will my fruit tree bear fruit

Question

Hi I have a citrus tree I think orange but may be lemon. It had 2 stems, one doing better than the other, I cut the other stem off, and the tree took off, however now the tree is only growing branches with thorns on it. did I accidentally remove the fruit bearing stem and now just growning a thorny tree?? Thanks

Answer 1

In this case, it seems that you had a grafted tree. This means that there was a branch of a fruiting age tree fused onto the stalk of a seedling from a different, but faster rooting citrus. This is usually younger, and Not even close to fruiting age, but with the graft on the rootstock from an older tree, it can fruit in the first year or so.

Unfortunately, what it sounds like you have done is clipped the graft top. Sometimes, growth below the graft line will grow faster then the grafted top. These usually don't produce edible fruit, and are too young anyways. These will need to be clipped. They will usually have more thorns than a fruiting age branch.

That being said... If you have accidentally cut the grafted branch, you will be left with an unknown citrus variety that may or may not produce fruit in 4 to 6 years.

This article will give you a little more insight:https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/lemons/suckers-on-lemon-trees.htm