Only one branch produces limes

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Hi fellow gardeners,

I was wandering if there is anyone out there who has ever encountered the problem I am having and may have the solution to fix it.
I have a lime tree growing in my garden, it is very healthy with plenty of folliage and thick branches. The whole tree flowers now and then but only one banch ever produces fruit. The branch that produces fruit is a very thin branch growing from the trunk at the bottom of the tree. This branch is also damaged so only a quarter of the tickness of the branch in one area is acually holding the branch together. There is 10 limes growing on this tiny branch. The tree has plenty of thick healthy branches and I cannot understand why the limes wont grow on these branches. I was thinking of maybe cutting the thin branch with the limes off close to the trunk which may trigger the hormones to travel to the other branches.but I have no evidence that this will work. If it doesnt work then I would lose my only branch that bears fruit.

I look fwd to hearing your thoughts and solutions you may have. If you require some pics please let me know.

Thank You
 
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Don't take this as the gospel but from what you described it sounds like this might be a grafted tree from a non-bearing root stock. The big healthy limbs are growing from the root stock and the little bearing limb is/was the graft and it didn't take very well. If this be the case you may as well remove the tree and plant something else. Or you could cut ALL of the other branches/ limbs off forcing the remaining bearing limb to grow.
 
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Don't take this as the gospel but from what you described it sounds like this might be a grafted tree from a non-bearing root stock. The big healthy limbs are growing from the root stock and the little bearing limb is/was the graft and it didn't take very well. If this be the case you may as well remove the tree and plant something else. Or you could cut ALL of the other branches/ limbs off forcing the remaining bearing limb to grow.

Thanks for the reply, what you say makes sense. I bought the plant from a nursery about 5 years ago. If I take a photo of where the branch is growing from the trunk will you be able to confirm if it was grafted ?
 
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Thanks for the reply, what you say makes sense. I bought the plant from a nursery about 5 years ago. If I take a photo of where the branch is growing from the trunk will you be able to confirm if it was grafted ?
Probably if you take a close up pic from 2 or more angles. Also does the bearing limb have the same thorns as the rest of the tree?
 
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Probably if you take a close up pic from 2 or more angles. Also does the bearing limb have the same thorns as the rest of the tree?

I never checked what type of thorns it has. Its night time here now, so tomorrow morning I will check the thorns and take some pics and post them for you to take a look. You can then advise me on the best course of action to take.
Thank you for taking the time to help me out , its appreciatted.
 
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Probably if you take a close up pic from 2 or more angles. Also does the bearing limb have the same thorns as the rest of the tree?

Good Morning,

Ok I checked the thorns on all the branches and they are pretty much the same as the bearing limb. The pics I have posted show the whole tree, the small branch with limes on, where the branch is damaged (only a small part of the branch is keeping it together) and some pics showing you where the branch joins the trunk. Hopefully you can see if its been grafted or not. I was thinking maybe I could cut of the bearing limb just above where it is damaged and graft it to another part of the tree, you think that may be a plan ?
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Good Morning,

Ok I checked the thorns on all the branches and they are pretty much the same as the bearing limb. The pics I have posted show the whole tree, the small branch with limes on, where the branch is damaged (only a small part of the branch is keeping it together) and some pics showing you where the branch joins the trunk. Hopefully you can see if its been grafted or not. I was thinking maybe I could cut of the bearing limb just above where it is damaged and graft it to another part of the tree, you think that may be a plan ?View attachment 11082 View attachment 11083 View attachment 11084 View attachment 11085 View attachment 11086 View attachment 11087 View attachment 11088 View attachment 11089 View attachment 11090
I am pretty sure that is a bad graft. As for re-grafting you don't have anything to lose. That bearing limb is damaged and may get broken even worse and a lime tree that doesn't have limes is pretty useless anyway
 
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I am pretty sure that is a bad graft. As for re-grafting you don't have anything to lose. That bearing limb is damaged and may get broken even worse and a lime tree that doesn't have limes is pretty useless anyway

Thanks , I guess I will try re-grafting it, I have never done grafting before but did some reading up on it last night. You think I should wait until spring before grafting it and do you think I should prune back the tree and if so how much should I prune back. I am also curious to know how the nursery would know that the rootstock would not produce limes and therefore needed to be grafted.
 
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Thanks , I guess I will try re-grafting it, I have never done grafting before but did some reading up on it last night. You think I should wait until spring before grafting it and do you think I should prune back the tree and if so how much should I prune back. I am also curious to know how the nursery would know that the rootstock would not produce limes and therefore needed to be grafted.
If it were me I would wait until mid spring. I would cut off all the other limbs and graft your good wood lower than the good limb and on the opposite side below that of the original graft. Most citrus rootstock are either Sour Orange or Rough Lemon. Sometimes these two rootstocks will not produce fruit until fully mature and even then the fruit is not good. They are grown because of their low susceptibility to pathogens that affect seed grown varieties which have desirable fruit. These two rootstocks are used to propagate all types of citrus.
 
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If it were me I would wait until mid spring. I would cut off all the other limbs and graft your good wood lower than the good limb and on the opposite side below that of the original graft. Most citrus rootstock are either Sour Orange or Rough Lemon. Sometimes these two rootstocks will not produce fruit until fully mature and even then the fruit is not good. They are grown because of their low susceptibility to pathogens that affect seed grown varieties which have desirable fruit. These two rootstocks are used to propagate all types of citrus.

Ok , will have to wait until november , will bandage up the wounded limb to make sure it does not break off. Thanks for all your help.
 
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Don't take this as the gospel but from what you described it sounds like this might be a grafted tree from a non-bearing root stock. The big healthy limbs are growing from the root stock and the little bearing limb is/was the graft and it didn't take very well. If this be the case you may as well remove the tree and plant something else. Or you could cut ALL of the other branches/ limbs off forcing the remaining bearing limb to grow.

That's also my suspicion that it was actually budded that's why it was bearing flowers (and eventually fruits). The branches that have no flowers are the natural branches of the mother tree which, I believe, are still young. No, don't cut those branches because sooner or later they will give you flowers and fruits. Just wait a year or 2. By the way, we are growing citrus from seeds because budded citrus are quick to bear fruits but they have complications like what you are experiencing now.
 
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Hi fellow gardeners,

I was wandering if there is anyone out there who has ever encountered the problem I am having and may have the solution to fix it.
I have a lime tree growing in my garden, it is very healthy with plenty of folliage and thick branches. The whole tree flowers now and then but only one banch ever produces fruit. The branch that produces fruit is a very thin branch growing from the trunk at the bottom of the tree. This branch is also damaged so only a quarter of the tickness of the branch in one area is acually holding the branch together. There is 10 limes growing on this tiny branch. The tree has plenty of thick healthy branches and I cannot understand why the limes wont grow on these branches. I was thinking of maybe cutting the thin branch with the limes off close to the trunk which may trigger the hormones to travel to the other branches.but I have no evidence that this will work. If it doesnt work then I would lose my only branch that bears fruit.

I look fwd to hearing your thoughts and solutions you may have. If you require some pics please let me know.

Thank You


Yes.. I have the exact same issue with my line tree. I read the thread and my tree has very different thorns on the producing branch then the rest of the tree. Thorns on the producing branch are only 1/4 inch long. Thorns on the rest of the tree are about an inch and a quarter..... Hugh compared to the good branch. I'm thinking of removing most of the non producing branches.
What do ya think?
 
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Yes.. I have the exact same issue with my line tree. I read the thread and my tree has very different thorns on the producing branch then the rest of the tree. Thorns on the producing branch are only 1/4 inch long. Thorns on the rest of the tree are about an inch and a quarter..... Hugh compared to the good branch. I'm thinking of removing most of the non producing branches.
What do ya think?
All the root stock limbs are doing is taking energy away from the graft and if they don't produce what good are they? Off with their heads I say.
 
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All the root stock limbs are doing is taking energy away from the graft and if they don't produce what good are they? Off with their heads I say.
Thanks, Chuck.
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Happy I found this forum. It explains..... I think why I never had fruit or blossoms on my grapefruit tree. In my ignorance of trees from grafting I. Believe I looked at the grapefruit tree and pruned off the smaller graft branch so that I mistakenly thought the thicker part of the tree would grow better. But what I did was cut off the graft and let the root stock grow. Had a nice lush green tree but never blossoms even after 8 years. There are some green shoots coming in around what I think must be the graft scar. Don't know if these are part of the graft or from root stock. Well see what happens.
 
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View attachment 11419
Thanks, Chuck. View attachment 11419 Happy I found this forum. It explains..... I think why I never had fruit or blossoms on my grapefruit tree. In my ignorance of trees from grafting I. Believe I looked at the grapefruit tree and pruned off the smaller graft branch so that I mistakenly thought the thicker part of the tree would grow better. But what I did was cut off the graft and let the root stock grow. Had a nice lush green tree but never blossoms even after 8 years. There are some green shoots coming in around what I think must be the graft scar. Don't know if these are part of the graft or from root stock. Well see what happens.
If you haven't had blossoms in 8 years you never will and if per chance you do the fruit will be inedible. You may as well dig it up
 

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