Coorg Honey Dew (Madhu Bindu)
A sweet, good-quality selection popular in the south for the fresh table market.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Papaya
- Type
- Open-pollinated
- Season
- All seasons
- Maturity period
- No separate figure published
- Expected yield
- High
- Suitable soil
- Loam
- Disease resistance
- Moderate
- Release
- A selection from Honey Dew papaya (released 1975), associated with the Coorg region of Karnataka; exact selection/release year not confirmed
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Coorg Honey Dew, popularly named Madhu Bindu, is a gynodioecious, semi-dwarf selection from the older Honey Dew papaya, which was itself released in 1975 — associated with the Coorg region of Karnataka. Its fruit averages 1.5–2.0 kg, with dark, ridged skin and yellow, melting pulp at around 13.5°Brix sweetness, used for both fresh table eating and processing. Selecting Coorg Honey Dew over the base Honey Dew line is reported to raise fruit and papain yield by 25–30%, with an average yield of about 70 kg per tree.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Coorg Honey Dew if you farm in Karnataka and want fruit for the table and latex for papain from the same trees. It is a semi-dwarf selection from Honey Dew, and choosing it over the base line is reported to raise fruit and papain yield by 25–30%. Its yield of about 70 kg a tree sits above Pusa Delicious at 58–61 kg a plant, though the two figures come from different pages and were not measured side by side. No first-harvest time is published for it, unlike the 8 to 11 months on the other papayas here, so ask your nursery before you plan cash flow. Choose CO 7 if you want sweeter, red-fleshed fruit (16.7° Brix) and a heavier yield in the south, and Pusa Nanha if your space is small.
Sowing & cultivation
Advantages & considerations
Things to consider
- Karnataka (Coorg) is the origin and the only state listed here, and sources agree on that.
- No separate figure is published for the time to first harvest. Other papaya varieties take 8–11 months, so plan on a similar wait and ask your nursery.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Karnataka
Fresh fruit and papain from the same trees
Coorg Honey Dew is grown both for fresh eating and for processing, including papain, which is taken from the latex of the fruit. Choosing it over plain Honey Dew is reported to raise fruit and papain yield by 25–30%.
The two uses compete. A fruit that has been cut for latex is normally not sold as table fruit. Decide block by block, and talk to your papain buyer before you start tapping.
At 13.5° Brix and about 70 kg of fruit per tree, a tree kept for the fresh market gives you around 35 to 47 fruits of 1.5–2.0 kg. Put your own price on that before you decide how many trees go to papain.
Can you keep your own planting material?
This is an open-pollinated variety, so seed from a healthy crop of your own can be sown again. Keep seed only from disease-free plants, dry it properly, store it cool and dry, and bring in fresh certified seed every three to four years so the variety does not drift.
How it compares with other varieties
Every Papaya variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Maturity | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CO 7 | Sweet, red-fleshed papaya for Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, with 16.7° Brix and the heaviest yield figures here | First harvest 9–10 months after planting | 900–1,000 q/ha | Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka |
| Coorg Honey Dew (Madhu Bindu)this page | A semi-dwarf, sweet papaya (about 13.5° Brix) for fresh sale and papain in Karnataka | No separate figure published | High | Karnataka |
| Pusa Delicious | A well-known orange-fleshed table and processing papaya for north and east India, giving 58–61 kg per plant | First harvest 10–11 months after planting | 600–700 q/ha | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal |
| Pusa Nanha | A dwarf papaya (4–5 feet) for kitchen gardens, pots, rooftops and close planting at 1.2 × 1.2 m | First harvest 8–9 months after planting | 400–450 q/ha | Delhi, Uttar Pradesh |
| Red Lady (Taiwan 786) | A compact, early, red-fleshed hybrid papaya for the commercial market, bearing at 60–80 cm height | First pick ~8 months | Very high | Andhra Pradesh |
Tools for this crop
The numbers you need next: how much seed to buy, whether the lot germinates, what the fertilizer bill looks like and what Papaya is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Papaya plot needs, corrected for the germination of the lot you bought.
- Germination CalculatorTest 100 seeds from the bag before sowing and see whether the lot is fit to sow.
- Seed Variety FinderFilter every Papaya variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Papaya into bags of urea, DAP and MOP for your field size.
- Crop CalendarMonth-by-month sowing, weeding, irrigation and harvest dates for Papaya in your state.
- Crop Profit CalculatorPut your seed, labour and input costs against the yield you expect from this variety.
- Mandi Price CheckerToday's Papaya rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Papaya seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the relationship between Coorg Honey Dew and Honey Dew papaya?
Coorg Honey Dew is a selection from the older Honey Dew papaya (released 1975) — essentially an improved line bred from that base variety, associated specifically with the Coorg region of Karnataka.
Why is it called Madhu Bindu?
"Madhu Bindu" means "drop of honey" in Hindi, referring to the fruit's sweet, melting yellow pulp at around 13.5°Brix — the same trait behind the English name "Honey Dew."
How much better does Coorg Honey Dew yield compared to base Honey Dew?
Selecting Coorg Honey Dew is reported to raise fruit and papain yield by 25–30% over the base Honey Dew line, with an average yield of about 70 kg per tree.
Is Coorg Honey Dew used for anything besides fresh eating?
Yes — it is cultivated for both table (fresh) and processing purposes, including papain extraction from the fruit's latex.
What does Coorg Honey Dew fruit look like?
Averaging 1.5–2.0 kg, with dark, ridged skin on the outside and yellow, melting pulp inside — a distinctive appearance among Indian papaya varieties.
How many fruits does a Coorg Honey Dew tree carry?
At about 70 kg of fruit per tree and 1.5–2.0 kg per fruit, that works out to roughly 35–47 fruits per tree. TNAU reports 112.7 fruits per tree for CO 7, a much heavier setting, so do not expect the two to match.
Is Coorg Honey Dew sweeter than Pusa Delicious?
About the same. Coorg Honey Dew is about 13.5° Brix, and Pusa Delicious is 10–13° Brix across sources. CO 7 is sweeter than both at 16.7° Brix.
Can I grow Coorg Honey Dew outside Karnataka?
The summary above lists only Karnataka, and no source gives trial results from other states. Plant a few trees first and watch one full season before you plant a block.
How long until the first harvest of Coorg Honey Dew?
No separate figure is published for it. Other papaya varieties take 8–11 months from planting, so plan on a similar wait and ask your nursery for the local experience with the plants you buy. Do not promise a buyer a harvest date until your own first fruits are set.
Coorg Honey Dew or CO 7 for fresh sale in Karnataka?
CO 7 gives sweeter, red-fleshed fruit, 16.7° Brix, with a heavier yield. Coorg Honey Dew is a semi-dwarf with yellow melting pulp at about 13.5° Brix and about 70 kg of fruit per tree, and its latex also gives papain. If you want fruit for the table and papain from the same trees, take Coorg Honey Dew. For sweeter red fruit, take CO 7.
Sourced from: Papaya, TNAU Agritech Portal (lists Coorg Honey Dew among the papaya varieties). editorial policy.