HI Paul, I've heard seven years before seedlings bloom. I grew a bunch of seeds 7 or eight years ago and they have still not bloomed and have not really thrived. However they have converted from those round spiney branches to regular flat leaves. I wanted the challenge of going from seeds to blooms but so glad we can work with cuttings.
We don't hear from too many folks growing Epis from seeds. Would be nice to hear from others.