Have you ever purchased an orange tree, harvested sweet oranges for many years, only to have a crop of sour fruit the next?
All commercially sold citrus trees are
budded. A budded tree is like a grafted tree, except a single bud is used
instead of a graft which is a few inches of stem containing several
buds. When you look at the trunk of a
citrus tree, you should be able to observe a slight to obvious bulge. This is
where the original budding took place; it is called the bud-union. Everything
above that bulge or bud-union grew from that bud and is the variety of tree
you purchased; everything below is of the original rootstock seedling.
Sometimes shoots originating from below the bud-union will grow
up into the tree. These are typically covered with large thorns. If the shoots not
pruned out, they will continue to grow, branch and eventually form a good
part of the tree. Rootstock branches are usually more vigorous and will
eventually blossom and produce fruit. This fruit is different from the variety you originally purchased, and
most often is quite sour. These branches must be cut out so the original
budded variety can repopulate the tree and produce sweet fruit.
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