Citrus benefits from allowing some sunlight to reach the interior of the tree canopy. Nearly all pruning cuts should remove entire branches from a place where they join another branch or the trunk. Remove crossed branches, broken branches or diseased branches. Remove any strong suckers growing from limbs that are strongly upright or vertical. Lowest limbs on the tree should come from the trunk at about knee height. Remove all suckers coming from the base or from the graft union (rootstock) and below. When pruning, start at the bottom of the tree. Prune them to a tree form with a single trunk. If you prune correctly, you shouldn’t remove any new fruit that might be developing.Ĭitrus are not pruned as much as many other fruit trees. If you delay pruning until the end of February, you will not have to prune twice. If there are to be very low temperatures, they’re more likely to occur through mid-February.

Low winter temperatures can cause a lot of different problems for citrus in our climate.ĭelay pruning citrus until late February. Not because it’s too hot, but because it gets too cold in the winter. As I have said before, this is not citrus country. Q: Should I be pruning my lemon and grapefruit bushes now?Ī: Of course, the most important thing right now is protection from low temperatures, which I have talked about repeatedly. Low winter temperatures can cause a lot of different problems for citrus in our climate.

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