Skirt pruning effects on orange yields

Mechanical harvesting of citrus by tree or limb shaking necessitates catching frames to lessen fruit damage and to facilitate fruit collection and transport. Some low limbs and foliage must be removed to move and position catching frames in the grove and under trees.

The trials reported in the following article were designed to determine the effects of skirt pruning on fruit yield and quality. If shake-harvesting of oranges necessitates the removal of the lower 2 or 3 ft of tree limbs and foliage (to facilitate movement of catching frames) there will be some loss of fruit yield. However, there will be no appreciable loss on mature trees with a large bearing surface.