pruning citrus

I am looking for tips for pruning and ornamental Citrus reticulata. I would like my plant to be more bushy. It's watered and fertilized properly and grows nicely in the greenhouse here but I just want it to be prettier (fussy me).

I'm a professional gardener and am well acquainted with the pruning methods employed on the arborescent plants that are hardy in my zone but really don't feel like I have a handle on how to prune citrus. Two questions I have are:

Does citrus grow from old wood (such as yews and rhododendrons do)?
Would I be well served to "tip back the plant all over to get a bushier appearance?

and, lastly, does anyone have experience growing C. reticulata 'Calamondin Variegata'? Does it come true (if it germinates at all...)?

Thanks,
Karl

http://www.plantfolks.com/preview/sitebuilder/Plantfolks/CitrusAvailability.html they would know the answer to 'Calamondin Variegata'. I doubt it would come true from seed in fact pretty much no citrus will come true from seed.

Is your orange on a dwarf root stock?? I grow my citrus outside in the ground and mine looked a little strange until they got a heavy fruit set which bent the limbs over making the limbs weep, not sure how to explain better. All my citrus trees started off small on dwarf root stock and the branches grew straight out and up. After a couple of years the all got a good fruit set and the weight of the fruit bent the limbs over and in some cases they bent all the way to the ground giving the tree a nice weeping look. The only pruning I do is to cut off the limbs so they don't end up touching the ground.

I'll take a picture tomorrow of a Citrus reticulata that was as tall as me this spring and is now about 4ft tall, it has maybe 50-60 fruits on it right now. I'm not sure how big you want yours to get or exactly what look you're after so a picture may be the best idea.

CoreHHI, thank you very much for all the information. One thing I'm still wondering, though, is whether or not new growth will be initiated if I cut back to old wood. Do you know?

Thanks,

Karl

I'm not sure honestly. Most people don't prune citrus trees.

Yesterday I cut back a very large starfruit tree, because half of it was shading a small orange tree growing roughly 15 feet away from the trunk of the starfruit. In the past year, in an attempt to find sun under the shade of the starfruit, the orange has grown only to one side and two of the limbs are very long (seeking sun) and creep down to the ground. Now that I have allowed light in, I'm looking to straighten her up and fill in on both sides. Should I prune? SO far I merely supported the sagging limbs by placing large y-ended sticks underneath them for the time being. Suggestions?

I would prune back the big limbs and the side that is getting sun should start growing out to fill in the space.

Just an update - ABout a month ago, I took my orange out of cold storage, pruned the root, and then cut off all the foliage in order to have the plant sit better in the pot and to improve its symmetry. I gave it a shot of transplant fertilizer and folded my hands in prayer. It worked! Yippee!

Do you have any pictures of what your tree looks like now, Kenarden?

No I don't. Sorry:(