Lemon recovery – result

15

Sunday 26 April, 2015 by Uncle Spike

In the ongoing saga of the lemon trees versus the unexpected and rare cold snap this past winter, we have seen mixed results. The largest of the lemon trees is well into recovery, with new leaves replacing those that fell almost overnight after the coldest night

A few others look ok, with one still decidedly dodgy, with possibly three out of four limbs quite possibly dead – we’ll see in time what happens there. But our smallest tree, which normally yields some 20kg (44 lbs) of juice lemons, is thankfully now in full recovery. There are even flowers on the lower branches, where they were more sheltered I guess.

The affected branches mostly died back. I have waited until now, as when cutting back lemon branches, there is no point until it is crystal clear what is dead rather than dormant, as cutting into an even partially green branch can send the tree into shock, causing even further drying of the branch and even its neighbours who act out as if in sympathy. The general rule of thumb is to cut brown stuff only; so that’s what I do. Other citrus trees are in no way as fussy… the beauty and variety of mother nature.

.

This was the picture a month ago

.

And this week – you can more clearly see the damaged ‘canopy branches’

.

.

So I set too with my trusty secateurs, slowly removing the offending deadwood, cutting just beyond the green, taking take to avoid the one inch thorns that a young lemon tree is armed with!

.

.

Twenty minutes later, and we have a much healthier looking young tree. The bark, on this tree as least, does not seem to be damaged, so I have no worries about its future. To be honest, it’s a better shape now!

.

.