Hello all,

I just moved into a home, cleaning up the yard and doing some gardening. There is a citrus tree that was planted by the previous owner. (I'm assuming some type of citrus). Initially, when we moved in, it didn't seem to be growing as it was overshadowed by larger trees. We got rid of the bigger trees and bushes that surrounded it, and gave it some room to grow. Over the past 2 months, it grew 3 new branches! But oddly the 3 branches have the same leaves (as far as I can tell) as the rest of the tree. But, those 3 branches have much longer thorns on them. Haven't seen that before, any suggestions?

Picture of Tree - New Branches are the ones growing straight up.

Picture 2 and 3 - Following the path from the root to the branch that has 3 branches.

Picture 4 - The 3 thorny branches coming out of a branch, I cut one this morning.

Picture 5 - Up-close picture of thorns

If anyone can offer help or suggestions for me to do, it's only those 2 branches (in the above picture) coming out that have those thorns. The little white spot is the place that I cut where the 3rd branch was. There are no other thorns anywhere on the tree, and I haven't noticed the other branches growing at all.

Thank you !