Paul Prado for the Highland Community News
Nov 15, 2018 Updated Nov 15, 2018
https://www.highlandnews.net/community/girdling-citrus-trees-helped-push-nutrient-to-the-fruit/article_71ab088e-e90f-11e8-82da-b33d688f35a6.html
This article will enlighten you to the process of the girdling of citrus trees. If you are not familiar with the term, it is a process whereby a citrus tree or fruit-bearing tree is scored. It is done to yield a better or larger crop. The grower would make a small incision around the diameter of the trunk of a tree, thereby making a girdle. Girdling was performed on healthy trees. The result of girdling would send nutrients to the fruit instead of the trunk.
The practice of girdling was done at the MacLean Ranch in Highland. Charles Kiel shared how the process was done in his groves. Pointing to a tree on his property, Kiel said, “This is an example of what they call girdling. You can see the marks (rings) on the trunk of the citrus tree. “This was done by cutting the top layer of the bark. “The theory was, and still is, to keep the strength of the tree at the top and not have the sugar go back down into the roots. “The process was to keep the strength into the fruit to cause larger fruit and better-quality fruit,” said Kiel. The MacLean’s would girdle a tree by taking a knife and cutting around the diameter of the tree. A deep incision into the bark was avoided. Doing so could kill the tree. “It’s not a deep cut at all,” said Kiel. “It goes through the top layer of the bark. It doesn’t go deeper than a millimeter, probably less than that. It goes deep enough to keep the nutrients in the upper part of the tree.” If you ventured into a grove on the MacLean ranch or other citrus groves, you would see trees that have been scored with multiple lines. Kiel says that the procedure was done in different years. Some of the trees had been scored five times, while others had up to eight lines on them. “We did it every year to try and get the nutrients higher into the tree,” said Kiel.
Girdling was thought to be a beneficial practice during a bad year, when the tree had smaller fruit. By girdling the tree, there was hope that the tree would bear larger fruit. Another belief is that the girdling was done in succession, then stopped. “We stopped the practice of girdling, ourselves, because commercially trying to do it is very expensive. The hand labor involved was not cost-effective,” said Kiel. “It’s very difficult to do. We haven’t done girdling in years. “None of our younger trees have it.” Today, there are trees on the MacLean Ranch that show the girdling, or scoring marks, quite clearly. Kiel said that the trees that have the girdling are probably 100 years old or older. Kiel looked at a tree that was dying. The bark was splitting, and the results of the girdling were evident. It showed how shallow the cut was on the tree. “You can see that the scoring wasn’t that deep on this tree that has died. “We have very few trees that have girdling. Girdling is still used in the citrus industry today.”
Do you know anything interesting about Highland or its history? I would like to hear from you. You can contact me at (909) 816-0318.