Citrus tree prunning

Hey guys, a question here: Im in central Europe atm visiting my sister who is asking me to prune he lemon tree. I have a) 0 knowledge re citrus trees b) feeling that as any other tree in 4 seasons country shouldn’t be pruned during spring time.
Her tree is having regularly lemons is indoors during the winter and outdoors from spring to early fall.
Any help here to convince her this is not good time or should I??
Thank you :slight_smile:

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I love in Arizona, in an area with mold Winters and really hot summer. Typically, I prune the lemon tree in my yard after I pick the lemons, in the late fall early winter. You can do some light pruning in the spring, to cull the amount of lemons on a branch, but my tree typically doesn’t need this.

Since she has it in a pot and moves it around, is it a bonsai? If so, follow normal bonsai guidelines.

If she’s keeping for the fruit, I would prune before it flowers, to keep it from wasting too much energy, or wait until it’s done flowering, so you can cull the fruit you don’t want. I wouldn’t prune while it’s flowering, but some people in my area do. I love the smell of the blooms, so I enjoy them.

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My family has a small citrus farm, and we prune late winter/early spring before new growth starts.

Most citrus fruits in late fall/early winter so the normal pruning schedule doesn’t 100% apply.

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Straight from my dad. This is in reference to the Northern California foothills, where it will freeze or be 50ish in January/February. “Now” for them means spring is starting for real now. Sunny and solidly in the 50/60 during the day. No more overnight freezes.

You can do it anytime of year but commercial growers do it around now. Before bloom. I do a lot of the citrus as I’m picking because then I’m very aware of where things are too tall or inaccessible. Most people in our area wouldn’t do that because it stimulates new growth as soon as it gets warm. If we have a warm January or February they can start to grow then the new tender growth gets killed if there is a freeze in March.
Those things aren’t too big a deal where you can move trees back inside

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Thank you so much for you response @el_cheezer and @nmhansen
All you mentioned here give me enough reference to know what to do but mainly ask my sister ‘what is it she is trying to accomplish by this prunning’ and act accordingly.
Thank you both again :hugs:

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