How To Prune A Lemon Tree For More Fruit, According To Pros
We are often asked how to prune a lemon tree. Unlike deciduous fruit trees, evergreen lemon trees do not need severe pruning. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t cut back a lemon tree at all, however. You should still prune a lemon tree, but do it judiciously. How do you trim a lemon tree? Keep reading to learn about maintaining a lemon through pruning.
Pruning Deciduous vs. Evergreen Fruit Trees
If you have experience with pruning deciduous fruit trees, don’t assume that pruning lemon trees will be the same. Unlike deciduous fruit trees, citrus wood is naturally hard and resilient and less likely to be damaged. Plus, citrus is most often grown in areas where heavy freezes and snowfall don’t cause winter injury that might need to be pruned out.
Citrus trees, including lemon trees, will produce fruit all around the tree except for the most shaded area, so they don’t need to be pruned into an open vase shape like most deciduous fruiting trees.
Citrus tends to produce just as well from an unpruned tree as a pruned tree. So any cuts you make on a lemon tree should be to remove dead or crossing branches and to remove sprouts.
When to Prune Lemon Trees
With the exception of late in the season, minor pruning of lemon trees can occur at any time of the year. If you wait until late in the season, pruning can stimulate growth that can be damaged by frost.
More major cutting back should be done in late February to March, prior to bloom time. Keep in mind that even when you can’t see the flowers, they are developing. This means that any pruning may result in a loss of bloom but unless the pruning is drastic (and generally it shouldn’t be), the loss is minimal.
How to Prune a Lemon Tree
Again, for the most part, any cutting back of a lemon tree should be nominal; just removing weakened or dead limbs, crossed branches and any suckers or water sprouts (gourmands).
The only time you should ever have to severely prune a lemon tree is with old trees that have been allowed to grow in height. This would be rare since most lemons only get from 10-15 feet (3-4.5 m) in height - still low enough to prune, albeit with a ladder. A really tall tree however,may become shaded enough at the center to thwart fruit production, so you might want to prune major branches back. Never remove more than one third of the length of a branch in this case so the tree can still photosynthesize.
General Lemon Tree Pruning
Otherwise, any trimming on a lemon tree will be simple removal as mentioned above. Fruit thinning is not necessary.
Remove weak shoots, deadwood or crossed branches with sterile pruning shears. Suckers can often be pinched off with your fingers or with shears. Water sprouts or gourmands are thick, vigorous growth that suck up nutrients but don’t produce fruit. These should be removed at the base.
Give the tree a good look from all angles. The goal is to have a large fruiting area in which the foliage canopy extends almost to the soil line.
If you plant on giving the tree a hard prune that exposes the trunk or large limbs to the sun, plant to prune in the late winter and spring which will give the tree time to grow foliage to shade the exposed wood. You can also paint a 50:50 mix of white interior latex paint and water to protect exposed branches from sunburn after pruning.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will a Lemon Tree Grow Back If Cut Down?
Lemon trees can live a long time, about 50 years. If for some reason you have had to cut the tree back to a stump, the answer is maybe. A lemon tree might grow back from a stump but it isn’t as sure a thing as if it was a willow or poplar tree.
How Do You Prune a Meyer Lemon Tree?
Prune Meyer lemon trees in the late winter to early spring. Wait until they are 3-4 years old to prune them and then remove any shoots below the graft point, any dead or crossing branches, and any suckers or water sprouts.
-
How To Grow Garden To Table: A Guide For Home CooksWhat could be better than a meal that comes directly from garden to table? Show off your gardening and culinary skills with the very freshest food.
-
Want a Backyard Mini Orchard? Create Your Own Container OrchardEasier to care for in small spaces, a backyard mini-orchard makes sense for busy gardeners and juicy fruit is the reward.
-
Eureka Pink Lemon Tree: How To Grow Variegated Pink Lemon TreesFans of the quirky and unusual will love the Eureka pink lemon tree. These plants are beautiful and unique versions of the standard lemon tree. This little oddity produces flesh with a fascinating characteristic. Click here for tips on how to grow variegated pink lemon.
-
Soft Lemon Fruit – Why Container Grown Lemons Have Gone SoftLemon trees produce marvelous fruit that is equally at home in sweet and savory recipes. But what happens if your lemons have gone soft? Lemons may get soft before they are ripe – be it soft lemons on a tree or soft lemon fruit that occurs during storage. Learn why here.
-
Lemon Blossom Drop – Why Is My Lemon Tree Losing FlowersEnvironmental consistency is essential to flower and fruit set of lemon trees. Any sudden change can cause fruit or flower drop on lemon trees. Have you found yourself wondering: why is my lemon tree losing flowers? Click on this article for more information.
-
Transplanting A Lemon Tree – Best Time To Transplant Lemon TreesLemon tree transplanting is a tricky prospect. Find out when the right time is to transplant lemon trees and other helpful information of lemon tree transplanting in this article before you take on this task. Click here for additional information.
-
No Flowers On Lemon Tree – Tips For Getting Lemon Trees To BloomGrowing lemons is a tricky business, as one wrong move and you?ll find all your effort has been for nothing. Getting lemons to bloom is about balancing the plant?s needs. Learn about the various pieces in the blooming puzzle in this article.
-
Repotting Lemon Trees: When Do You Repot Lemon TreesLemon trees grown in pots eventually outgrow their containers. When do you repot lemon trees? Click on the following article to find out when the best time to repot lemon trees is as well as how to repot a lemon tree.
-
Yellow Lemon Tree Foliage – Why Did Lemon Tree Leaves Turn YellowLemon trees are a great addition to the landscape, but sometimes your trees will develop problems like yellow leaves. This common issue can result from several different causes, but most are simple to correct. Click here to learn more about yellow lemon tree foliage.
-
Sweet Lemon Information: Tips On Growing Sweet Lemon PlantsThere are a number of lemon trees out that claim to be sweet and, confusingly, several of them are just called "sweet lemon." One such sweet lemon fruit tree is called Citrus ujukitsu. Find out how to grow Citrus ujukitsu trees in this article.
