Suckering of Citrus Due to Cold Damage

Q. The low temperatures affected our citrus trees from last year.  Most of my new growth is on the suckers.  Should I remove them?  Or just let the tree be?

A. If you look at the trunk of the tree you should see a bend in the trunk or “dogleg” where the top was budded or grafted on to the rootstock. I doubt if it is on its own roots which would mean you would see no bend or dogleg.

Example of a "dogleg" where a fruit tree (in this case not citrus) was budded previously.

            Anything coming from or below this bend should be removed and kept off. Whenever you see any type of growth at all from these spots it should be removed. If you let this growth develop it will rob growth from the part of the tree you want to keep and eventually dwarf or kill the good part of the tree.

            Next you want to allow the lowest branches to develop from the trunk at a height you want these branches to remain. The distance these lowest branches are now will be the height they will be in ten years from now.

I did not have a pic from the reader and this is not citrus but this will give you an idea of what suckers that are coming from the rootstock might look like. The suckers are dark brown. The trunk is whitish due to painting the trunk two years prior. These suckers need to be removed by digging the soil away from the trunk and removing them as close to the trunk as possible. Replace the soil after the wound from cutting has begun healing, normally at least 48 hours.

            If these are too low then move up the trunk to a place where you want the lowest limbs to develop. Remove any of these unwanted lower limbs completely from the trunk by cutting them as close to the trunk as possible.

            You can do this now if you want or you can wait until next January or February if there is fruit on them. I am not sure which citrus you have but if it is lemon they should probably be harvested in December.

            Try to find limbs to keep which are coming from the trunk going in different directions. Hopefully you will find one limb going north, one south, one east and one west (I think you get what I mean by going in different directions as this will give the tree “balance” and reduce shading of itself).

            On the limbs coming from the trunk, remove shoots going straight up or straight down. This leaves shoots that spread out in a fan (horizontally or laterally) but remove shoots that are growing up or down. This allows for better light penetration inside the tree and helps distribute fruit production throughout the canopy rather than just on the perimeter. I hope this helps.