As one approach to growing a large number of lemon trees per acre, a trial was started in 1965 in Ventura County in which trees were trained on trellises. Due to exceptional growth and vigor of the Lisbon strain on C. macrophylla rootstock, three to four prunings were necessary each year. This excessive pruning in the case of treatment (1)—the heaviest pruned—caused a reduction in yield. Treatments (2) and (3), which were moderately pruned and trained, produced almost twice as much fruit as treatments (1) and (4) (the control). The low yields from the control trees were caused primarily from excessive wind. From the results of this trial it was difficult to justify the extra labor and costs of training and pruning necessary to commercially grow lemons on trellises.

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Sam McIntyre and Tony Ventura of Kaiser-Aetna, Kimball Toppers of Ventura, Clyde Leydig of Exeter., and Robert Teague of Seaboard Lemon Association, Oxnard, assisted in this trial.