Thinning new growth on a young citrus tree
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ส.ค. 2024
- Young citrus trees can be very vigorous so thinning new growth on a young citrus tree is needed to improve the trees structure, eliminate wasted energy and increase airflow and light penetration.
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Watch this video on Pruning a young citrus tree with strong spring growth - • Pruning a young citrus...
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Video timeline:
00:00 - Intro
00:56 - Recap of Pruning a young citrus tree with strong spring growth
02:00 - Why we need to thin new growth
07:01 - When to thin citrus growth
08:25 - How to thin new growth on a citrus tree
22:45 - Recapping why you need to thin growth
Why should you thin the new growth on your young citrus tree?
1. To increase the overall structure of your tree and provide strong and well placed scaffold branches to hold the weight of mature, fruit bearing branching in the future. Setting the structure of a citrus tree when it is young builds the platform to significantly reduce the amount of maintenance a mature citrus tree needs.
2. To redirect energy where growth is needed. By having many different branches, or shoots, on the same branch dilutes the amount of energy each branch receives, meaning that these branches have significantly reduced growth which may ultimately impact the future structure and strength of the citrus tree.
3. Increase airflow and light penetration. Improving the airflow within the branches and insides of a citrus tree reduces the risk of pest and disease issues such as sooty mould and aphids. It also promotes inner growth, which is needed to further increase the trees structure over time.
What thinning does NOT do:
Thinning the shoots or branches on your citrus tree DOES NOT result in increased fruiting or flowering. When thinning the new growth on citrus trees you are optimising growth and not fruit production. A well structured, disease free and open citrus tree will produce significantly more fruit than an unmaintained young tree that matures with structural, light and airflow issues.
When should you thin new citrus growth?
The easiest answer to this question is as soon as your tree shows you. Citrus trees do not have a right and wrong time for pruning when they are young so watch your tree and control and thin new growth as soon as it is needed.
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Thank you for this video which, I happily stumbled upon. I am a novice citrus tree grower. Actually I am looking at growing more of citrus in my place as a hobby. I hope you'd hand hold me in my new journey. Thank you from City of Matlosana, North West Province, South Africa.
Hello Jabulani (love your name 😀) I am so glad to hear how excited you sound about your citrus journey. Citrus is luckily a really easy fruit tree to grow that needs very little care. Why not pop me a few questions on FB DM then I can see if I can help in any way? 🌻
There isn’t a lot of videos on pruning YOUNG citrus trees luckily I found this video
,thanks for the tips
Hey Azza, I'm so glad you found this video and got value out of watching it 🌻
The way u describe how/why ur pruning where u do, is very similar to what we do in the bonsai community. Building good structure is like building a good root system, the key to success. Great video, friend! Thanks for sharing
You are spot on! 😁 I actually did bonsai for many years and still have a few that I care for dearly. It's actually where the driving force came from as bonsai tries to imitate nature and nature almost always naturally splits branches into two's. Glad to hear you enjoyed this video 🌻🌻🌻
Great detail and explanations. You made it make sense, thank you!
Ah thank you Ostara, I am so glad you found value in watching this video.
Be sure to stay tuned to see its future development 🌻
Thank you, love it!
It's only a pleasure and I'm so glad you found value in watching this video 🌻
thanks for the great explanation. good work!
It is the greatest of pleasures and thank you for taking the time to leave your thoughts. It's comments like yours that keep me motivated to keep going so THANK YOU 🙏🌻🌻🌻
Thank you for this. I am just about to do some trimming on a lime and orange that I plan to keep indoors full time. this was very helpful.
Ah, thanks so much for taking the effort to leave a comment with your compliments. I am thrilled to hear you enjoyed it and found value in watching this video 🌻
Thank you so much, now I get it
It is only a pleasure and I'm so glad you found value in watching this video 🌻
helped me a lot
It's only a pleasure 🌻
Excellent explanation, keep it up.
Wow, thanks so much for such a supportive comment 💚 I'm so glad to hear you got value from watching this video and I look forward to sharing lots more content like this in future 🌻
I love love love ALL your pruning videos! Thank you soooo much for all of them! It is so helpful to watch a South African discuss these things!
Ah what a special comment 💚 Thank you Simone, it's complements like this that make all the effort making these videos worthwhile!
You will also be happy to know I have 3 more pruning videos coming soon that cover stone fruit, pears and apples 🌻
I am very happy to hear that thank you! I can only imagine how much time all of these videos take to make! definitely feel there is a lack of quality homesteading/permaculture/food growing South African channels so yaaay for your channel because it’s fantastic! 🥳
@@simonemary8559 thank you so very much! Please also just let me know if there are any specific topics you would like more knowledge on and I can definitely get those videos slotted in for you 🌻
@@simonemary8559 I am doing my guava pruning video within the next 2 weeks so keep an eye out for it 😁
This was exactly the video I needed to care for my new cara cara orange tree. I figured It should not be allowed to cluster at the tips but wasn’t sure how to tackle it.
Ah, I'm so glad to hear that and thank you so very much for taking the time to leave me a comment. I'm also stoked to hear you got value out it and that it is helping you out in the garden!
Wishing you many a fruitful harvest ahead 🌻
Hi, my drawf lemon lisbon tree is 4 years old now. Last year I got 10 small lemons but this year after flowering, it dropped off all the fruit buds on the ground😢. I thought might be too dense, I thin and cut short let air and light goes in. However the more I cut, more dense it coming later. The stem seems big and healthy. Leaves are dense like forest. Dropped nearly 50 lemon fruit buds, ended up nothing this year😂. Please help me😅
Thanks for writing such a comprehensive comment and I'm so sorry to hear about your frustration with your little lemon tree. 4 years is still pretty young and the tree will only allow what it can handle and drop everything else.
Personally I would not have allowed 10 fruit on such a young tree and rather thinned to 3 or 4. What fruit trees often do is have one big crop then a very small crop and so forth. What you do to spread that out is thin your young fruit to only have what the tree can reasonably handle. For example, if you had only left 3 or 4 last year then the tree would have had enough energy to handle another crop and probably given you 4 or 5 this year and then 10 or more the year after and you can see how it goes. Thinning is a major part of getting consistent fruit over the years with citrus.
The other thin can be conditions. When a citrus tree is in bloom it is incredibly sensitive. Until the fruit has set and you have tiny little fruits things can change drastically. Anything from chemicals/sprays, over or under watering, heat, cold, wind, humidity, etc. can cause the tree to drop it's fruit and focus on adapting to the change in conditions.
I hope this long explanation helps 🌻
@@MySustainabilityJourney Thanks so much for your advices. Appreciated 🙏👍👍
I have let my lemonade tree go for two years then I transplanted it and it died back, but has returned amazingly. However now it has a long main trunk and I am wondering if I should use the same principle you have used here to make it as healthy as it can be. It has my grandchild's placenta in the bottom of the pot so I want to keep it as healthy for as long as I can. Do they have a long lifetime? It has amazing new growth so I am hesitant to cut it back, should I?
Oh wow that's quite the story, thank you for sharing with me!
Yeah, citrus trees can live a long time, in fact up to 50 years under ideal conditions.
If I were you I would leave it for now or maybe just snip the tall leader to promote more side shoots. If it almost died then rather let it get as much vigor as possible before you start pruning back.
I would also look at the problem areas of dead, diseased or crossing branches and remove those. Citrus tends to send out multiple shoots from the same node so make sure each branch only has 1 branch coming out.
That's all I would do for now and then look at more targeted pruning next year 🌻
I LOVED this video! We have a very young lime tree. I read to prevent sunburn we should panint the clipped end of the branch with white latex paint. (South Carolina, US) Is this necessary?
Oh wow, thank you for sharing that you loved this video so much. I really really appreciate positive comments like this 💚
Yeah, if you have that latex paint then it won't do any harm, but personally I have never experienced sunburn and I have the really harsh African sun. If you use that latex paint you will only need it for a few years until the 'skirt' starts to form around the trunk by the drooping branches.
I hope this helps 🌻
Hi, I was gifted a cocktail tree last May. Really struggling with it. I got about 4 limes off of it. It’s a straggly mess. How do you discourage fruit development? It makes alot of babies but 95% dry up and fall off. Thanks for the great video!
Really good question and congrats in your little tree! It's going to be great getting to learn about it and watch it grow and develop.
The best way is to actually remove all the flowers when it starts to flower. They are incredibly fragile and will come of easily. If you already have set fruit that are very small then you can simply break then off.
You can then focus your attention on building the structure and by year 3 start harvesting a few fruits. 🌻
@@MySustainabilityJourney Thank you so very much for answering my question and for the clear direction. I have tons of flowers and never thought to remove them. Thought you were going to say something about trimming the branches. I have so much to learn!! Thanks again!
Hope you don’t mind, this is a second question. I repotted my young tree into a self watering pot. Seems like the soil is always very wet. Should I change back to a clay pot? Thanks!
Hey, no worries at all ☺️ yes, yes, yes! The quickest way to kill your citrus tree is to put it in an environment where it is constantly moist/wet. Citrus like to almost completely dry out inbetween waterings so I would go back to clay (if you have a big enough pot) and then also reconsider the self watering option and water by feel.
To do this stick your index finger as deep as it will go into the soil. When the tip of your finger is dry you can water again. If it's moist then hold off some more 🌻
@@MySustainabilityJourney Thank you so much. That will be my project today!! Great advice and really appreciate it!
How do I take of new growth on my young Lime tree stem?
Good question! Firstly you need to determine is the growth is above or below the graft line. If it's below then you HAVE to remove the growth as it will kill the top of the tree. If it is above then you can keep it if you decide you need a branch there. The easiest way is to simply snap them off but a nice clear pair of secateurs will also do 🌻
My lemon tree is 3-4 years old just this year. It’s growing straight up barely no branches should I trim top? It’s about 6ft tall
Thanks for leaving me your questions! Yes, you should definitely cut those long straight branches. Cut them roughly in half as that will stimulate side growth and fruiting. You also don't want a tree that is so big that you can't harvest the fruits 🌻
@@MySustainabilityJourney thanks for the tip!
What about tipping? Why dint you tip all the branches you chose
The main reason I don't tip prune is because this is still a young tree. You don't want to stop branch growth on young plants and branches. You want them to grow out and become as big and strong as possible.
Tip pruning also stimulates fruit buds and more fruit the next season which is NOT what you want in a younger tree. You want more vegetative growth for the firs 2 to 3 years to get the branches strong enough to support lots of fruit in the future.
But yes, you would (and should) tip prune mature trees to increase fruit production 🌻
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