Hi:

This is my first time on the garden forum. Hello to everyone.

We have a "Louisiana Sweet" orange tree that is about 15 years old. It produces hundreds of oranges every year. When we bought it they told us it was of the "dwarf" variety and I suppose compared to a regular sized orange tree, it is small. However, it has gotten quite large. Too large to reach the top now on a 12' ladder. My question is, can we prune the top of the tree or will that kill or stunt the growth? Every year we prune the sides and bottom branches back and thinning it out. However, it's getting so big now the size of the fruit is getting smaller because of all the leaf growth, I assume.

We fertilize once a year with fruit spikes. Sorry for not taking better care with fertilizing, but life has gotten too hectic of a lot of fusing in the yard these days.

Any tips you can lend as far as pruning, would be appreciated. Also, should I call in a professional to prune it? We will only have one more year of oranges from this tree as we are moving in about 18 months. We don't want to spend a fortune keeping in in shape, but do want it to be happy and keep producing. The fact that we have to leave it behind is breaking our hearts. Now we have to start over with a baby.

Thanks so much for your help.