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Helplessgardener22
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Eureka lemon tree help
Good morning everyone, long time stalker, first time poster. I am worried about my eureka lemon tree, it was planted in 2021 and purchased from a local nursery. I have been trying my best to trim it when necessary by watching YouTube videos along with a few other fruit trees. My concern is it does not look like a typical tree when I google two year old eureka trees. Can someone please let me know if this is normal? Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!
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applestar
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I’m not that knowledgeable about mature citruses for fruiting purposes from experience… but I grow a lot of them from seeds for fun. Because I live where it freezes during the winter, my trees remain in small containers and none of them have achieved fruiting. HOWEVER, I do a lot of research just to help me ID them after a while because I’m bad at labeling them and/or maintaining the labels from fading….
So, my first impression is that there are way more stems growing from the base than normal and you would want. If they are all from the same tree, then nutrients would be too dispersed and you would have trouble getting it to fruit and/or grow fruits to optimum size — you might get bunch of tiny fruits.
BUT it’s more than likely that since it was a purchased plant, it’s grafted and at some point the root stock has sprouted sucker shoots.
I was trying to see if I could spot different characteristics — bark, leaf size and shape (I believe lemon leaves don’t have wings on the leaf stem), thorns, etc. among the stems but I could not get a good enough view.
Do you see any differences?
Note that citruses grow smoothly rounded stems from warm season growths and angled triangular stems from winter season growths. You only want to keep the rounded summer growths for fruiting.
Those would be good places to start.
So, my first impression is that there are way more stems growing from the base than normal and you would want. If they are all from the same tree, then nutrients would be too dispersed and you would have trouble getting it to fruit and/or grow fruits to optimum size — you might get bunch of tiny fruits.
BUT it’s more than likely that since it was a purchased plant, it’s grafted and at some point the root stock has sprouted sucker shoots.
I was trying to see if I could spot different characteristics — bark, leaf size and shape (I believe lemon leaves don’t have wings on the leaf stem), thorns, etc. among the stems but I could not get a good enough view.
Do you see any differences?
Note that citruses grow smoothly rounded stems from warm season growths and angled triangular stems from winter season growths. You only want to keep the rounded summer growths for fruiting.
Those would be good places to start.
As Applestar said there are a lot of stems coming from the base. You said you bought this tree. It was probably grafted, but I cannot see the graft union in the pictures. The tree looks like it may have been planted deeper than it should have been. Most citrus trees are grafted. Grafting citrus guarantees the quality of the fruit and you will get fruit years earlier. However, citrus is usually grafted onto a rootstock. Suckers should not be allowed to grow from below the bud union. I can't tell from one angle, but it looks like there are longer thorns on some stems than on others and the leaves look a little different. So some of your stems may be suckers. You will have to try to find the bud union and cut out the suckers below the graft union.
Citrus trees can get up to 30 ft tall at maturity. Most people do not leg up citrus. It also does not like to be heavily pruned. No tree should be pruned more than 20% at a time. Prune off dead and crossing branches and any branches growing straight up (water sprouts). Most people will pinch young lemon trees to promote lateral branching. The sides of the citrus are usually not pruned because citrus bloom on new wood so pruning the sides will prune off fruit. Because citrus blooms on new wood, you want to maximize lateral growth. Citrus from seed can take about 5-7 years to fruit. Some are sterile and will never fruit and fruit quality can vary from tree to tree which is why people prefer to graft scions from trees of known quality. A healthy grafted tree with good leaf cover can fruit in about 2-3 years. Citrus needs to be fed regularly.
What Applestar said is true. Citrus grow two kinds of stems, a round one and a flat one. I actually did not know it was related to season. But, they should have the same kind of leaves and the thorns should also be the same. Thorn size can tell you a lot about the type of citrus it comes from.
Citrus trees can get up to 30 ft tall at maturity. Most people do not leg up citrus. It also does not like to be heavily pruned. No tree should be pruned more than 20% at a time. Prune off dead and crossing branches and any branches growing straight up (water sprouts). Most people will pinch young lemon trees to promote lateral branching. The sides of the citrus are usually not pruned because citrus bloom on new wood so pruning the sides will prune off fruit. Because citrus blooms on new wood, you want to maximize lateral growth. Citrus from seed can take about 5-7 years to fruit. Some are sterile and will never fruit and fruit quality can vary from tree to tree which is why people prefer to graft scions from trees of known quality. A healthy grafted tree with good leaf cover can fruit in about 2-3 years. Citrus needs to be fed regularly.
What Applestar said is true. Citrus grow two kinds of stems, a round one and a flat one. I actually did not know it was related to season. But, they should have the same kind of leaves and the thorns should also be the same. Thorn size can tell you a lot about the type of citrus it comes from.