Pruning Citrus: How to do it

Q. I have a dwarf lemon tree that is about 14 years old.
It produces plenty of fruit and I keep it relatively small. I trim it in the
winter but have never professionally pruned it. Could you recommend to me a
source on how to properly prune this tree?

A. I don’t know of a source to help guide you in pruning
your citrus tree except the one I wrote and posted below this entry.  It was published by the California State Parks; Citrus State Historic Park. I will try to give you
some basic directions but read below for more specifics.  Light pruning can
be done anytime but heavier pruning should be done right after harvest. 

            Light
pruning would include the removal of small branches that are interfering with
growth or causing too much shade inside the canopy. You can judge if there is
too much shade in the canopy by looking at the ground beneath a canopy. There
is enough light passing through the canopy if you can see speckles of light
throughout the shadow of the canopy on the ground. 

            First of
all, remove branches that are crossing or any branches growing back toward the
center of the tree.  Next, remove
branches which are growing straight up or straight down.  Once you have done this, stand back and look
at the shadow of the canopy on the ground. 
Is light passing through the canopy and causing speckles to form
throughout its shadow on the ground?  If
this is now happening, perhaps you should stop pruning until after harvest. 

            Citrus
does not require much pruning but getting rid of problem branches such as those
that are crossing, growing to close together or growing back to rid the center
of the tree would be recommended.