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