Star Fruit Plant

Listing ID #6225769

Star Fruit is a juicy tropical fruit with a delicious tart flavor. The yellow fruit is 3-4" long with a waxy skin and 5 prominent ridges. A cross-section of the cut fruit looks like a 5-pointed star. Star Fruit is low in calories and low in sugar so it's an ideal fruit for the whole family to enjoy. When it's grown in the tropics, one Star Fruit tree can provide fruit for up to three families because of its prolific fruiting habit.

Where Star Fruit Grows
Star Fruit, or Averrhoa carambola. is a tropical fruiting tree in the oxalis family that's native to tropical Asia. Widely grown throughout the warmer areas of the world, it has little hardiness but can tolerate a light frost and temperatures into the high 20's for short periods. In general it needs temperatures above freezing to prevent plant damage.

Grown as a Potted Plant
As a northern container plant, it will survive in greenhouses or sunrooms during the winter months and it should be grown outside during the summer months. During the winter, night temperatures need to be kept well above freezing. Low temperatures will often lead to leaf drop and at times, the plant will almost completely defoliate. No worries though, the plants will recover once the warm temperatures return.

Temperature
High temperatures bring out the best in Star Fruit plants. In the summer, it is an active grower, flowering and fruiting in abundance. In tropical regions, the plants will flower and fruit on and off, year-round. In the north, temperatures need to be at least 60° F for flowering to begin. Full sun is a requirement for the best flowering and fruit set.

Flowering & Fruit Set
Star Fruit will flower throughout most of the year. Fruit set is greatest during the summer when temperatures are in the 80°s or higher. Once the plant sets fruit, it often produces a heavy crop. As a potted plant, not all Star fruit are created equal. Although most varieties will fruit in containers, we have found that two are particularly adept at fruit production when grown as potted plants.

'Maher Dwarf' and 'Dwarf Hawaiian' will both fruit and flower in 8-10" pots and can be maintained in containers for extended periods. 'Maher Dwarf' has small to medium size fruit and a 3' tall plant can produce a couple of dozen medium size fruit at a time. 'Dwarf Hawaiian' produces a larger fruit with a distinctly sweet flavor but only half as many on the same size tree. Generally, young grafted plants will begin blooming right away at 1.5' in height and the young tree will even bear a few fruit.