Author Topic: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola  (Read 12735 times)

WhitH

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My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« on: July 18, 2012, 03:20:00 PM »
Here's a small attempt to contribute something rather than just gleaning from everyone else's posts.  :D
I have learned a great deal about tropical fruit growing from you all and would like to share what I have going on.
We only moved into our house in April 2011, so my plants are still small, but I will try to do a photo tour soon.

My Sri Kembangan carambola has been growing fast, as expected. This was planted from a 3-gallon about one year ago. It's now about 8-9 feet tall.
I find it to be quite an attractive tree, if pruned/managed.  I have done some manual branch bending on this one to see if the branches would hang down, and it worked great. I ate one fruit from this tree last fall.



Ethan

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2012, 05:58:31 PM »
That is a beauty of a tree, nice and healthy.  How was the fruit?  I've had one in a pot for a few years now, I think I'm going to plant it out next spring.

thanks for sharing,
-Ethan

bradflorida

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2012, 08:28:31 PM »
Nice healthy looking tree.  Impressive lateral/horizontal growth.

Brad
Brad

WhitH

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2012, 09:47:32 AM »
Thanks Bradflorida and Ethan. The fruit was large and excellent. I let it ripen to a full orange color and it was quite sweet. I actually like some acidity to my starfruit so in the future I think I'll eat the fruit slightly less ripe, maybe with a touch of green still on the ribs. Will try to update this post with photos when it is a bit older and carrying a proper crop.

lkailburn

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2012, 09:55:06 AM »
Looks great! I may have the chance to taste a first ever tree ripened Sri kembangan this summer off a plant given to us.

-Luke
« Last Edit: July 19, 2012, 11:31:13 AM by lkailburn »

Jackfruitwhisperer69

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #5 on: July 19, 2012, 10:07:39 AM »
Hi WhitH,
Your Carambola tree is a beauty...Well balanced branches and very healthy 8) Congrat's ;)

Hope you get a huge load next time :) Don't forget to take pics of the harvest ;)

Thanks for sharing :),
Steven
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of your life!

WhitH

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #6 on: July 19, 2012, 12:07:35 PM »
Thanks Steven! For sure, I will post photos when the tree is loaded and of the harvest.

Mike T

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #7 on: August 03, 2012, 04:22:35 AM »



My sunburned neice inspects a giant siam and it has taken her 6 weeks to get them all from the 3 ft tall tree.She prefers them to B10 and they are still sweet when green.She has taken more than 60 home in 6 weeks.

Jackfruitwhisperer69

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #8 on: August 03, 2012, 07:00:29 PM »
Hi Mike,
 :o Now, that's a huge carambola 8) Never seen one like that :o

THX for sharing :)
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of your life!

johnb51

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #9 on: October 08, 2012, 10:56:09 AM »
My Sri Kembangan tree planted last spring is setting fruit like crazy.  I've seen honeybees all over it.  The house behind mine also has a carambola tree, which is in the front yard.
John

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #10 on: October 09, 2012, 01:38:42 AM »
I have a seedling starfruit that produces very large fruits like that in Mike's photo. He'll have to lend me his niece so i can get proper scale evaluation.  ;)
Oscar

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #11 on: October 09, 2012, 12:51:35 PM »
I have a seedling starfruit that produces very large fruits like that in Mike's photo. He'll have to lend me his niece so i can get proper scale evaluation.  ;)

Oscar:
How old was your seedling starfruit when it started fruiting?  I have 5 seedlings that are over three years old & about two feet tall (I have topped them to encourage side growth) but nothing in terms of flowers or fruit.  Just trying to gauge how long I need to wait.  Tks.

Robert

CoPlantNut

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #12 on: October 09, 2012, 01:58:38 PM »
I have a seedling starfruit that produces very large fruits like that in Mike's photo. He'll have to lend me his niece so i can get proper scale evaluation.  ;)

Oscar:
How old was your seedling starfruit when it started fruiting?  I have 5 seedlings that are over three years old & about two feet tall (I have topped them to encourage side growth) but nothing in terms of flowers or fruit.  Just trying to gauge how long I need to wait.  Tks.

Robert

Robert,

In the past I've had seedling carambolas (in pots, pruned to stay small) start flowering when they were about 2 years old, and bear fruit when they were 2.5-3 years old.  On the other hand,  I've got a ~3-4 year old grafted 'Sri Kembangan' that I've had for 2 years now that blooms almost non-stop and has yet to set a single fruit.  I had 2, gave away one, and it promptly flowered and set fruit for its new owner.

In the past I also had a carambola seedling for 5 or 6 years that didn't grow very much (compared to how quickly they can grow when happy) and didn't ever bloom for me, but I suspect that was because I wasn't giving it enough light.  They will live and slowly grow in low-light conditions such as most house plants get, but to grow quickly and be truly happy they require more than a couple hours a day of full sun- probably at least 5 hours / day, which is hard to do indoors in our climate.

   Kevin

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #13 on: October 09, 2012, 05:46:14 PM »
Thanks for the info Kevin.  It gives me hope that there is a chance for my seedlings to flower/fruit.

What did you do differently to get those to flower/fruit in 2-3 years from the ones that did nothing for 5-6 years?  You would have to bring them in for the winter like me.  Did you have any special lighting/heat?  Same with your grafted 'Sri Kembangan' that you gave away.  Did the new owner do anything different?  Tks.

CoPlantNut

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #14 on: October 09, 2012, 06:30:26 PM »
Thanks for the info Kevin.  It gives me hope that there is a chance for my seedlings to flower/fruit.

What did you do differently to get those to flower/fruit in 2-3 years from the ones that did nothing for 5-6 years?  You would have to bring them in for the winter like me.  Did you have any special lighting/heat?  Same with your grafted 'Sri Kembangan' that you gave away.  Did the new owner do anything different?  Tks.

The one that didn't flower after 5-6 years was treated as a houseplant in a sunny window.  It would get less than 2 hours / day of direct sun for the winter, and perhaps 4-5 hours of sun per day when it was outside over the summer.  Then it got infested with spider mites so badly that it was thrown out.

The ones I got to set fruit after only 2.5-3 years were kept outside in full sun (8-15 hours/day) for the summer, and kept indoors under a 1000W grow light for the winter, with 12-15 hours of light / day.  They only bloomed for me when they were in real sunlight, but they did set fruit!  Then a hail storm damaged the fruit and plants extensively, winter was coming and they got infested with spider mites when I pulled them back in, and they were thrown out...  I never got ripe fruit.

Now I've got a setup with more than 1000W of artificial light that I can maintain 70-80% humidity in, and spider mites seem not to be an issue any more (they don't like humidity).  I got the 2 grafted 'Sri Kembangan' plants 2 years ago, and both were put under lights for the winter and kept outside for the summer.  Both bloomed inside and outside.  I gave one away this spring, and it was kept outside for the summer (just like the one I kept) about 30 miles further north of me; it got morning shade and afternoon sun (I think- Luke, any comments?) whereas the one I kept got full sun until about 4pm and then got shade.  The one I kept may have been fertilized a little more.  It may be a self-compatibility issue with pollination that keeps my plant from bearing fruit- apparently some types of carambolas are mostly self-incompatible...  In any event, my tree continues to bloom and has flowers on it more often than not.  I'm grafting another known self-compatible variety onto it now, so I should know if that's been my issue sometime soon.

   Kevin

johnb51

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #15 on: December 03, 2012, 09:21:59 PM »
My Sri Kembangans are almost ripe.  I have about a dozen medium-size fruit on my tree.  Not bad for a tree that was planted last spring! ;D
John

johnb51

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #16 on: December 14, 2012, 10:29:16 PM »
We finally got to taste some of these.  Sweet and very pleasant with hints of orange flavor.  Although it's been a few years since I've eaten any starfruit, I would say the flavor of SK is as good as I've ever had. :)
John

Mike T

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #17 on: December 26, 2012, 03:24:26 AM »



Carambola can be kept very small like my giant siam.My problem is that a productive tree of a little over 3 feet is not duck and goose proof.They pull off the fruit and enjoy them over a few days.They also eat the leaves.

bangkok

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #18 on: December 26, 2012, 06:14:33 AM »
Mike how did you get the carambola so small and bonsai? I just bought one for 50 baht which is taller then yours and the stem is 1 cm thick with some mini side-branches.

Mine is a grafted plant and they told me it would be sweet and orange. I have never eaten a sweet one though but i wanted to try it for fun. Shall i prune it to let it grow back? It is in the shade by the way behind the house and gets 30 min sun a day.

Mike T

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #19 on: December 26, 2012, 06:22:53 AM »
Bangkok it is all about pruning and most fruit trees can be kept small.I prune it maybe twice a year and it has given up its defiance and knows ut will stay small now.In the shade it might not be so easy to do and fruit may not be quite as sweet.You chop the top and train a few laterals to be branches.Take out the thin upright water shoots.

bangkok

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #20 on: December 26, 2012, 06:39:12 AM »
Allright mate thanks, i will prune it and see if i can get a nice tree like yours. If i have fruits i will place it in the sun.

johnb51

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #21 on: January 20, 2013, 10:06:14 PM »
We're finishing the last of the SK carambolas for this season, and I wanted to emphasize what a sweet and excellent-flavored fruit this is--better than Kari, in my opinion.  I'm VERY pleased with this variety.
John

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #22 on: January 22, 2013, 02:54:38 PM »
We're finishing the last of the SK carambolas for this season, and I wanted to emphasize what a sweet and excellent-flavored fruit this is--better than Kari, in my opinion.  I'm VERY pleased with this variety.
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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #23 on: February 05, 2013, 08:28:13 PM »
I have a seedling starfruit that produces very large fruits like that in Mike's photo. He'll have to lend me his niece so i can get proper scale evaluation.  ;)

Oscar:
How old was your seedling starfruit when it started fruiting?  I have 5 seedlings that are over three years old & about two feet tall (I have topped them to encourage side growth) but nothing in terms of flowers or fruit.  Just trying to gauge how long I need to wait.  Tks.

Robert

As i recall the seedling starfruits were 3-4 years old when started fruiting, started pumping out at 5 years old. The trees are now 23 years old and still make huge amounts of fruit.
Oscar

bobbyjo

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Re: My 'Sri Kembangan' carambola
« Reply #24 on: February 10, 2013, 10:49:05 AM »
I have a seedling starfruit that produces very large fruits like that in Mike's photo. He'll have to lend me his niece so i can get proper scale evaluation.  ;)

Oscar:
How old was your seedling starfruit when it started fruiting?  I have 5 seedlings that are over three years old & about two feet tall (I have topped them to encourage side growth) but nothing in terms of flowers or fruit.  Just trying to gauge how long I need to wait.  Tks.

Robert

As i recall the seedling starfruits were 3-4 years old when started fruiting, started pumping out at 5 years old. The trees are now 23 years old and still make huge amounts of fruit.
Thanks Oscar.  From the looks of it, I can hopefully see flowering and maybe fruits in about 3 years.  CoPlantNut's whose setup is similar to mine, also got fruits in about 3 years.
I have a Kari which was grafted in 2011 and it flowered last November'ish but didn't set fruits.