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I have a citrus tree of the Washington Navel variety, which is around 4 years old (and has been here for 2 of those). Naturally this means it's a scion grafted onto rootstock of which I don't know the variety.

A few weeks ago I got this branch shooting out from the middle of it, to the point where it doubles the height of the tree. The leaves are wider than those of the rest of the tree, and with its growth I worry that it's a sucker.

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That's a close-up of the leaves. It also has some spines but they're not that exaggerated.

Now the thing is, from what I can see, it's coming from above the graft, which is what has gotten me confused. In fact it seems to be coming from the place all the other branches are.

enter image description here

So, is it a sucker? Should I have it cut down? Or is it just a branch which is growing very quickly?

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Haedrian
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2 Answers2

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Usually we reserve the term "sucker" to shoots arising from below the graft, and "water shoots" for those arising above the graft. The difference is that suckers allow inferior root stock vegetation to take over, eventually overwhelming the tree. Water shoots are the proper scion material, but in terms of quality and quantity of fruit produced (which is generally what we are after) the result is not as good as normally arising branches.

Some recommend removing the water shoot entirely, others think that you can prune back hard and force it to take its place among the other branches. It's clear however that it is currently producing enough leaf area to start depriving the better fruiting part of the tree of energy. Time for some corrective action, but wait a few hours for more comments before acting.

Colin Beckingham
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I think your graft has died and what is growing is all Trifoliate ( or other ) root-stock , because of the thorns. Unless you orange tree is supposed to have thorns.

blacksmith37
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