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RE: Lemon Tree: Close Up [Bonsai]
My medium sized tangerine tree often sends new shoots straight up as well! I don't want its branches reaching any taller because it will compromise the overall lollipop shape of the tree. I usually weigh them down with fishing weights to encourage wider growth instead, or pinch them off. All those new shoots must be because I pinched off a few large leaves! I never realized that that could change the chemical balance within the little tree as a whole.
Thanks for the good insights. Using weights is a good idea. With my willows, I learned to let the stems grow long and thin like they want to, and tie them down. Somehow the branch ends up looking more natural that way with a true arch.
Oxin, I think, is the fancy scientific term for the hormone inside of trees that suppresses bud growth. When the leaf or branch is cut, it gets all scrambled up inside the tree, allowing that part of the tree to receive new growth again. Sometimes pruning a dying tree can help restore life to it, especially if it's overgrown and has too much old wood.