Tips for Pruning Lemon Trees
With its tasty fruit and rich, pungent smell, the lemon tree can make a fine addition to any garden. Like all fruit trees, lemon trees need care and maintenance to keep them healthy. Pruning will keep the lemon tree healthy and help it to fruit. Prune lemon trees late in winter or early in spring before new buds appear. Does this Spark an idea?
-
Timing
-
In common with most citrus trees, the ideal time to prune a lemon tree is during the winter. Prune the tree between February and April after you've harvested all lemons and before buds start to appear on the tree in spring. If you wait until the tree starts to bud, you risk losing part of the fruit crop later in the year. Avoid pruning the tree between May and October when it is most active. Carry out a light prune and remove small shoots from the trunk between October and the first fall or winter frost.
Equipment
-
Always use sharp equipment to prune lemon trees. Select pruners for shoots and small branches, and a lopper or pruning saw for larger branches. Sharpen pruning equipment with a whetstone before pruning the tree. Blunt, dull equipment can crush and damage the tree's wood.
-
Dead and Diseased Wood
-
Prune off all diseased and dead wood, including any snapped or broken branches. Make the cut at the limb where the branch or shoot meets the tree's central stem. Clean the pruner or lopper with rubbing alcohol to prevent the spread of any infection in diseased or dead wood to the rest of the healthy tree. Never compost diseased or dead wood because this can spread infection to the compost. Instead, discard the dead and diseased material in the garbage or burn it in a garden incinerator.
Shaping
-
Cut all remaining branches back by about one-third. This will help the tree to produce healthy foliage in the spring. Make clean cuts at a slight angle, and avoid compressing the wood as you prune. Step back a few feet to check the shape of the lemon tree. Cut lemon tree canopies to a round or tapered, slightly conical shape. As the tree matures, remove branches from the bottom of the central stem to improve the shape and to prevent branches from trailing on the ground.
Remove Tangles and Shoots
-
Identify any branches growing inward or rubbing against each other. Remove any tangled branches or inward-growing branches to open out the canopy of the lemon tree. This admits air and light to the rest of the tree and prevents it from developing a messy, tangled look in the spring and summer. Always remove green shoots, also known as sprouts, from the main tree trunk. Break them off by hand or cut them off with a sharp pruner. Lemon trees will sprout fewer shoots as they mature, but young trees can produced many sprouts.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Lemons on lemon tree. image by inacio pires from Fotolia.com
