Help me help my lime tree

Hi folks, last year when we moved into our first house we bought this lime tree at Lowes. We planted it and dont really know what kind it is. All we know is that it made it thru last winter and is at least twice as tall as it was then (it's 6' tall now). It is huge compared to how it was last year... I mulched it recently, I gave it some shrub fertalizer a few times this last year. Now I am attached to it and I want it to thrive. My main question is should I prune down the leaves so it looks more like a tree than a bush? It hasn't produced anything at all so far. I am planning to cover it wuth a light and a sheet for the frosts this winter because I don't want to lose it. I'll take any advice on this tree you all can give me. I want this baby to give me limes this summer!

They bush naturally. You will have a hard time getting that to look like a tree. You usually have to start a little younger. If you do decide to go that route, I would do it over a long period of time. If you take too much off at once, you could possibly do more harm than good. If it were me, I would let it do it's thing and just keep it tidy and pick off the new growth at the base. Make sure not to fertilize until spring as all new growth will probably die even when protected. I usually cut off the feeding around Sept 1st. Nice looking plant.

Ok Jujube, I never knew how they were meant to look. If they bush naturally then I just suppose I will leave it that way. I kind of like the way it is trying to look... I'll just wait till next spring to feed that bad boy...
Thanks so much~

Bark on citrus trees get scorched by the sun rather easily. The damage kills the cambium layer. One advantage of letting it grow bushy is that all those branches provide a natural canopy over the bark. If you do decide to trim, do as Lee suggests and protect the trunk from both the sun and the cold. In the spring, paint the exposed trunk with a mix of 50% white latex paint and 50% water to protect it from sun scorch.

Just a suggestion, but there are many cold hardy citrus that you can buy at Lowes or Home Depot that you dont have to protect from the cold at all after the first year or two. Any of the Satsumas are hardy to 14 degrees as well as the Kumquats. The Calamondins taste similar to limes but they are hardy to 18 degrees. I think most of the limes are only hardy to 27-28. They freeze to the grown but often resprout.

Also, there is a new product called FreezePruf that is a folliar spray that lowers the freezing point of plants for six weeks. I believe that they isolated the anti-freezing component of plants and use that as a foliar spray. It says all natural and safe for fruiting trees. Basically it bumps your plant up 1 zone.

In my experience it will probably be a few years before you get a good crop.

Thanks Jujube, I am now on a new quest to find a Calamondins tree... On a side note, I did not cover the lime tree at all last winter and it made it fine thru the frosty season just fine (I don't know why). I am going to look into freezepruf though because that would sure make things easy on me. I will try it on my bananna tree too which froze to ground but came back great this year.

You all have a great weekend~

Good luck. Remember, they say snow this winter so dont expect it to be as mild as last year.

Juju... This year I bought incandescent spotlights to put under the bananna tree (with a sheet over the whole plant) to keep some heat up in it. You think this is sufficient? I can run one out to the lime tree pretty easy too. Let me know if there is a better way ok...

Thanks~