Despite my profile, I am in Baton Rouge, zone 8a-9b, not in VA.

Picture would really help.

Josh

my cara cara and N33 navel has those types of branches but no thorns tho.

are the leaves the same shape?

The leaves are the same throughout. I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow.

Thank goodness it is! These trees are expensive and we need you experts to tell us what we are doing wrong haha! I live in Indiana and the experts here only know about local trees, like apple and cherry. I have come to appreciate this forum so much and am thankful everyone has helped me to get my trees back on track. There is a lot of misinformation online about what to. do, so it's extremely nice that more experienced growers take the time to help us newbies out. Thanks everyone!