Another

If both limbs are of the scion cultivar and are productive I would be very hesitant to remove anything. Citrus are basically big bushes to bushy trees. That fork is normal Can you post a couple of pictures of the whole tree

I will later. One tree is 6 ft tall and this year I will be tasting my first mandarins. The other one is 5 ft tall and has not produced yet. I had read that with regular trees you want to discourage those low Vs or forks b/c easier to split during bad weather, so was wondering if it applies to fruit trees also. Since Houston is humid, I need to be very careful about how/when I prune b/c fungal/insect disease is a constant threat here. And too bad b/c I am prune crazed.

what exactly do you want to glean from photo, that way I will make sure I focus on what interests you

I wanted to see the shape of the entire tree to see how balanced it is. Is this tree seed grown or grafted. Is the extra trunk a rootstock sucker. If so it must come off. If not it can stay. I get very nervous cutting any tree that close to the ground/roots and I would not know how. The idea is to get maximum with on your tree for more fruit at picking level.

Too sunny now but I will take pic later. I guess one good reason to not mess with it is b/c I'm not sure if rootstock sucker or not. I so appreciate your help. L8r....

here is a shorter satsuma

and another orange whose fork is not as low

Do you know if these trees are grafted or grown from seed. That is did you plant the seed or buy the trees or do your own grafting. Crush a leaf from each side of each trunk of each tree to compare the smell of each side of each tree to see if they smell the same. If your tree in question smells the same on each side you are in luck unless your tree is grafted and both trunks are rootstock. If you grew this tree from seed you have no problem and I would not cut the trunk. I would however loosely tie the trunks together so the branch will run out of rope before you have breakage.

Thank you Steve. These are grafted trees. But not by me. what I take from you is that I need to leave them alone and revisit issues when I've determined exactly what I have after fruiting, and whether from rootstock or scion. Two of three trees have fruit so mystery should be resolved around Dec

I would be inclined to leave it alone. If you have room you can always start another tree in another spot to make up for the loss of this tree.

The fruit on the tree below ripened and were harvested. As I got closer to the inside of the canopy, I realized I had not lost the tree tag and it is indeed a Lisbon Lemon. It is bitter but makes good lemonade with honey or splenda.

I see what looks like a graft line, the bark below and above look very different.

Pip thanks for your comments, can you b more specific, don't know to what tree you're referring

The top picture. I could be wrong but it looks like the bark pattern abruptly changes.

Oh I see.. What you are looking at is two healthy trunks and two small 5" pieces of dead branches..