, an irrigated desert. A lot of people can afford to irrigate in southern California.
There's some up sides to living in an area that doesn't rain as much. You can hang outside a lot without having to carry an umbrella everywhere you go. The downside is you have to pay the price for the irrigation and hope that a watering ban never occurs or is very rare.
Water is expensive in Hawaii - we've had a relatively wet winter in comparison to past years, but most of Hawaii has been in a drought for several years. We have a very distinct wet and dry season. My point has been all along, watering a fruit bearing Papaya tree is no small effort. This isn't like grass which requires a lot less water, or tomatoes, or flowers.
Water portion of the bill is not expensive. It's the sewage that's expensive. They tack on a $65.xx to your bill. If you're ever in the Leeward side you'll see plenty of papaya trees bearing fruit. I guarantee most of the people don't water them.
If you're ever in the Leeward side you'll see plenty of papaya trees bearing fruit. I guarantee most of the people don't water them.
Perhaps you (or someone) could take a photo, and let us know how it can be done - I've not seen one in Kapolei/Makakilo - There isn't enough rain, how would they grow if they don't water them?
Water is expensive on OAHU, not "in Hawaii". Ha! Oahu overbuilt their water table way back in the seventies, they are just coasting on reserves now and will suck rocks in a couple of decades. Although, I suppose they will eventually build a desalination plant and then the cost of water will really go up.
Now, on Hawaii (the island, not the state) water is either fairly inexpensive or free, depending on if you have County water or catchment water. And we can grow papaya on a lot of the island, usually it is elevation which is more of a deterrent than lack of rainfall for where papaya can grow.
We are very careful with the propagation of papaya. You take a nice chilled papaya from the refrigerator, cut it in half, go out in the yard to get a lemon to squeeze a bit onto the papaya and then wander around the yard eating the papaya and tossing the seeds where it might be nice to have a papaya tree. Pretty soon, there's papaya trees everywhere and enough papayas to feed them to the chickens and bunnies.
So, perhaps you should widen your search for a place to live beyond Makakilo? How about a different island entirely?
........ they require 4 inches of rain per month ..........
It's not a lot of water to give one tree 4 inches of water every month. You put a basin around the tree and that won't take much water to fill it. Then you mulch so that whatever water you put on doesn't evaporate. It's even more efficient if you water with a drip line.
It's probably no more water (once a month) than your family flushes down the toilet every day.
It's easier to grow fruit in the desert using irrigation that it is to grow fruit where it rains a lot. Fungus and other plant diseases thrive in wet conditions and are much easier to control if the weather is dry.
Now, a nice big lush garden costs a packet to water in the desert. But one or two fruit trees, no.
* Papayas, mangoes, even citrus and pomagranates thrive here. I've lived only in Makakilo my entire life of 46 years, having lived in three very different neighborhoods there: one street on the older section and two on the newer side. Every other house in Makakilo has papaya and/or mango. Most yards don't have irrigation systems and people don't seem to do much with the trees because the papayas get left on them and eaten by bulbul and mynah birds more often than not once they turn ripe. When I am out on walks I often see ripe papayas on trees that have holes pecked in them by birds, and rotten ones on the ground that fell off trees and onto the sidewalk below.
All one has to do is drive up and down Makakilo Drive to see the abundance of papaya trees.
* Makakilo is NOT a 'desert.' It is a higher elevation than most communities and therefore, a few degrees cooler.
As for Kahiwelo, they appear to be mostly young families because I see them all turning out of that first traffic light to go to work.
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