I wouldn't clip anything

Tree looks good, I would start removing the ties to the stake so it can strengthen. What is at the bottom of the tree? I would probably remove that too.

I appreciate your valuable insight Ken. This Eureka lemon has been in the ground a little over 6 weeks. In your opinion, do you think that is sufficient time enough for the roots to take hold underneath? Thanks again

-Darb

The leaves and branches at the lower portion of a tree support the growth of the tree's trunk. It would be a mistake to prune them, most especially as young as your tree is. The answer is absolutely not.

I would loosen them up a bit at first so it gets a little movement and over a couple weeks loosen some more until you are confident in fully removing.

Thanks Ken, the thing you see at the bottom was just plastic wrap for protection of the trunk from the Florida sun. To be honest I feel as I’ve been pampering them and thought that it may not help in the long run as I would like them to be hardy. I’ve since removed the trunk covering.

Just some more background, I planted one blood orange, a eureka lemon and a red navel. the blood orange and lemon are thriving and have already displayed vigorous new growth. They are planted south of our home and receive close to 10 hours of happy sunlight. We have sandy soil and I usually shove my hand about 3-4 inches in the dirt around the drip line to verify wetness and or dryness. If dry i do a deep watering from the hose on shower setting for about 15-20 minutes being careful not to drench the foot of tree. For fertilizer I added organic citrus tone from espoma(sp?) At around 5 weeks in.

The red navel is the youngest but tallest of the three as it was in a smaller gallon container when purchased. The buds at the base of some of the mature leaves look as if it’s on the precipice of shooting out, however there is still no movement or new growth.

Here is the new growth on both the eureka and blood orange. (Purplish leaves are the lemon)

It’s all very exciting 😁

Pictured (red navel, blood orange, eureka lemon)

Darb, since you live in Florida, what are you doing about Citrus Greening disease (HLB)? If your trees are not thoroughly protected , all of your trees will probably be infected within the first year. There is no cure for HLB.

I’m not so worried about HLB. If it happens it happens. I’ve looked into a peptide spray derived from the Australian finger lime but no luck.

However, based on the our universities IFAS extension office HLB is not well established here in north Florida. With only three cases in 2021

https://nwdistrict.ifas.ufl.edu/phag/2021/12/17/citrus-greening-hlb-update-for-north-florida-and-georgia/

Silica I’ve also seen a lot of beneficial spiders, lady bugs and long legged flies on my citrus and I hope they aid in eating any psyllids

I’ll also add that the citrus sold here in Florida by law should have an ISD treatment that last six months and it’s usually indicated on the tag when purchased. I may perform another treatment before the expiration date. Used to treat most pests but is mainly for HLB