Reason for clementine hard pruning

by David
(Rehovot, Israel)

My Clementine

My Clementine

Hello

A friend of mine who is a gardner for many years told me that the best time to prune a tree fruit is at the beginning of winter. Is that right?
In the picture there is a clementine tree which I just pruned last weekend. What do you think? I never know where to begin the pruning and always having hard time to imagine the outcome... :-)

Thanks
David

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Dec 27, 2016
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starstarstarstarstar 		Thank you so much Eyal
by: David

I guess that no more tips from "Pro" friends ha?!

Thanks you so much for a thorough explanation.
Next year I promise to send a picture of a more vivid tree :-)

David
Dec 25, 2016
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starstarstarstarstar 		Reasons for Clementine pruning!
by: Eyal

Dear david

Thanks for sharing the picture with me, as for your question,

When to prune your Clementine tree? well ill try to keep it simple. there are several types and reasons for pruning. if you know the reason for pruning you would know when to prune.

Generally speaking
the best time to prune Clementine (which belong to citrus family)is in warm (frost free) zones. the best time to prune is from late winter to early spring. but ill explain more thoroughly with your permission so you'll know what to expect from your gardener and from your own expectations.

Reasons for pruning :
1) Trimming which means prune and remove green leaves and and stems that do not fit in the form of the tree. lets say you want to reduce the capacity of you Clementine canopy. that's trimming. keep in mind that if you have plans to Trim, it will be Wiser to Waite after blooming ends other wise you you'll miss the benefit of fruits. When? during the whole year.

2) Dilution, which means pruning and removing dead branches from the inner part of the tree. you'll use that kind of pruning once a year at late fall as part of routine preparations for winter. the main purpose for Dilution pruning would be to allow free fresh air stream flow with inside the tree canopy and increase penetration of some sunlight (all though citrus trunk don't like the sun so much so dilution pruning must be planed a head). When? late fall.

3)Routine pruning, means prune all those shoots that coming out specially those who grow on the main trunk. twigs (dried dead small branches) when? during the whole year!

So as for your question, after you'll decide what would you like to achieve from your tree, then you'll know When to do it!

As for the picture you just sent me, i assume that your gardener new why he have decided to prune that way. i usually prune that way only if i need to replant (to do a relocation for the tree) treelocation :-)))
but that's a whole different story.

Hope i helped you on the following

for anything else I'm here!

Regards

Eyal

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