What citrus trees have thorns?

Today, most varieties are either thornless or have thin, blunt, flexible thorns found only at the base of the leaves. Oranges that are bitter and not commonly consumed, however, may have large thorns. The hardy or trifoliate orange tree, for example, features sharp, 2-inch long thorns and sour fruit.

A:Lemons have varying amounts of thorns, depending on the variety. However, if you have a grafted lemon, the thorny branches may be suckers that have grown from the rootstock below the graft. If allowed to grow, these can cut production, as they drain the energy from more desirable branches.

Most true lemons have sharp thorns lining the twigs, although some hybrids are almost thornless, such as ‘Eureka.’ The second most popular citrus fruit, the lime, also has thorns. Thornless cultivars are available, but supposedly lack flavor, are less productive and are thus less desirable.

Mexican lime, also known as key lime, is a thorny shrub-like, tree with fragrant flowers and small, greenish-yellow fruit that reaches maturity in the fall and winter. Thornless varieties are available, but they typically produce less fruit. Selections of grapefruit and orange trees also produce foliage with thorns.

Suckers are shoots that grow from the lower trunk or around the base of trees. Navel orange trees grafted onto trifoliate orange rootstock may have thorny suckers that grow below the graft, or bud union. You should remove these because they sap energy from the navel tree.

Wild pears, like wild apples, have thorns. The pear is one of the few fruit trees which, when planted and allowed to grow without any human intervention, survives quite handily on its own.

Many different types of citrus trees have thorns, including the Meyer lemon. Thankfully, the thorns on a Meyer lemon are small and soft. Young citrus trees grow thorns in order to protect themselves from predators. Sometimes a mature tree will have less thorns than it did when it was younger.

Most people incorporate this plant in their landscape for its interesting appearance and citrus fragrance, not necessarily for the edible oranges themselves. While you can eat the oranges, few do because they’re quite tart, and the inside is full of seeds.

Lemon trees need protection from frost. Growing them near the house should help with this. Lemon trees also require full sunlight for adequate growth. While lemon trees can tolerate a range of soils, including poor soil, most prefer well-drained, slightly acidic soil.

A: ‘Bradford’ pear is a selection of a wild Asian pear, Pyrus calleryana, that has thorns. ‘Bradford’ usually has berries – some trees more than others. My bet is that your pear is a seedling that came up from a ‘Bradford’ fruit planted by a squirrel years ago.

If the plant does bloom but still fails to fruit, this might be because the tree is not old enough. Lemon tree fruiting occurs at three to five years old, depending upon the rootstock.

Grafting or Budding Citrus Trees. ‘Budding’ refers to the particular form of grafting best suited for the propagation of citrus trees. In a bud graft, a bud, along with some bark (budwood), is removed from the variety of tree (scion) the grower is trying to propagate.

Meyer Lemon Trees can bloom all year, but have two main blooming times. In the fall and early spring. If they bloom while it’s too cold for them to be outside simply keep your tree indoors. However, they won’t have the wind and bees to carry their pollen from bloom to bloom for them.

A Meyer lemon tree grown on its natural roots can reach between 10 and 15 feet tall, while true lemon trees can grow as tall as 20 feet. A shorter tree does not mean fewer or smaller fruits. Meyer lemon fruits have a diameter of approximately 3 inches, close in size to the fruit of true lemon trees.

Never prune more than one-third of the tree in a year. Begin pruning the lemon in its first or second year to train it to grow how you want it. Trees should be kept around 8-10 feet in height to make it easier to harvest and care for. Don’t be hasty and prune out healthy branches.

A useful feature of the Bradford pear was that it seemed to be NOT invasive – it was basically sterile. Bradford pear trees produce lots of pretty flowers, but usually no fruit or seeds. Many of these unwanted Callery pear trees grow extremely rapidly and have very tightly arranged branches studded with long thorns.

Considerations. Pyrus calleryana seeds are considered mildly poisonous to humans. When ground between the teeth and ingested in large quantities, glycosides in the seeds mix with stomach acid to form cyanide.

Cherry Tree With Thorns. Unlike many of their plum tree cousins, cherry trees do not usually have thorns. One cherry species, however, does have small thorns. The Black Cherry, or Prunus serotina, features thorns along its branches, according to the University of Florida IFAS Extension.