Bob I don't have a citrus tree that is not badly deformed.

Steve

Out of over 3 dozen tree’s, one from overbearing the previous year, not bad!

Hi bob!! Good seeing you here in another thread! Dealing with a lot of things here it’s been quite busy so I’ve probably missed a lot of things on this forum! Glad to see everyone’s alright and everything’s good :) bob my xie shan looks very much like your number 2! I wonder if that’s the growth habbit the fruit are always so heavy I tried to stake it but it’s still very bent! Interested to see how you’ll trim tomorrow :)

Jan, that one will not prune till the end of January, it still has fruit on it. The other will be tomorrow if I don’t have to go away. The one I just have to shortened again because it starting to grow at the top instead of side branching. The branch on the left side needs to be a pinch higher than the branch that need to shortened again, so it outgrow the shortened branch.

That is a tough call on pruning. You can try scoring or notching right above a few lower nodes to stimulate the buds and promote branching. The method works better when the plant is already in a growth flush. Result is still not certain though. Citrus like many other plants are apically dominant so the tendency is to produce branches near the top till the plant gets large enough. I would think that branches bending downwards due to fruit load should also help branch production elsewhere. May be that is why citrus suddenly produces suckers growing straight up. Anyone notice any relation between timing of branches bending with fruit load and appearance of suckers in citrus - Just a thought? My citrus collection is small and do not have much to go by.

Tropic, I over fertilize a few days ago, plus a big shot of micro,s, more than the tree can handle, forcing more growth. I just shortened the branch by another 6”. The left branch has fewer new starts, rub two off.(in growing).

I'm a pruner with all my fruit trees as they have to "look good" to my eye . I like to see a balanced look with my trees but thats just the way I'm wired lol.

Bob you’re so precise with your cuts every time I have to prune I always second guess myself! I’d love to see pictures of it now!

I‘m sure you’ll be happy with the pruning results Bob. I had a lemon tree that was devastated by my parrots last winter indoors and I just hacked off the whole top - like I took off over a foot of growth from the trunk. Here it is today. It is being re-homed to a plant-loving friend as part of my reduction efforts. I have enough lemons and that one is very similar to Lisbon.

Laura, you develop such magic with your trees, it becomes second nature, not that easy to get there that soon. Your trip to Italy is interesting. My brothers and sister who lived in Australia, one brother 6 months in Spain, two in Holland, one in the Far East.

Pruning, grafting, are all part of growing whatever You wish to grow. Some here do not believe in grafting, do not believe in pruning( just let it rip). Boring, boring!!

I guess, if you like tall tree’s you don’t do nothing. Had a tall large kumquat tree, tall, don’t fit nearly in the garage, end up on the burnpile, don’t like them anyway but they are a healthy fruit.

same here bob not a kumquat fan which is a good thing otherwise I would have another 6 trees lol.

Pruning is not always necessary to obtain a fuller, more compact plant. In some cases if you can let the sun hit a bare section of trunk, it will send out shoots...like this Shiranui did for me. All the branches within the circle are new ones.

Dave, looks like irregular fertilizing, just guessing.

LOL! What the heck are you talking about?

When you have a sudden super growth, might be a reason. You don’t have get upset about it. Small pot?

Not upset. The point is to encourage more growth along the trunk in order for the plant to fill out. Then no need to prune the top. And I don't want or need a two-foot bare trunk. At this stage I want maximum foliage growth and not fruit production.

Well good, I think the lowest branches are too low. From my part, the tree looks honky dory.