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Prune Your Lemon Tree This Spring for a Fruit Explosion, Says Gardener
🇦🇷 Argentina /Culture & Society

Prune Your Lemon Tree This Spring for a Fruit Explosion, Says Gardener

From Clarín · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Spanish gardener Jaime Gumiel shares a simple pruning technique for lemon trees to boost fruit production.
  • He advises pruning in winter or early spring to remove unproductive branches and encourage outward growth.
  • The method focuses on removing dry, leafless branches and those growing inward to improve air circulation and resource allocation.

Lemon trees are a common sight in gardens, but achieving a bountiful harvest requires attention, particularly to pruning. Spanish gardener Jaime Gumiel, known for his YouTube channel Huerta Forestal with 3.4 million subscribers, has shared a straightforward technique to keep citrus trees healthy and stimulate flowering.

A lemon tree explodes with fruit when it grows outward, and for that, you have to prune it like this in spring.

— Jaime GumielExplaining the principle behind his pruning technique for lemon trees.

Gumiel suggests that aggressive pruning is unnecessary. Instead, the key lies in identifying and removing specific branches with pruning shears. He recommends taking advantage of the winter months, when citrus trees slow their activity, to prepare them for the growing season. While ideally done before winter, the pruning can also be performed in spring if missed.

The primary goal is to help the lemon tree concentrate its resources on productive parts, thereby encouraging more flowers and fruits. Gumiel advises removing small branches that have lost their leaves, as they no longer photosynthesize and can sap the tree's energy. He also points to the importance of observing the direction of new shoots.

These parts no longer photosynthesize and can end up drying out, so removing them prevents the tree from dedicating energy to maintaining them.

— Jaime GumielDescribing why small, leafless branches should be pruned.

Specifically, Gumiel recommends cutting back small branches that grow inward toward the center of the tree. These can cross other branches, leading to a dense canopy. The ideal growth direction is outward, toward the sides. This approach opens up the tree's interior, improving air circulation among the branches. The gardener emphasizes that only moderate, well-directed pruning is needed, focusing on removing dry or leafless branches and those growing inward to maintain an open plant and boost its fruit production.

The idea is that the branches develop mainly to the sides and outwards. This way, the interior of the lemon tree remains more open and air circulation between the branches is facilitated.

— Jaime GumielExplaining the benefit of encouraging outward growth in lemon trees.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Clarín in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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