Water sprouts are vigorous, often thorny, usually vertical-growing shoots that grow fairly quickly from the interior of a tree or off of the main branches or trunk. Often they are too vigorous to bloom, but eventually, like in maybe 2 seasons, they settle down and will bloom and bear.

Too many of them can fill the interior canopy of the tree, reducing air circulation and sunshine. So, all that said, it's up to you. If your tree is a bit sparse, you can leave some of them to fill out the canopy. If you think they are creating too dense a canopy, remove them. Leaving too many can steal nutrients away from bearing branches.

Watersprouts can sometimes result from too much pruning. Or they can occur naturally, or from dieback from cold, etc.

first and third pic [maybe .. shadows in pic ???] ... improper pruning stubs seem to have triggered dormant buds left in the stub ...

prune properly at the branch or trunk ... to the branch collar on larger pieces ...

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=+pruning+stubs&t=ffcm&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

Thanks guys!

Does a normal brearing branch also have a thorn? I was wondering if thorny branch is a simple indication of water sprout. I have noticed couple dead branches with no thorn, and was wondering if the water sprouts are stealing too much nutrition from these bearing branches and killing them.

thanks!

im not even sure you are using the term water sprout properly ....

your tree is simply sprouting dormant buds along branches ... its usually normal ...

i used to rub all these type of sprouts off when my trees were younger ... as a form of pruning for future form ... of course.. at some point.. the trees got too large.. so that ended that ...

and be clear.. production trees.. are pruned constantly to maximize output .... they really arent grown as pretty backyard trees ...

so get a tree saw.. and hand pruners.. and learn how to prune.. no healthy plants dies from pruning ...

think topiary .. as you wonder about what can be done to trees when pruning ...

also.. most sprouts grow upwards.. because that is where the sun is.. but just because they do.. doesnt make them water sprouts ... dont fixate on the term is what i mean ...

one of the greatest problems with the WWW is too much info ... and it gets peeps worried about stuff that isnt even a problem .... and if orchard peeps want to come along and argue about it.. ill defer ... if they can actually explain why this is bad in your backyard tree ...

all my knowledge is trees.. never grew a citrus in my MI life .. so if there is something special specific about such.. then i will most certainly defer ... but im not buying you actually have a problem here ... other than some usual maintenance pruning ...

ken

Might help to see a pic of your entire tree so we can get a better sense of the health of it. Usually, bearing branches of orange have minor to no thorns. Vigorous vegetative growth can have longer thorns. Where are you located? Do you know the type of orange? Any cold winter damage on this tree - or lots of pruning done lately?

Thanks Dave,
I live in central California and we moved into the house recently and have no knowledge of how this tree was maintained. I do see a lot of thick branches with thorns. Based on couple videos i saw on youtube, these water sprouts could suck all the nutritions causing less nutrition going into fruit bearing branches.

the whole backyard was pretty dried up due to a broken irrigation system. it's highly likely that it's underfed. i've temporarily installed a oscillating sprinkler to revive the lawn and water trees around. will it be sufficient? or should i install the drip irrigation system around the tree? or will the regular sprinkler system be suffice for the tree this size? I am in California where we have almost no rain from April to October.