Switching from juvenile to adult

[deRoode]

Hi,

I have some trees (yuzu) that are reaching almost 2 meters. When could I expect them to become mature? Are there any signs that I can look for when they mature?
The main shoot appears exactly like the new growth I would expect from a grafted yuzu.

[kumin]

Branches developing secondary and tertiary sub branches, branches becoming more horizontal are indications of phase change. These fruits developed on a 4 year old tree. There are variables including genetic ones.

[deRoode]

Interesting! I am now growing only the main shoot. Should I cut the heads and let them branch out, or wait for the trees to do it themselves?

[kumin]

Pruning back the top is counter productive. Here's an example of a tree approaching maturity. Perhaps the uppermost side branches will flower, if not, next Spring's side branches developing above the present side branches will have increased chances of doing so.



Three year old Citrumelo trees that have transitioned within the past year. Three years is rather precocious.

[deRoode]

Thank you for sharing. This gives me a good idea of what to expect. How tall would you say a seedling would be on average to reach maturity?

[kumin]

Genetics are an important factor. Limes and kumquats are reported to be precocious. Grapefruit and Sweet Orange take longer,with Mandarins being intermediate. Citrumelos, despite being Grapefruit hybrids can be precocious. By virtue of close planting within a cold frame, my plants responded by quickly growing into tall plants. This seemed to promote early flowering, but only affected some of the seedlings.
A height of 3 meters seems to trigger a percentage of the trees to flower. It's also possible that having the tree tops hit the polyethylene film ceiling, then deflecting to the side accelerated the transition to maturity. The peak of the ceiling is 3.2m in height.

[deRoode]

Thank you for sharing. Yuzu is generally not known for preciousness, so I might take a while longer before I can expect the first flowers. Some of my carrizo is starting to branch out in the top, at around 2.5, these might be closer to flowering.

[lebmung]

Thank you for sharing. Yuzu is generally not known for preciousness, so I might take a while longer before I can expect the first flowers. Some of my carrizo is starting to branch out in the top, at around 2.5, these might be closer to flowering.

The Japanese plant a yuzu when a kid is born, by the time it will turn into an adult the yuzu will flower and be productive. If you are lucky it can be 5 or 10 years.

[Americ]

Did your yuzu flower yet? My seed grown yuzu flowered last spring at six years after sowing. It basically maxed out it's height in three seasons, branched out at the top in the following two (it looked like a ridiculous broom for a time) and finally flowered at the top from those side branches in the last season. From six flowers, two yielded mature fruits. I am excited to see how many flower buds it produces this year.

[manfromyard]

Genetics are an important factor. Limes and kumquats are reported to be precocious. Grapefruit and Sweet Orange take longer,with Mandarins being intermediate. Citrumelos, despite being Grapefruit hybrids can be precocious. By virtue of close planting within a cold frame, my plants responded by quickly growing into tall plants. This seemed to promote early flowering, but only affected some of the seedlings.
A height of 3 meters seems to trigger a percentage of the trees to flower. It's also possible that having the tree tops hit the polyethylene film ceiling, then deflecting to the side accelerated the transition to maturity. The peak of the ceiling is 3.2m in height.

This is similar to the research in Florida to speed up flowering. I think theyve gotten fruit on 2 year old seedlings by pruning side branches, growing the plant as a spindle, then bending the trunk at  a specific height to induce flowering..

[Americ]

Yeah, I thought that too when I read their method. I went about it a little bit different than them. Since I had read so much about the associations between node count and flowering, I figured I should try to get the plant to grow as tall as possible as quickly as possible. At the same time I had read that yuzu can sometimes flower on the lower branches at the beginning. Therefore, I didn't cut the side branches off but instead trained them to the horizontal like is done in intensive apple orchards in order to maintain the apical dominance of the central leader. In my mind that had the extra advantage that the lower branches would contribute with their photosynthesis to the total growth of the tree. The growth was truly impressive in that often a new growth spurt began before the old one had completely hardened off. I also ask myself if the use of horn meal as a nitrogen source also played a role in that it provided a gradual slow release of nutrients. I am always careful with horn meal though after having given the plants ammonia poisoning with it. That wasn't pretty.
The tree ended up bending over on its own and I believe it was due to two factors. For one it had simply gotten so tall it hit the ceiling of my apartment. That caused it to bend over. Then, when I took it outside the new growth was so green that it was able to support it's own weight and ended up bending over because my plant stake wasn't able to reach up to the very top of the plant.

[Millet]

It is the wind against a tree shaking the tree back and forth that generates resistance that provides stem strength to the tree.   

[deRoode]

Did your yuzu flower yet? My seed grown yuzu flowered last spring at six years after sowing. It basically maxed out it's height in three seasons, branched out at the top in the following two (it looked like a ridiculous broom for a time) and finally flowered at the top from those side branches in the last season. From six flowers, two yielded mature fruits. I am excited to see how many flower buds it produces this year.

Unfortunately not yet. I have a couple trees that have multiple stems reaching 2,5 - 3m. The trees have brached out a bit, but not at the top. I am hoping to see some flowers this year.

[kulasa]

According to the node count theory, pruning the tree vertically will put the node count back to where it was pruned. I have a seed grown finger lime that got damaged by the freeze when it was two winters ago when it was about 2 feet tall (no flower). More than half of its growth froze.  This year, the tree is about 3 feet tall. It now has so many flowers and some fruit set both on the middle and bottom branches. If the node count is accurate, does that mean that finger limes fruit at about 3 feet?

Edited to add that it turned 4 years old in January of this year.

[Millet]

I have a Sour Orange citrus grown from seed that first fruited at 6 years old and approximately 6 feet of height.