What to do with uneven citrus tree branches?

[Trannhi405]

So this my citrus tree that I grew from a seed maybe 3 years ago. I didn't want to prune it in the beginning since I didn't know how but the I decided to just do it. I already cut the very bottom branch and then the top since I didn't want it to go grow too tall and now its like this.. All of the branches are on one side of the tree. So little ones are growing on the other side near the top but not at the bottom. What should I do?

 

[Sean Regan]

Hi and welcome.
You'vd a bit of a problem there.

I've had success in the past in training plants that have an uneven distribution of branches.

This is an acer palmatum we bought fifteen years ago. In it's first year I surrounded it with bamboo canes connected in a circle by strong wire and attached more wires to individual branches and the "ring wire" and coaxed the branches into the positions I wanted by moving the wires every few months. There were some branches which couldn't be trained, so I pruned them off.

After a couple of years I was able to remove all the canes and wires.

It's been like this, as it is today, for over a decade.

Same with this one,which got the treatment about ten years before that.

Presently I'm training this acer palmatum Taylor we bought last year.

You've a bigger problem as you need "a suitable case for treatment."

There's no way you can balance those branches. You could hard prune them which might trigger the plant to produce more trainable branches below those. But I doubt it.

But, "it's an ideal shape for the corner of a room."

 

[Chuck]

There is nothing you can do. If the plant wants to grow a limb or two on the bare side it will. Citrus normally isn't pruned at all unless it gets so bushy that sunlight is restricted on the interior of the canopy. And that is as tall as the trunk will get also.

 

[cpp gardener]

Keep the bare side facing the window and eventually new growth will occur on that side. Or, cut all the branches to 3 buds and basically start over.