Like almost all citrus plants, the orange tree is an evergreen plant. That's why every tree cut is associated with loss of leaves. However, this loss is compensated so quickly by the next shoot that you don't have to be afraid to use scissors. You also don't need to worry if individual fruits fall victim to cutting measures. The remaining ones will only get bigger.
When should you prune an orange tree?
An orange tree should be pruned at the end of the growing season to remove branches that do not fit the desired shape, branches that grow inwards, dead wood and stunted shoots, as well as to shorten new shoots and older shoots.
Train an orange tree to a standard tree?
If you have received a small, bushy young plant and want to grow a stem, half or standard stem from it, please keep in mind that standard stems can become too large for conventional winter gardens after a few years. Oranges are very fast-growing, so a height of three to four meters is not uncommon for a standard tree. If trained as a bush, such a tree would only be 40 centimeters high plus 10 centimeters of trunk plus two meters of crown, so a total of around 2.5 meters.
Cutting an orange tree into shape
Topiary pruning is best done at the end of the growing season. Proceed as follows:
- remove all branches that do not fit the desired shape
- Removing inward-growing branches
- Isolation of shoots that grow too densely
- Short new shoots with a length of more than 40 centimeters by half
- the same with older shoots that protrude far from the crown
- cut out all dead wood
- remove stunted shoots at the bottom of the trunk
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for a more compact crown design, trim the outermost young shoots evenlyto half their length
When making a topiary cut (€39.00 on Amazon), the branch is always cut to a string, which means that the branch to be removed is cut right up to the trunk from which it arises or up to a strong branch (side branch). cut away. Under no circumstances should stumps be left standing. These would only dry out or, if the humidity was high, would provide a target for the Botrytis fungus.
Performing a rejuvenation cut
A rejuvenation cut should take place in spring if possible. In contrast to topiary pruning, almost all of the foliage is removed here, as the foliage of trees that need to be rejuvenated is often only found in the periphery and the plants therefore look quite sparse. Here's how to do a rejuvenation cut:
- The entire crown must be cut back severely.
- Cut back to stumps five to 15 centimeters long.
- Do not take buds, fruits or leaves into account.
- After a strong rejuvenation cut, there should hardly be a leaf left on the tree.
- However, new growth occurs within two to three weeks.
Afterwards, you should cut back all new shoots that sprout after the rejuvenation cut to a length of 30 to a maximum of 40 centimeters as quickly as possible. This will encourage better branching.
Tips & Tricks
If the topiary is carried out regularly in autumn, you will save yourself the rejuvenation cut completely. Regulating cuts in summer when shoots are growing too strongly from the crown sometimes even save a topiary in autumn.