So my brother in-law trimmed his citrus trees a few years ago...

[odin.9]

so my brother in-law trimmed the lower portion of his citrus trees a few years ago. He has a young boy and didn't want low-hanging branches with spines... He asked me why they weren't producing oranges anymore. I took a closer look for the first time.

 

They are now like 15 ft tall (2 trees). How do I break it to him?  Should I propose cutting the tops off and re-grafting higher up? Maybe chest height (?)



you can see the trimmed trunk in the middle... I think that was an important trunk.    He did this to both trees. My guess is the rootstock suckers was already taller than the orange tree when he went to trim it.





the foliage of the remaining trunks.

[Laaz]

Yes, the second photo is trifoliata (Rootstock).

[odin.9]

Yes, the second photo is trifoliata (Rootstock).

yes, the punchline is that my brother-in-law cut the orange tree down... allowing the rootstock to completely take over.

[brian]

I had this happen recently when I picked a cara-cara orange that turned out to be a pomelo (cuban shaddock - the rootstock).  I hadn't noticed the scion died earlier.  Whoops.

Oh well, time to plant a new tree with one of the fantastic new varieties.  I am really liking Shasta Gold

[EricSC]

brian,

How Shasta Gold is compared with gold nugget?

[Seanny]

Odin,

You could graft low while air-layer some high branches for rootstocks.
If you graft a bud low it’s hard to force bud to push.
If you graft a branch the tip of the branch is far away from the trunk so no issue with pushing new buds.
Just make sure the graft is not shaded.

[brian]

brian,

How Shasta Gold is compared with gold nugget?

I've only had one crop of Shasta Gold so far, on a small container tree, and it was immediately my favorite mandarin.  That's all I can say so far, I just planted it in the ground in my greenhouse last week so it should grow quickly.

The Gold Nuggets I have eaten were almost all from grocery stores, and I have gotten had a bag I liked much.  Often they were puffy and over-ripe.  The ones that weren't overripe still tasted like pure sugar to me without the tartness I like.  It is possible they are much better fresh from the tree, I can't say.  I do have a Gold Nugget tree but it was always struggling and hasn't really produced much fruit.  It finally seems to be recovering so I should be able to make an honest comparison soon. 

[sc4001992]

I have both trees, Shasta Gold in pot which fruited last year, and a large older Gold Nugget tree which is a consistent fruit producer. The taste of Shasta Gold was just ok, I was hoping it would be better than the Gold Nugget. So far the Gold Nugget was much better tasting to me. Sumo is also very good tasting and the fruit is much larger than either. I'm looking forward to tasting the fruits on my Xie Shan grafted branches in spring.

[EricSC]

brian and sc4001992,

I have a productive GN so can tell what I have.

GN fruits can stay on tree as long as you like, sure they get sweeter when kept on tree longer.  I picked the last one in middle June with no puffiness.   They always juicy and fresh. 

Yes, they can taste like "sugar water" with no tartness, or sourness, etc.   When compared, GN can be sweeter than if the fruits stay on tree long enough, but less flavorful than satsuma or clementine (But the preference to what flavors can be individually different. ). Yes, I would agree that if a "rich" taste is preferred, GN is not.  When compared, I would think Sumo would be better.  I heard Pixie is also very good.

I have tasted supermarket Irro and agree it should at least the same as or better than Sumo.
 

For the skin, if the fruits get very big, they usually gets the very bumpy rough skin.