Papaya leaves curling, yellowing and plants stunted with little fruit (papita)

Severe downward curling, crinkling and yellowing of the top leaves, with badly stunted plants and little or deformed fruit, most likely indicate a virus disease, commonly papaya leaf curl virus or a mosaic virus. These are spread by insects, leaf curl mainly by whitefly and some mosaics by aphids, and also by handling infected plants. There is no cure once a plant is infected, so the strategy is to limit spread. Confirm with your KVK, since nutrient deficiency and some pesticide injury can also cause curling and the response differs. Remove and destroy infected plants early, especially while they are young, so they do not act as a virus source for the rest of the field, after first knocking down the insect vectors on them. Control the whitefly and aphid vectors with KVK-recommended measures, use yellow sticky traps to monitor, and a barrier or border crop and reflective mulch can reduce vector landing. Start with healthy seedlings from a clean source, and keep weeds down since some weeds host the virus and vectors. Follow the label, pre-harvest interval and residue limits for any vector spray. Get the diagnosis confirmed before uprooting plants.