I have about 50 Stark & 12 ACN trees in the ground ranging 2 to 5 years, they are all alive, fruiting and growing. Any issues that I have are self-imposed. In addition, I bought 6 hardy figs 2 years ago and complained that they didn't come out of dormancy. They were replaced without question. Problem is, I didn't know figs or the concept of "die-back". I believe I pulled trees prematurely and should have waited before complaining... I completed thinning my orchard today and wish I knew back then what I "think" I know now... I have been reading this forum, watching youtubes, joined clubs, bought Kindle scripts, etc... for 5 years and have read many books. I still have very little expertise that I could pass on... Fruit growing is "hard" and I'm no "dumb bunny".

You'll likely get a better overall result if you follow the advice given and graft the two cultivars directly onto each other instead of trying to perform some sort of exotic graft down below the graft junction or onto a sucker. For your intents and purposes (the way you are asking) yes, you'll get the "same" results. But if you are going to get into the excitement of grafting, why not find a friend or neighbor or somebody who has a 3rd or 4th variety and add those onto your tree? That's when the fun really begins.

Hi Konrad - thank's for the reply. I was thinking about having half of the tree be a mix of Pin Cherry and sweet cherry (Rainer, Lapins, Mont., Lapins) limbs. I wonder if the sweet cherry limbs will bare a lot of full-sized fruit. I have a native edible landscaping situation worked out in my yard - so I'd have the side with the sweet cherry limbs face my cultivated garden so that I don't see them when I'm in the middle of the yard (native persimmons, pawpaws, juneberries, the cane berries, plums, etc.) I want to make the Pin Cherry into a 15' wide colony, in a naturalistic effect. Maybe that's too little space and I'll just grow one and cut it down when it gets wider then 15' and replace it with one of it's clone suckers.

Yeah. Companies that supply fruit trees cant control how they grow once they get to your destination. Fruit trees never do well their first couple of years. And if your tree did not break dormancy that is not the companies fault. Blame mother nature. I would think you are lucky to get a free tree from them for nothing. Most companies would say "hey, lots of peoples trees didnt break dormancy this year, what can I do about it?"