Why do you prune them?

Ha ha ho he eh ho he ho ho. Since when did I ever have control over my trees. despite not fertilizing my Cuban Shaddock just put out very aggressive growth early October. I will glass it and feed it for best of growth. All my other trees except 30 gallon Cuban Shaddock, Meiwa, and Fukushu#2 are growing gang busters in October. Does any one of you have any control of your citrus trees.

Mike, I really think they control me. I am the one lugging them in and out, making sure they have enough sun, heat, water and fertilizer. Once in a while I take control and pull off those rootstock suckers they send out, but mostly I am at their beck and call. However, I love watching them grow, their fragrance, glossy green leaves and fruit so I don't mind the control they have over me.

Cory

Citrus ripens in winter, I never understood the point of causing them to go semidormant.

Can someone fully explain why you would want dormancy during ripening? Does ripening still happen?

Some don't ripen the way they would in 'winter' 'here' unless they are getting more than 9 -12 hours of direct sunlight in a greenhouse or under artificial lights..Even then not as good as the southern states which most of us do not have the luxery of..Cool nights and very warm sunshine...

Here under my conditions, many will still ripen though...

My Lemon and Lime 'fruits' do continue to grow and ripen despite the cooler temps. I just don't get a heck of a lot of new leaf growth if any at all, which is my goal.

They do still flower like 'crazy' and put on lots of fruit for the up coming spring..I think I have reversed their roles/cycle, since my fruit ripen in spring from last summers crop, summer and fall on trees such as orange, grapefruit and others.....I would prefer they ripen then or hold off ripening until the spring so that the fruit is sweet and not dry hit my the hotter sun and coolish nights.. My trees focus on fruit and flower production rather than vegetative growth all winter....

The sun here is minimal at best, a flashlight, to make any difference in my trees unless I invest lots of money giving them the light they need to ripen properly during winter months that matches the sun in southern states in winter .

My other option would be to keep growing them warm inside all winter without artificial lights, but then the fruit would just fall off or dry out anyway...It would create stress on a tree with a lack of light along with leaf drop. They would focus of leaf production rather than fruit and flowers and drop everything even twigs

I am allergic to the fruit so even if I got no fruit at all, whether it ripens or not, it does not matter..But I do get HUGE onset of flowers all winter.

They do grow bigger and ripen once the days get longer and I stick them back outside.

So I guess you could I choose to control when they fruit and ripen.

Cory, Josh, Steve you are way too funny..lol

Cory, after what you said, I think they may have some control over me..lol

Vladimir, what do you mean? I must prune my trees if I am to keep them tight and tidy and sizable enough to stick them in my home or other areas...) I have had to chop the one in my greenhouse down at least 6 times about a foot shorter or it would of grown at least 6 feet past the roof...

You know what..I THINK IN SOME WAY THEY DO OWN ME...It seems I can't even take a few days vacation away from here unless I leave them in the hands of incapable people treating them the way they like. How about winter when you have to make sure they are nice and warm in the greenhouse?

I think I found a way to make good money..Start my own business in the PLANT SITTING world. i think there would be a high demand for that since we can't put them in a kennel..lol I have considered this.

__-

Mike, there are companies that take care of plants for offices. I imagine they would do the same for private individuals.

Mike, there are companies that take care of plants for offices. I imagine they would do the same for private individuals.

Mike, there are companies that take care of plants for offices. I imagine they would do the same for private individuals.

A Plant sitter bussiness? That's actually not a bad idea, in a busy city. I think there is a company that takes care of restaurant plants around here.

Perhaps loan extra trees for the winter somewhere? I play music in a number of senior facilities, and many of them have very sunny activity rooms. I have found that a pretty calamondin tree really cheers up the place. Only problem, I don't always have the heart to take them back, some people get attached to them.

This winter I plan to fertilize my trees - my dads house has a sun room and it's springtime like all the time in there. For my other trees I'll use foliage pro now and then when watering.

Each winter I seem to have more and more trees to worry about. My wife says no more! lol..

Vladimir, I thought of that, if I am desperate...lol I wonder how much that would cost? I'll tell you, I would probably make a killing if I started my own business...

Calamon, my Uncle actually wants to set me up a Google Page for free and help me name my company..I am coming real close...That's actually a good idea at a facility...My Dad's in a nursing one and I'll bet I could find a nice room with lots of light! i even think my Dad;s room as room and he gets all morning sunlight! He would love that and since I visit 3 times a week, I will be around to care for it.

So if you want fruit, especially sweet fruit, then going dormant is as bad as I thought.

Extremely counter productive.

Mine definitely control me.... I just can't bear to prune unless absolutely necessary even though I know it works (as per Mike and Laura's results).

I have a bunch of crazy limbs growing all over the place in my room.... I'll have to do a better job of nipping off ill placed ones in future before they get big.

Pip, you lost me.....

I said many of my fruit ripen and yes, I do get sweet fruit.Just not as good as the southern states in the middle of winter and I don't think any of us can even come as close as to that climate at best without the perfect set up which a majority of us do not have. Many ripen on my porch at cool temps and many ripen as soon as I put them out in spring. Many ripen in my work place and in my sunny greenhouse..It varies...

What I think is extremely counter production is, trying to ripen them in a room only limited with winter sun in doors...They fall off, stay small. get bugs, or dry out. So if wants wants fruit just as good as the southern states, they must invest in a place that provides lots of sun and warmth, but cool nights too. )

Hey Hobby, great to see a happy person back one that knows how to treat others...I hear you..Many are afraid to cut trees back, let alone roots, which everyone eventually should do growing in containers..It keeps them very healthy..