When to purn a lemon tree?

[Bravo]

i have 9 feet tall lemon tree in my garden and its age is 10 years above. when to prune the tree? because this time it has very little fruit, and its has flowers and fruits every month of the year, so i am very confused about pruning it. please help. some of leaves have burnt and some of the new branches has a white powder and bug disease, due to which leaves turns small and folded.

[UMARKHANMARDAN]

Frankly speaking there is no need to prune a lemon tree as it do not shed leaves.yes one thing you have to cut off the dries diseased branches.normally the branches starts becoming dieing from tips.cut off some green part of the diseased bark also.this is very common on citrus plants.feed your lemon tree with NPK & old cow manure once the fruit is ripped & before new flowers are appeared.but please first ask how much NPK per plant will need.inorganic fertilizers if overdosed can kill your plants.how much NPK a plant needs it depends on its age.please do not trust your mali as they don,t have that know about the amount of iorganic fertilizer application to fruit trees.resulting in death of plants.

[KAMasud]

Its height is nine feet. If the height is bothering you, cut it. Either it is bearing fruits or it is not, first you have to decide which is true. If it is not and if you want to cut it, go ahead. Do remember that if you cut it, it will go back by one year and honestly i dont see why you have a ten foot lemon tree in the first place? Pruning is a ongoing process which is done every year in Feb not waking up one fine morning after years then calling it pruning, its now a tree surgery. What you will cut might be six years old wood, i am afraid you will have to wait until new growth. Umer bhai brain bit rusty, does it fruit on first year growth or second?
Second part as umar bhai has elucidated quite well nutrients (food), with out food no fruits. This tree should have a planting ditch at least four feet in dia, if it does not then it should. If it does then decrease the soil to one inch above first root then apply a wheel barrow of well rotted manure then dig it in with a pickaxe (gaiti). Never mind if one or two or more roots gets damaged, you are cutting through the mat of old fibre roots so that the plant produces new. Apply lime, about 1/4Kg well distributed in the four foot pit. This manure serves multiple functions, nutrition, moisture retention, improvement of soil, etc. NPK, well sir jee little but frequent would not be a bad idea. As NPK is 17/17/17 means 1/1/1 plus it is carried in graphite (pellets are graphite soaked) time release, six to fifteen days i would say 250 gms well mixed into soil of pit before rain wont be amiss. Feeding is also an ongoing process, though a fist full before every rain might just about be a sweet spot.
What ever you do, expect a set back of at least of one year. Two if umer bhai says second year wood.
Regards.

[UMARKHANMARDAN]

Hmm i see the leaves are folded & small.its because of aphids.spray Imida cloprid on the tree & your problem will be solved.we prune fruit trees which shed leaves.they need new wood for production .lemon is the easiest to grow among fruit trees.if you give it little love it will give you big rewards.


one of my lemon tree.

[KAMasud]

I must say thats a well cared for lovely lemon tree.
Aphids and ants have a symbiotic relationship. Where you will find one, you will find the other. Aphids are kept by ants, ants protect aphids and aphids provide sweet nectar in its excretion to the ants. Hence aphids are cows kept by ants, they carry them they transport them. Think of a way to keep the ants of your trees . I use high pressure water jet to knock them down. Every watering i wash away the hard labour of the ants.
Regards.

[KAMasud]

Accha, there are two types of branches, half hang down and half go straight up. What Khan sb has done is that he has been cutting all the down pointing branches and allowing the up going branches only up to a certain height. After the height was reached he changed his strategy. He from then on started to cut the up going branches and only allowed the down going branches to grow. If you look carefully at his tree, his canopy is shaped like a upside down bowl. Its more easy to get at the fruit and maintain the tree,
The other tree's down pointing branches seem to being cut to date, Thats why its going up. No harm cut the tree at required height, lets say eight feet and from next year only allow the down pointing branches to grow and in the end make a umbrella design or a upside down bowl. All cuts should have a slope so no water accumulates over the cut.
Regards.

[Bravo]

Thanks all of you

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

I have three types of lemon trees,The chines, good bearing but.. I dont like these. The so called DASI a good fruit, What I like the most is;




Seedless, good flavor and size of early fruiter.
Problem, fruit is in bunches of two to six at the end of a brnch which bends and hangs. Forms a bush and not a tree.

[UMARKHANMARDAN]

Arif sb this is the popular Lesmon lemon.it comes earlier than the chinese.there is another type which is called Urica lemon.

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

Arif sb this is the popular Lesmon lemon.it comes earlier than the chinese.there is another type which is called Urica lemon.

It is not lisbon lemon (surf through inter net) nor it is Eureka