Carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.) is a fruit tree that exhibits nearly year-round flowering and fruiting in its natural, tropical habitat. The carambola industry of subtropical south Florida is based almost exclusively on the local cultivar Arkin. `Arkin' is susceptible to harsh winter conditions, which debilitate canopy growth and limit the harvest season to about 7 months (July to February). Crop value increases up to eight-fold during times of scarce production. Less than 10% of total crop volume is produced when fruit value is highest. Strategies to enhance early season cropping of `Arkin' carambola were evaluated during a 3-year period. Under favorable growth conditions, carambola trees readily initiate flowers throughout most of the canopy. Pruning 3- to 4-year-old branches to their main axes (branch length was reduced to about one-half of original size) during early spring caused abundant and synchronous flower initiation on pruned branches, and produced a crop in late June-early July. Fruit from pruned branches had excellent appearance due to lack of wind damage. Fruit from intact portions of the canopy began to be harvested 3 to 4 weeks later. In 9-year-old trees, the fall crop was manually shaken off the tree in November-December, when most fruits were about 50% of their final size. Crop removal resulted in abundant flowering (more than three-fold compared to trees which retained their fruit until harvest) throughout the canopy during early spring and also produced an early crop ((48 kg/tree) in early July. Carambola growers in south Florida have begun to adopt selective pruning and fall crop sacrifice to increase economic returns of their groves.