How to Prune Citrus Trees Like a Pro: 9 Essential Tips for Healthier Trees

Knowing when and how to prune citrus trees (lemons, limes, grapefruits, mandarins, oranges, and Meyer lemons) will help your plant grow strong, healthy, and produce high-quality fruit. Most citrus trees require minimal pruning, but they do benefit from annual pruning. Keep your citrus trees looking their best with this step-by-step pruning guide.

1. Prune immediately after harvest

The best time to prune a citrus tree is right after you harvest the fruit. This typically occurs in early spring or early fall, depending on the specific citrus variety and your growing zone. In most parts of the country, February through April is the best time to prune a citrus tree.

Citrus trees flower and fruit on new growth, so pruning immediately after harvest gives the tree time to develop new growth. This new growth will protect the newly exposed wood from the summer sun.

2. Use the right tools

Use hand pruning to remove small shoots and branches, and use a pruning saw or secateurs for larger branches. Make sure the blades of your tools are sharp so your cuts are clean. To help prevent the spread of plant diseases, disinfect your pruning tools by dipping them in a 10% bleach solution before you start pruning and between separate trees.

3. Cut branches to the collar

When removing a branch from a lemon plant, cut it at the swollen spot where the branch meets the trunk. This part of the plant’s tissue is called the branch collar, and it heals quickly after it is cut. Making the cut just outside the branch collar also prevents weak shoots from regrowing. If you make the common mistake of cutting a branch too high above the branch collar, the cut will heal more slowly and the tree will be more susceptible to disease or pest attack.

4. Remove dead and damaged branches

Remove large or small dead, damaged, broken, or diseased branches as soon as you see them. The exception is if your citrus tree has been damaged by a freeze. In this case, do not cut off the affected branches immediately. Sometimes, new growth emerges from wood damaged by frost in late spring. If there is no new growth by May, consider these frozen branches a lost cause and remove them.

5. Make three-part cuts on large branches

When cutting branches larger than 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter, use three sections to ensure that you do not damage the tree. This careful process removes the branch in three small cuts instead of one large cut, which reduces the chance of cracking the bark of the trunk.

Make the first cut 6 to 12 inches from the branch collar. Starting at the bottom of the branch, cut back to 1/3 of the branch. This is called a cut.

Make the second cut 3 inches from the bottom. This time, cut from the top down until the branch falls off. If the bark starts to crack, it will stop at the bottom.

For the third and final cut, remove the remaining portion of the branch near the branch collar.

6. Remove suckers

Suckers, also called water sprouts, grow from larger branches or trunks. They are bright green with no bark. They are thorny and unproductive, making it difficult to reach the fruit inside the tree. Cut them off as soon as they appear to avoid wasting precious energy growing your citrus tree.

Another place where suckers can appear is below the bud union on the tree, where the lemon variety was grafted onto the rootstock. Root sprouts are thorny and produce poor fruit. Cut them off as soon as they appear.

7. Cut off crossed branches

Remove branches that are touching each other or the trunk. When the wind blows, crossed branches can rub against each other, causing wounds that become entry points for disease and insect infestations.

8. Remove some of the lower branches

Left in their natural state, citrus trees turn into overgrown shrubs. For the best harvest, they should look a little ragged. Branches with more leaves mean more fruit. However, it is important to remove some of the lower branches so that the fruit-laden branches do not fall to the ground.

That’s not the only reason you should prune some of the lower branches of your citrus tree. This type of pruning improves airflow around and under the tree, which is essential for preventing fungal diseases and insect infestations. It also helps with water distribution and makes it easier to reach the base of the tree for weeding, fertilizing, and harvesting.

9. Prune lightly but regularly

It is better to do a light pruning every year than to let your citrus tree grow too much and then do a heavy pruning. Regular pruning will help your tree produce a yearly crop, while heavy pruning can prevent the tree from bearing fruit for one to two years.

Annual light pruning involves removing the two or three tallest, straight branches on the tree each year. This improves airflow and allows more sunlight into the tree’s canopy, keeping the tree compact and productive.

Tips:

Never prune more than 15 to 20 percent of a lemon tree's canopy in one year. The only exception is to remove dead wood due to freeze damage.