Drooping Satsuma Tree

Have you trimmed it in 8 years?

Does it look healthy otherwise? Could be heavy fruit load last year trained the branches downward more than normal, but I have a 2-year old satsuma that I’m not allowing to bear fruit yet that has drooping branches nearly touching the ground. I would just prune the branches touching the ground and any others you feel appropriate to shape it. That’s what I plan to do with mine.

LSU AgCenter recommends pruning older plants in Jan/Feb.

Louisiana Home Citrus Production page 7

Yeah mine is about 4/5 years old and is loaded down with fruit. I’m trimming the branches that touch the ground so I can mow. Costing me some fruit but oh well

I'm going to ask the obvious. Have you been watering the tree? It's been stupid hot here in S.E. La. and in N.O. there has not been much rainfall this summer.

A fruit tree will only make as much fruit as it can bear, that is why you will sometimes see lots of buds flowering and small fruit forming then all of a sudden they start dropping off. I'd surely trim the branches making it hard to mow and like mentioned, trim inside branches to open up the interior of the tree. That makes it less likely to develop fungal and mold issues.

ETA: Better to prune in late February and March before new growth emerges. Prune any dead branches and any branches that are growing toward the interior of the tree. If you cut off the ends of branches now, you are losing fruit, but like mentioned, if getting in the way of mowing I'd trim them. Besides if they load up with fruit they will be touching the ground by time to harvest.