Yep...tasted Bell a few weeks ago at Excalibur and had to add it to my collection. Very nice fruit. About 1000% better than the store bought ones.

Told you so Jay. Maybe now you'll trust my soursop judgment.

looks really awesome. enjoy. would love to have room to add 1 to the collection

Harry, do you like Bell more than Kari? I have a Kari now and am thinking of grabbing a Bell but I am wondering if there is enough of a difference between the two to justify using more of my very limited space on a second carambola.

I was never a fan of carambola because the one i ate before were never that good. But your fruit look really good. Mmmm....

I've ALWAYS felt the same way Ch3rri!! Up until now that is. I was pretty impressed.

Murahilin...hmmm...did I say that starfruit was good?!! Getting me to try soursop again is really REALLY going to take some talking into!!

Fruit looks great Jay. I let my Kari get even a little more ripe before I eat them. I don't pick them until the bottom starts splitting open a little and then I let them sit for a day or two on the counter. I also cut the ends of the ribs off. It seems to take away the last little bit of sour flavor totally away. I was a little disappointed with the first few Kari's I tried until I let them get really ripe. Glad it sounds like your Bell won't have to worry about the hatchet (Don't give up on the Gold Nugget). Is Bell the only type you have? I thought I remembered you saying you had others but that may have just been seedlings that you were talking about.

I don't know how hard it is to graft them, but I can send you some Kari wood if you would like it.

Hi Ohiojay:

Is this star fruit plant you grew from a seed that you had previously posted about or is this one you purchased from a nursery?
If it is from a seed, how old is the plant? Just wanted to see how long before it starts fruiting?
Thank-you.

Robert

Robert...it is a seedling but I grafted Bell budwood onto it. It would probably take 6+ years to fruit from seed and then there is no guarantee how it will turn out.

John...I have a Thai variety grafted on as well. Thanks, but I think I'll stop with the two for now. I will allow the last two fruit hanging on the tree to ripen as long as possible. The riper the better I believe.

" I will allow the last two fruit hanging on the tree to ripen as long as possible. The riper the better I believe."

Yep, I don't even pick mine. I just bump the tree and the ripe ones fall off. Then I let them sit out for another day or two. They just get sweeter and sweeter.

Jay, What type of grafts did you do on yours? Was it easy to get them to take?

Good question John. I had done several wedge type grafts on carambola without any success. This particular graft was a bud graft done in the middle of summer. The Thai cutting was done in early spring and surprise surprise, it was a wedge graft. All wedge type grafts since have failed! Has to be a timing thing...or I was just way off on the matches.

Jay,
Overall are you happy you have the starfruit? I was just wondering if it is worth it to grow this tree. I agree that the fruit in the store is bland. I did have one from Wegmans that was the best i have had from store but it was mediocre at best.
Andrew

Andrew, The store bought ones should not even be considered the same fruit as the better types. You WILL like the good ones and the tree does well in a pot and can easily be kept small. Tough to describe the flavor but it is very nice. Post pics when it arrives.

The fruits that I once tasted that were store bought weren't bland...they were sour.....not nearly enough sweet counter balance and no flowery aroma that is really strong with good carambolas. JSVAND5 is right....saying that you've tasted nice tree ripened carambola by eating store bought is like saying you know what tree ripened peaches, pears, grapes and cherries taste like after eating a can of fruit cocktail......except sugar syrup they are canned in at least gives them some sweet flavor.

Harry, I appreciate your opinion. I am just wondering how large the bell would have to get before I can get fruit. top says that you can expect fruit when still small but my faith with Mike is not as good aas it used to be. After seeing how large my Julie mango was and hearing what happened to Ch3rri, I don't know if I trust him anymore. I think I'm better off getting advice here instead of getting it from Mike.
Andrew

Carambola handles harsh pruning very well. Mine would be as big as the greenhouse otherwise. This is a plant where pruning is a MUST or the fruit will just tear the plant down to a stump. I could probably keep mine around 4-5' indefinitely. Most grafted varieties can start blooming almost right away or a year later. A friend ordered a Kari from PIN and it was blooming in a few weeks. Didn't produce fruit but still.

Andrew:

Jay has pretty much said all there is to be said. My oldest trees have been in the ground for about 15 years. I have never pruned them. Any branch loss has either been by over fruiting with the limbs just breaking from the sheer weight of fruit or by hurricane. My 15 year trees are maybe 8-9 feet tall. So, I would think that you could do well with one in a pot.

Harry

Oh, and by the way, carambolas at my house have two distinct fruiting seasons. While a particular tree could have a wayward off season bloom and light fruiting, the main seasons are summer and winter. The crops are both heavy. For some reason, the fruits in the winter are sweeter than the summer time fruits. Might have to do with less water....so perhaps more concentrated flavor. Or, maybe, like citrus, the cold helps the sweetness. Not sure.

Adrew, Just curious, but when you said "After seeing how large my Julie mango was" are you saying that is a bad thing?

Jsvand,
I know it has been a long time since you posted your question....but yes it was a bad thing at the time. I don't have the light setup I was hoping for and still don't. I lost a lot of leaves from shipping shock on both julie and lancetilla. I had to mess around for a few weeks but then they were good to go. I ended up chopping the lancetilla down to half its size and now both have a lot of growth. The julie is growing infl. Several people have made negative comments about Top, including myself. I saod I would never order from them again when I got my green caimito stick that cost me almost $75.00 with the shipping but it never dropped ANY leaves. My biggest b**** was the size of it(under 2 feet!) and the fact that a good 5-6 inches of the top main branch was broken in half. I was pleasantly surprised with my last order. They even gave me my 10% discount way after it expired(expiration was in September), plus I got $25.00 off for the damaged green caimito. I am interested in a few trees they have right now. I know I am buying the carambola bell and I also am on there waiting list for a maprong(I think that's right)tree. I checked out Frankies in Hawaii but don't want to pay for processing fee and shipping. I would go in on a group order but jsvand is in California and I am in NY. I don't know if he would do it and anyways I would have to pay for shipping again to get it here. I really would like this tree. I am hoping maybe I can get a seed or two from his fruit if he gets any if not Top it will be! BTW my soursop seedling is doing extremly well along with my quenepa and sugar apple seedlings.
Andrew

Andrew, I am actually in FL. I don't really have any issues with Top. I have got some pretty good plants from them. The one thing that does bother me a bit even though it is cosmetic is how stained the trees come in. My Edward mango will be yellow/brown for a long time which bothers me a bit.

Did Top say they would be getting grafted Maprangs? That would be pretty surprising. It would be nice if there was a source for them on the mainland but I wonder what the price would be?

Yeah I like Top, I did have that one issue but I will stick with them. I didn't have that stain on my green caimito but it was all over both mango trees. It took forever for that to totally come of. I know if I call Top and talk to Mike I can get what I want. The maprang is on there site but out of stock so don't know the price.
Andrew

I have seen that on their site for a while. I am not sure how long it has been since they had them in. Hopefully they get grafted ones in and not seedlings. I think they are only propagated in Hawaii and maybe PR. I would bet Top would cost more than Frankies even with the processing fee since they would have to bring them in from Hawaii too. If you ever notice that they have them in stock please let me know. I would love to grab one if the price is better than I am thinking.

Jsvand,
I will let you know when Top contacts me. I know they are good about that stuff. I don't know too much about these trees but the fruit looks pretty good and knowing it is in the same family as mango makes it more appetizing. I know you said yours grows slowly. have any of those buds opened yet?

The buds are actually growing incredibly fast. I have updated pics in my thread about it.

My bet is that they will be seedlings selling for at least the same amount as Frankies sells a grafted plant for. No...I'm betting even higher. If they get anything like this in, they seem to get all giggly and slap a huge price on them.