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  | blessedmama   Senior Member
 
   
 
 Joined: 09 August 2011
 Points: 949
 |  Post Options  Thanks(0)  Quote  Reply  Topic: Citrus Posted: 04 September 2011 at 2:33pm
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   Second question for the afternoon...my lemon and mandarin trees are just little and both have young branches growing right down the bottom.  Should I be taking those off?  Must read up on pruning them but thought I'd try here first.
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  | Bizzy   Senior Member
 
   
 
 Joined: 01 January 1900
 Location: New Zealand
 Points: 10974
 |  Post Options  Thanks(0)  Quote  Reply  Posted: 04 September 2011 at 4:08pm | 
 
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   i dont know anything about citrus trees but my husband reckons that our mandarins are a bit sour cause they are too close to the lemon tree.  i suppose if you pruned the bottom ones then it might concentrate on the top ones instead.
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  | Nothing   Senior Member
 
   
   
 Joined: 05 June 2009
 Location: Nelson
 Points: 1470
 |  Post Options  Thanks(0)  Quote  Reply  Posted: 04 September 2011 at 6:24pm | 
 
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   Are they growing from the roots/base of the trunk? If so then yes get rid of them. It will be the root stock of the plant growing, it will do nothing but produce lots of leaves and thorns. Most citrus trees sold these days are ones that have been grafted onto root stock.
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  | blessedmama   Senior Member
 
   
 
 Joined: 09 August 2011
 Points: 949
 |  Post Options  Thanks(0)  Quote  Reply  Posted: 04 September 2011 at 6:55pm | 
 
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   Wriggles how do you know so much?  Are you just a really experienced gardener??  I'm impressed!
 They are growing from the base of the trunk so I'll get rid of them.  Though I was looking properly at the lemon today and it now has several 'main' trunks so not certain what to do there. I'll have another look tomorrow and see if any are actually really at the base or whether further up - I think they are all starting to produce wee lemons though.  It'll be the first year of more than one lemon so I'm a wee bit excited!
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  | KH25   Senior Member
 
   
   
 Joined: 01 January 1900
 Location: Cambridge
 Points: 1972
 |  Post Options  Thanks(0)  Quote  Reply  Posted: 04 September 2011 at 7:02pm | 
 
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   I'm not sure about lemons but did a bit of research into manderins as our 2yo tree sprouted a thorny branch a little while ago so I wanted to find out what to do with it.  If you look about 1/4 of the way up the main trunk there will a sort of ring around the trunk and if anything grows below there then you need to cut it off (as our thorny branch was!)    | 
 
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     Kelly, mum to DD, 19Jun06 (26wks 1lb15oz) DS1, 24Oct10 (32wks 4lb11oz) and DS2, 31Dec11 (32wks, 4lb11)
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  | KH25   Senior Member
 
   
   
 Joined: 01 January 1900
 Location: Cambridge
 Points: 1972
 |  Post Options  Thanks(0)  Quote  Reply  Posted: 04 September 2011 at 7:04pm | 
 
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   Bizzy, I have heard that planting lemons and manderins too close together can make the manderins grow pips, nothing about being sour though?
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     Kelly, mum to DD, 19Jun06 (26wks 1lb15oz) DS1, 24Oct10 (32wks 4lb11oz) and DS2, 31Dec11 (32wks, 4lb11)
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  | Nothing   Senior Member
 
   
   
 Joined: 05 June 2009
 Location: Nelson
 Points: 1470
 |  Post Options  Thanks(0)  Quote  Reply  Posted: 04 September 2011 at 8:14pm | 
 
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   Lol I have read alot of gardening books, and I have a poor lemon tree that has been through alot and its still surviving. As KH25 says above, make sure its the ones below the graft otherwise you will cut of the good plant. The root stock sometimes fruits but they are often poor quality, seedy and just not good. Good luck    | 
 
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