How to Train Citrus Trees

Citrus trees need pruning for longevity and healthy harvests.

Citrus trees form orchards that bear fruit for decades. Even a tree or two in the yard will be a perennial source of oranges, lemons, limes or grapefruit, if it is properly trimmed and trained. Pruning citrus trees shapes them for ease of harvesting, exposes more leaves to light for photosynthesis, discourages pests and diseases, encourages greater fruit yields and increases the vigor and long-term health of the tree.

Things You'll Need

• Electric or gas trimming shears
• Pruning saw or chain saw (optional for thick branches)
• Hand-pruning shears
• Work gloves
• Ladder
• Wheelbarrow or trash bags for hauling trimmings

Instructions

1. Choose the right time to trim the tree, based on your growing zone. In a temperate climate, the tree is dormant just before it begins to bud and leaf in the spring. Citrus trees are evergreens and will not go bare in any season, so select their dormant time for pruning. Check with an experienced grower, a nursery expert or your county agricultural extension office before trimming your trees for the first time, for helpful local growing tips and to avoid overpruning.

2. Remove all fruit from immature trees -- that usually means trees about 3 years old and younger. If you remove the early fruit while it is small and green, the tree's canopy will be thicker. Thinning excess fruit on a mature tree boosts the quality of the remaining fruit because a dense crop means smaller, less desirable fruit. Thinning will encourage the tree to fruit annually instead of every other year.

3. Trim a first year tree's center shoot about in half -- if the trunk is 30 to 36 inches tall, cut it back to 15 to 18 inches above the ground and trim away all the side shoots.

4. Select three scaffold branches the second year. The scaffold branches are the mainstays for training the shape of the tree, which begins in the tree's second year. These branches should be sturdy top, middle and lower limbs that ring the tree at even intervals. Save three additional main shoots or limbs that you pinch back temporarily. The three additional shoots will help the young tree grow vigorously and eventually will be sacrificed as the scaffold branches mature. Remove all the rest of the new branches.

5. Prune no more than 15 percent of the shoots on the branches that are left in the following years. You don't want the tree to be skimpy, just spacious and healthy. Start with the top scaffold branch and prune excess shoots. Work down to the other two scaffold branches. Remove the three extra branches that were pinched back as your scaffold branches fill out and mature.

6. Annually trim any diseased branches and shoots growing in the wrong direction or crossed over main, healthy shoots. A healthy, productive tree should be goblet- or umbrella-shaped. Take off new shoots that grow outside the design. Trim low shoots to prevent low-hanging fruit that touches the ground.

7. Train and prune for the life of the tree. Target shoots that hang down, grow in toward the trunk, are too close and parallel to main shoots, or that cross branches. The idea is to open the center of the tree to light and air. This encourages photosynthesis and discourages the overcrowding and dampness that leads to pest infestations and disease. It also helps the tree keep its shape for optimum fruiting and easy harvesting.

References

• Food and Fertilizer Technology Center: Training and Pruning the Citrus Trees
• Sunset: Thinning Fruit Trees