Pruning the Lemon Tree

The open canopy is the most common way of training a lemon tree, both in commercial production and in the lemon trees you may have at home. It is the form closest to the plant's natural behaviour, so upkeep is low, though it does come with some requirements.

To begin with, it is important to understand that a lemon tree should only be pruned once temperatures start to rise, since it is a crop sensitive to cold. With that in mind, the best time to prune it is from March onwards.

When you look at a lemon tree, you can identify two types of branch:

• Water shoots – these do not bear fruit, but they do have several important functions, namely protecting the plant, allowing the wood to be renewed and increasing the plant's photosynthetic capacity;
• Fruiting branches – branches that carry the crop. They are easy to identify by the presence of fruiting organs such as flowers and fruit.

With that in mind, when you stand in front of your lemon tree, you should aim to:

• Open up the centre of the tree, by removing branches growing inwards;
• Contain the canopy so that it does not go beyond the space allotted to it, whether along the row or across the inter-row, while keeping the canopy well covered;
• Remove branches that have already borne fruit and are now weak and lacking vitality. Although they are still alive, they bring no productive advantage to the plant.

How are you going to prune your lemon trees?

Tell us in the comments!