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How to prune a lemon plant grown from seed ...

18 years ago

Hello All,

I have a lemon plant/tree thats been growing from a seed (safeway fruit). It's not about 5' tall, has what I think are essentially "double" stems - two sturdy about 1" dia stes growing from the ground up. The tree-let is about 5' tall and seems to grow in spurts! Every now and then I see intense violet/black new leaves which evetually become nice green leaves. Has some nice big thorns - yes thorns - about 0.75" long.

Do I have to prune this tree to get it fruit ? It is about 5 years old and has not yielded any fruit or flowers. Some research seems to indicate that I may not have "enough nodes" - though what is a node or how many is enough is open for debate!!

So how do I prune this plant and when ? Has anyone got any fruits from a store bought lemon/lime ??

Thanks,

rsk.

I'm in SF city if it makes any diff to pruning tech.

Comments (2)

jakkom
18 years ago
Virtually all citrus plants are grafted. According to SunsetÂs Western Garden Book, grafted trees will begin to bear fruit in a few years (MeyerÂs Improved lemons are unusual in that they will bear heavily even when young). But ungrafted trees will take from 10-15 years to bear fruit. Citrus will live for decades, so they aren't in any rush to mature fruit. Even when you get fruit, it can take weeks or months to ripen, and can then hang on the tree or bush another few months before finally falling off.

Yes, citrus have thorns, really nasty ones, in fact! Meyers are popular also because their thorns are much less ferocious. If you are growing a supermarket lemon, it is probably ÂLisbonÂ which is similar to, but more vigorous than Eureka.

Pruning is usually done in the early summer, when the growth is less vigorous. Heaviest citrus production is November-March.
camarillojeff
18 years ago
Lemons are a major cash crop in the county where I live. The commercial growers here don't appear to prune their trees, except maybe just enough to drive their vehicles in the rows between trees. Their trees have branches right down to the ground, looking more like giant shrubs. I've read that pruning citrus in general isn't necessary.
From what I've read, jkom51 is right that only time will help your seedling-grown tree to fruit. I bought 3 dwarf grafted citrus trees last spring. The tallest is about 4 feet tall, and they all have fruit. That may be a solution for you while your other tree matures.
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