A Whale of a... Papaya

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oʻahu resident David Day bought a papaya tree from a nursery in Waimanalo, and planted it in his yard.

Fast forward to last Friday, when his daughter, KHON2 reporter Lauren Day, brought into her TV studio the fruits of his labor, literally. With just a one-hour heads up before the KHON2 afternoon news broadcast, Richard Manshardt of the Dept. of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences graciously agreed to be interviewed live, and the rest is television history.

“It's not often that papayas make the news, or that ‘papaya experts’ are asked for their opinions, so it's nice to have a record of it!” Richard wrote to Kacie Ho, of the Dept. of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences, who taped the segment.

Watch the on-air interview with Richard.