If you haven't been spraying those cherries at least every two weeks with pesticide, each one will have a little white worm inside by the pit. At least that's what happens here in Utah and many other places. I just harvested my first really good crop from my Lapins cherry trees, and they're wonderful! But because I only sprayed once about a month ago (it's been a very busy spring with a new baby in the family and a big vacation a few weeks ago!) about 10% of my cherries have worms. So, we're cutting most of them open before we eat them and discarding the wormy ones. But since nothing beats that great feeling of popping a whole cherry in your mouth and letting the juice squirt all over your tongue, I can't resist just eating some of them without checking! A little worm won't kill me, I suppose! But anyway, I'm not sure you really want a tree that's half Kwanzan and half wild cherry! I'd probably cut off the wild branches and buy a new cherry tree to plant somewhere else nearby. I do have a related question, though: I have four Kwanzans and one is nearly dead. From what I've observed in my garden, the ones getting less water are healthier. They're in an area with a gravel mulch and they only get water from a drip system. The one dying is in an area that is sprinkled with a groundcover around it. Is that your observation -- that these trees are sensitive to watering and like to be a little dry? Also, my dying one has suddenly shot out a bunch of suckers at the base -- so, should I be pretty certain it's on wild cherry rootstock? Would that look attractive as a shrubby, multi-trunked tree if I let these suckers grow and cut out the mostly dead Kwanzan from the middle of the clump?

I recently bought this dwarf Meyer lemon tree and its heavily only growing on one side. It also appears the top of the trunk has a clear diagonal cut. One of the branches that has grown is about double the size of the trunk, should I put a stake in and train it to be the trunk? Is that even possible? Don't know much about these so detail would be greatly appreciated!

I know you are not being mean spirited, indianagardengirl. You are trying to get me to move forward. It took us time to make the decision to apply for our tree permit, and then to go through the process. Had the tree been able to be removed, it would have brought us peace of mind as the possibility of water damage would have been greatly reduced to almost nil. So now, moving on, means making difficult decisions: move (very difficult as I still have children living with me); do an addition to the house that would require removal of the tree (difficult choice and expensive); prune the tree (easy choice; but still have the risk of water damage); remove the tree (pay a fine which could be substantial, but unknown). Part of me finds some comfort in educating and helping others about our tree bylaw.

Well.. I dug it up and replanted it. Before replanting I exposed the flare removing all the medium that the nursery had on there that had all the tiny roots On the surface. I loosened several of the large roots that were below the flare so they were no longer circling the root ball. Then I cut off the small roots that were growing above the flare I still need to prune the root that is crossing the trunk. It was gettingdark and that ine is high wnough that i can do it tomorrow Do I need to seal that with anything? it goes straight down after making that curve. It was dark when I finished so no pics until tomorrow. I thank you all for your responses. Fingers crossed that I did the right thing!