I seem to remember Greeneyes having an indoor lemon tree. I raised a Mexican papaya from seed and the tree grew so big, above the slider, that I had to donate it to the local botanic garden. It went outside during the late spring until fall and even flowered.
There are many fruit trees that are “bushes” like the aforementioned lemon. You should have chopped that papaya in half. It will come back with 5 times the foliage. Papayas do need a male and female plant to make fruit, however. Papaya is NOT a tree, it is herbaceous like a banana. For the record you can almost always chop a fruit tree way back and it will return with more foliage. For example, on my mulberry tree I chop every branch in half in the fall. You gotta be brutal.
Note: there are a lot of mango varieties that were modified to be “balcony” trees.
Yes, Linda (Greeneyes) LOVED growing lemons. :)
Wow. I’d like a papaya tree that big. Prepping is fun if you have a half acre. All I have room for is potted pomegranate, kumquat, and fig trees, some herbs, and longevity lettuce.