I bought several trees from Burgess this winter and they all arrived in good shape as soon as it warmed up. The 3 in 1 citrus is not a graft, it's three separate seedlings potted together. I guess I can train them together as they grow, they're too small to worry about it right now. I was expecting a grafted tree, but for the price I'm not exactly disappointed.

Drew, I've always read that dwarf trees require irrigation in all parts of the country. I've even seen 15 year old trees on M26 completely runted out because of a lack of irrigation at a small commercial orchard where I prune and consult. This is one reason I don't grow them in my nursery. Don't think that because I often don't flood in transplants that I underestimate the need for water, especially for establishing trees- on any root stock. Redsun, I don't think that this is very different from training a tree to a basic central leader besides leaving a greater number of branches. Upper branches still need to be cycled in and out and excessive diametered branches need removal. Tall spindle seems to be the actual method of choice as far as Cornell is concerned, but initial training is not all that different there either. The final shape is simply more a rectangle and a bit taller and thinner, I believe.

LOL! I have a key lime like that as well and thought almost the same thing except it is very happy. I figured it was not blooming from stress ;-)

I have purchased trees from 3 different nurseries and each have different ways of grafting their trees. The trees from Four Winds Nursery have shorter trunks, but yet have full canopies. Trees from Harris Citrus Nursery have very tall trunks, but they are really thin and top heavy. Grafted trees purchased from Lowes which are supplied from Saxon, Becnel and Sons have trunks that are not too short, but not too tall. lol. The only thing you can do is wait and see how they grow. Each variety of citrus has different growth habits. From what I have read and watched on youtube, you just trim to keep the tree symmetrical as the tree grows. With any tree, as it grows taller, you can trim the bottom branches to get the trunk you desire. I supplement my trees with fish emulsion to encourage growth. I got 18" new of growth on my Eureka lemon tree in 4 months and about the same on my New Zealand Lemonade tree. My other trees didn't grow as much as these two so that tells me that it all depends on the variety of citrus. I am not crazy about my NZL's shape either as it was an entry level tree so I contacted Four Winds Growers inquiring how to prune it so it would be like their typical premium trees. My tree is growing like a V- shape. I requested it to be in video format so other people would be able to benefit from it as well. A positive response from Aaron Dillon, owner, was received before the holidays (Thanksgiving). I hope he will follow through now that the holidays are over. I have a feeling that my options are limited because of the natural growth habits of the tree which is not the fault of Four Winds Growers. It is a relatively new variety growing here in the US too so I think there is much to learn about this variety. I have not seen online a mature tree to use as a model or other young trees to compare my tree with.