Lemon tree's branches are snapping under weight of fruit

11 years ago

Hey all,

I'm a renter, and am not sure of the type of lemon tree I'm dealing with. The first year, the tree went from 6 ft tall to about 15 ft. It had almost no fruit that first year, just growth. Now it has been giving much more fruit last season and now this new batch has exploded. I have pruned a few lemons, and a handful have fallen off on their own... but the branches are still snapping down. They seem to still be alive, as the leaves are still green and the Fruit continues to grow, but the tree doesn't look very pretty.

I will attach a few pics...

Thanks in advance for any advise.

Comments (4)

johnmerr
11 years ago
Snapping, or sagging? Lemons usually don't break; but in any case I would suggest you harvest at least half that fruit. The remaining lemons will get bigger and juicier and better color in the next 2 months.
grumpyinaz
Original Author
11 years ago
sorry about the sideways pic... looked fine on my phone, and now I can't find an 'edit' button to swap it with a corrected version.

Attaching a close up of a branch
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grumpyinaz
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the quick reply...

Are there any obvious things I'm doing wrong, other then not pruning away enough of the fruit earlier on? Should I not have let it grow so tall and let the branches get so long?
johnmerr
11 years ago
It appears you are growing it in the shade; ergo the limbs are longer and thinner, as the tree looks for sun. Nothing really wrong with that; but you should prune back the tree to encourage more growth and stronger limbs. In that shade condition, the limbs are not able to hold so much fruit; and you should thin them dramatically.