09-26-2010, 01:20 PM
to csgray: I have choke lilikoi right now. At what school do you teach? Pahoa El is easy for me, as is HAAS.
You can control the size of your citrus (any kind) if you start pruning when they are young, but (caveat)if you overprune you can sap the trees strength and resilience. First step is to prune off any dead wood. Step 2 is prune off any branches growing in toward the center. Think champagne flute shape, open in the center. This is so the sun can reach all the fruit, and you don't want branches rubbing against each other, as that can cause bark damage and create an opening for insects and disease. In most cases that's the most you need to prune. Always prune back to the branch collar (sort of like the shoulder)and not too close to the trunk or too far so that you leave a stump. Even with pruning, your citrus will eventually get to about 20 feet tall and about the same around. In my mature orchard the trees are planted about 30 feet apart and still some years I have to cut back branches that are too long and rub against the neighboring tree. Hope this helps.
You can control the size of your citrus (any kind) if you start pruning when they are young, but (caveat)if you overprune you can sap the trees strength and resilience. First step is to prune off any dead wood. Step 2 is prune off any branches growing in toward the center. Think champagne flute shape, open in the center. This is so the sun can reach all the fruit, and you don't want branches rubbing against each other, as that can cause bark damage and create an opening for insects and disease. In most cases that's the most you need to prune. Always prune back to the branch collar (sort of like the shoulder)and not too close to the trunk or too far so that you leave a stump. Even with pruning, your citrus will eventually get to about 20 feet tall and about the same around. In my mature orchard the trees are planted about 30 feet apart and still some years I have to cut back branches that are too long and rub against the neighboring tree. Hope this helps.