North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

As you may recall, my reliable, hardy Myers lemon suffered some cold  
damage this fall before I brought it indoors for the winter.  (The  
weather wasn't colder that what it's faced before, but it was  
actively growing late into the fall, so it was more susceptible to  
cold damage.)  I am pleased to report that it is recovering nicely.   
The cracks in the bark show a lot of callus filling in, with no sign  
of disease, and the branches that didn't die back have sprouted lots  
of new leaves and grown new twigs.  It even set two lemons.

It's now very clear which parts are alive and which are dead.  So it  
seems high time to trim off the dead parts.  (Probably past time to  
do so, but I haven't gotten around to it.)  In most cases, a branch  
has died back to a crotch.  Usually, I cut back damaged plants to  
below the damage, so live cambium can grow callus over the cut.  But  
that would be hard in many cases, as the dead part gets so close to  
the base of the new (or surviving) branch.  Is it worth the risk and  
trouble to take a sharp blade and trim off all of the dead wood, or  
would simply cutting it off 1/4 inch or so out be good enough?

Thanks,
Ginda
eastern MA, zone 6.