Sour cherry trees can pollinate sweet cherry trees. I'm not sure if they make the best pollinator, but they are certainly capable of doing so. If you take a cherry that resulted from a blossom that was cross-pollinated here and take out the seed, that seed can grow into a hybrid tree, which can eventually produce fruit of its own (I know that in the case of the hybrid cultivar 'Mesabi' it's even self-fertile). However, the seeds inside this fruit are sterile and cannot grow. Like breeding a horse and donkey together to create a mule, there is no third generation. The reason is a chromosomal difference, sweet cherries are diploid (2n=16) while sour cherries are tetraploid (2n=32). A hybrid between the two results in a triploid cherry, which is why it cannot further sexually reproduce. However, flowering cherry species just happen to have the same chromosome count as Prunus Avium (i.e. sweet cherries), so that means they are capable of freely interbreeding. But it should be noted the two are still not in the same species. The question then is what does this really mean? Even when it comes to the different wild varieties of Japanese flowering cherry, oftentimes crossbreeding them together results in a hybrid that grows less vigorously than its parents, or is not very well adapted to its environment. Sometimes this may become more evident several generations down the line (you might read up more on how Outbreeding Depression works). Cultivated varieties of flowering cherry, almost all of which resulted from hybridization over hundreds of years) are much less hardy than their original wild pure-species relatives. We can even see some level of graft incompatibility combining different varieties of cherries within the same species, the tree does not grow quite as vigorously or as big as if it were grafted onto its own rootstock.

It could be a lot of things but you certainly don't need to remove branches just because the leaves have been eaten That would only be called for if there was some kind of disease which penetrated the wood itself. New leaves may well grow back and almost certainly will next year. The branches you have cut off will not grow back although new branches may. I suggest you try to post some pictures of the damage and people may be able to help you id the problem.

eoren, My hubby says he got it at Mahoney's in Winchester. Jane, There's a funny story to that tree. There's an old wives tail that my grandmother reminded me of before she died. We had been trying to have a second baby and getting no where and my grandmother reminded me of this tale. "When having trouble getting pregnant, plant both a dogwood and a kwanzon japanese cherry tree, You will be pregnant within 3 months. You will know the sex of the baby before it's born the following spring. Which ever tree survives will tell you the sex. Dogwood is boy. Cherry is girl." Well hubby got both trees and we planted them in Mid May. Sure enough I was pregnant by the beginning of August, due the end of May. Come the spring the baby was due and well, the dogwood tree was dying and the cherry tree was fine. By the time my baby was born, the dogwood tree was deader than a doornail and I had my daughter in my arms. 2 years later the cherry tree was just barely blooming, but was blooming and kind of looking a bit sad in my opinion. My mother was here for 4th of July that there and was looking at the tree and said "well the rest of the story on the cherry tree goes like this. "it will bloom poorly till it is attacked by a bad insect infestation. Kill off the infestation and you will have a huge blooming tree from the next year on." then she said "looks like you will plenty of blooms next year, you have termites in one part of the tree." We turned green and hubby ran for a saw to cut off the part that was infested with termites, cut it off, bagged in is several layers of plastic bags and brought it to the local county extension service for proper disposal. We sealed the cut section of the tree, as the main trunk had split into 2 sections and we had one side left. We saw no further termite problem and, YES, the following year on it has bloomed and bloomed profusely. Now, my neighbor across the street was with my husband when he bought the trees and she got the same ones I did. She wasn't trying to have a baby, far to old for that and just wanted the trees. Her dogwood, a white Kousa, has bloomed beautifully for years and years, but her cherry tree was always a pathetic little thing. Then about 5 years or so ago, the tree was attacked by little green worms and badly defoliated. She nursed it all summer with extra water and some fertilizer, and the following year on, it's bloomed it heart out an looks more like mine now. Are the old wives tales true? I don't know, I can only tell what happened with mine and my neighbors home and see what we have. Fran

baby scale move only at a certain moment in time ... and you have to kill them right then ... before they develop the hard cover that protects them .... you might contact your local county extension office.. to find out when they are active in your area .... once they get where they are going ... they attach themselves to the tree and start sucking vital juices ....... and can be killed by the proper oil treatment ... the down side is.. they dont disappear ... so you have to scrap a few off.. and see if they are already dead.. or still alive.. and then act accordingly ... what i trying and failing to get to.. is that it is possible.. they are all dead .. and we would suggest you not continue treating.. until you figure out if further treatment is necessary ... gently scrape a few off... and see whats underneath ... if it is just an ornamental flowering tree ... no fruit to eat.. you might be able to treat the soil with a systemic so that it will kill all the sucking scale ... and a lot of other bug problems .... if you move toward a more powerful resolution.. make sure you use a product labeled for scale .... not all insecticides will work ... thats a pretty nice young tree .. i dont see any reason to get rid of it... IF you are willing to do what is necessary to solve your problem ... ken ps: last year plague is not related to this plague ...