Clean pruning tool blades with a solution of 1 part water to 9 parts bleach. Rinse the blades and allow them to air dry or dry with a clean, lint-free cloth. Cleaning the tool blades prevents the spread of disease to your potted lemon tree.
Check the lemon tree for any broken, damaged or dead limbs. Remove these limbs, making the final cut near their base leaving the ridge or collar. Make your cuts as cleanly as possible, avoiding nicks in the delicate bark around the site. Make your pruning cuts using a three-cut system. Use the pruners to make the first cut 10 inches away from its emergence site. Cut halfway through the branch on its underside. Finish the cut from above about 1 inch farther up the branch, leaving a 10-inch branch section on the tree. Remove this section last with one cut.
Prune off any suckers, watersprouts and downward-growing branches. Suckers grow straight up and emerge from the base of the tree. Watersprouts are long, rapidly growing shoots that emerge in the canopy. Remove them at their base.
Prune any spindly, thin or crowded branches. This helps maintain the shape of the tree while allowing light to access the inner branches.