Removing Fruit from Citrus Can Benefit

Q. I have a 5-year-old orange tree and this year it has produced quite a bit of fruit. Many hang at the very end of branches and some are in clusters. I've read somewhere to prune these fruits However, I am not sure when to do that.  Do I prune them now?

A. Removing the fruit so that other fruit can become larger is a type of pruning called “thinning”. It is also done if the amount of fruit could break limbs or cause other fruit to be pushed off the tree.

            Thinning or removal of fruit from the limbs of fruit trees with a focus on increasing the size of the remaining fruit is done when the fruit is still very small. Usually about the size of your thumbnail. If the fruit becomes large before it is thinned not much benefit will be passed on to the remaining fruit.

            Some fruit trees are not thinned because removing fruit doesn’t seem to make much difference and increasing the size of the remaining fruit. This is the case with most nut trees, figs, pomegranates and citrus.

            Most citrus is not thinned so the remaining fruit becomes large. However, if the weight of this fruit threatens breakage of the limbs, then, of course fruit is removed to eliminate that possibility. It is best to remove the fruit early but if that is not done, remove the fruit as soon as you see the threat of limb breakage.Otherwise, support the limbs so they don't break and do some light pruning after harvest.