The right time to prune for most is late spring and early summer. However, there are quite a lot of variables to that rule.

For example: pruning when the branch is flowering or showing fruit is generally best avoided. Although, in a climate that remains steady, the plant could constantly be flowering.

A hard prune can be done later on through winter if you need to strongly transform you tree for new growth, but this should be done carefully as not to accidentally damage the plant. It is also important to be aware that pruning during winter tends to encourage the plant to push out lots of new shoots. This can create less fruit later down the line and it can cause the plant to grow out of control if you don’t tend to it again. So if you are pruning during winter, as a general rule, prune again in late spring to keep up with the growth.

If you don’t want a double prune and an increase in shoots, then look at pruning in autumn which will help prevent such a vast growth spurt.

Related: The Best Secateurs

There are many benefits of trimming this type of fruit tree, including, but not limited to:

– Ensuring trees remain the right size for the garden they are grown in
– Ensuring you can easily reach the tree fruits through to the canopy
– Helping you manage the trees with ease
– Allowing light circulation from ground to full tree height
– Opening the canopy
– Ensuring there aren’t too many scaffold branches
– Get rid of crossing branches
– Ensure water shoots do not dominate the plant
– Get better blossom
– Increase fruits of better quality
– Protect the fruits

Pruning lemon trees can be done in several different ways depending on a variety of factors. We recommend you take a look at this video on how to prune the branch, to get a better of idea on what to do.

This article also gives detailed information on how to manage the plants.