I don't know that aphids killed your trees they usually just hang out around the leafs. You can simply make your own diy aphid spray look on YouTube or Google. Soap and water in a spray can will take care of aphids .or some simple pesticide from Walmart or a garden center in a spray can will work.

As for the toka and black ice. I just got my 3 black ice plums this year they are impossible to get in Canada so I can't really comment on them yet but toka is amazing. I don't think black ice will pollinate you toka though. Toka is rock solid nail hardy don't need to care for it much. Low maintanence if humidity is low. I live in very dry climate ,I'm not sure how humid your climate is but on our west coast it's a bit difficult to grow stone fruit because it's always raining and causes disease and rot ect..... Toka is a hardy variety that will survive with minimal care . If it's real hot than water it it every day or two .i have mine in a location the soil is ok sandy silty loamy all mixed up In a spot that is sunny and needs light watering every day or two because it gets 9 plus hours of sunlight some days. It bloomed this year super early endured minus 10 Celsius when buds were opening and when in full bloom the flowers even survive minus 3 or 4 Celsius. Good choice !

Toka is a cross between a natural plum/apricot from Asiaand our American native plum which can survive in sub arctic places like edmonton Alberta lol where it stays minus 30 for many months lol .

And black ice is hybrid between the largest Japanese plum and a chum which is half jap plum mixed with a sandcherry. Sandcherry also survives in very cold places and actually is closer to a plum than a cherry and blooms very late. Toka blooms early so they may not overlap but toka will bloom longer than any plum I have. you could get a sandcherry or a chum to pollinate the black ice if the toka doesn't overlap. Or strategically plant them. Put the toka in a cooler shady location and the blackice in a sunny spot where it will open earlier .

And no care is needed for sandcherry or American plum. They grow naturally. If you want pollination of both your trees buy a prunus Americana .ebay has many or get scion wood and graft lots onto both trees .that will be the best pollinator for both those trees.make sure it's the real deal though. Some seedlings will be not true to form. And pollinated by something else. Need to make sure it's a pure American plum or you could be wasting time. And they make awful fruits so don't rely on getting amazing crops off a 3rd plum if that's what you choose. I got. A native plum for this and just grafted tons of variety into it so it's not a complete waste of space and will get some nice fruits along with the benefits of pollination

Hoosier,.

Toka pollinate Black Ice, per Fedco. Co. I read many posts for many years here. Toka is not highbon many people' list. More often, they praise Superior,. Satsuma and Santa Rosa. I am not sure about SR in your zone.

Plum is not any easier. It is a stone fruit with a few fungal problems.

Btw, when Gardenweb changed to Houzz, one member, Scott went on to create his own fruit forum. Most of the experts who helped you last year move to his site. Some do not post here any more.

I cannot tell you the name of his site. Houzz monitor it. They will block out anyone that mentions the new site.

Google Scott smith growing fruit, you will find his site. A lot more experieced people on that new forum.

Black ice hasn't been out that long. Toka may probably pollinate it but not as good as a pure plum will black ice is a cross between sand cherry and sandcherry is a real good pollinator of chums . Toka is a hybrid ,hybrids do not pollinate other hybrids that well studies have been done but there are many different hybrids that may work well with others and not so with many .believe me I have a bunch in my yard and never got fruit set and listened to all those places like fedco and other nurseries recommendations and never got a single plum .this year I added a native plum and low and behold I have fruit set on my trees .

I will listen to a garden center or nursery recommendation on pollinators when they show me a picture of a tree with fruits fedco shows 4 black plums that are most not even black ice plums in the stock photo .

Toka is not high on people's list because it doesn't produce heavy crops. The plums are known as bubblegum plum and are great tasting to many people. They are not massive fruits and heavy bearing trees but are extremely tough trees and are a lot more resilient than Santa rosa or those other precious jap plums. Toka was designed as a hardy plum but gained popularity because of the nick name and how hardy it was and said to be a great pollinator . Now it's sold in big box stores all over North America even in places that are rated zone 2. I have not found one study online claiming that toka is actually proven .most plum orchards will have pollinator trees and from what I've read they usually use a native plum for hybrid varieties. Black ice and toka are not jap plums and black ice is to new for somebody to start shooting out nonsense about.

I have wild Prunus Americana that I just found on my land because it's forming a good crop :) If anyone wants cuttings, let me know. I don't know yet if the fruit are any good for jam or whathaveyou, but I did notice that it's very floriferous and pretty in the spring! The fruits look like individual green grapes right now.

I can't be sure it's the pure species, but its ID characteristics (leaves, thorns, bark, bloom, young fruit) look exactly like they should.

Interesting replies, well sounds like I may have jumped out of the fire into the frying pan! I worked hard trying to get sweet cherries and only had one year where I actually had cherries to eat. The year that all of my cherry trees were loaded with blooms, I was super excited, only to have my bubble burst when temperatures reached 70's and 80's here in March, and then a hard freeze! I was thinking well I would switch to something easier, but doesn't look like a great choice. I may have to take the suggestions and get a wild plum to pollinate. Are peaches or apricots any easier? My apples are the only fruits that I don't seem to have problems with as far as my tree fruits. Unless you count my blueberries which are doing outstanding. Again would like to hear about spraying on a regular basis, if so what do you use, and do any of you use dormant oil on your trees? Would like to get a better maintenance plan to head off the insects at the pass.

I find that blackberries and raspberries and their relatives are easy, too! And my favorites :) You might try a mulberry. They are really easy, I think.

Me, I have an orchard, but all of my trees are still too young to bear fruit yet. From watching them grow so far, I know I'll be using dormant oil, yep. The pears may have psylla, and dormant oil would have stopped that, for instance.

I've also got some kind of sucking insect that causes leaf issues (or maybe psylla?), some scab on various trees, and powdery mildew came up on one cherry. And peach leaf curl was obvious before I started dormant spraying for it (I didn't do oil, too yet). So spraying both fungicides and insecticides when recommended looks quite necessary, lol. I haven't picked which schedule and products I'll use, but I think NC State has one that would be closest to my area.

My mulberry hasn't needed a thing, though! Carmine Jewel cherry hasn't either, but that will probably change once it starts to fruit (insects).

Apricots are the worst for late frost they flower first, I have 5 apricot trees this year some were loaded. Same story nice warm march and April than one night of minus temps wiped the small grape sized fruit pretty much completely out. I'll be lucky if I have a few apricots left. But I also live in a cold zone 4 3500 feet above sea level. you may have better luck with peaches or nectarines as they flower later than apricots .they don't survive winters in my zone nor does sweet cherries but plums apricots and sour cherries grow pretty good here. Our late freezes make it hard to get crops of apricots. If nectarine trees survive your zone I'd buy a few.

And Meredith your almost in zone 8 and trying to grow carmine Jewell cherries lol these are meant for minus 50 temps and are bred to survive in zone 2. I'm not sure your getting enough cold days down their to set fruit on that tree. If I read that correct zone 7b . You can grow high quality cherries like Stella (self pollinating ) but perhaps your growing them for cooking. I'd recommend Evans cherry it's another canadian variety but produces more and bigger cherries than carmine Jewell does. We are actually having an interesting thread in the far north forum about sour cherries. Carmine Jewell was developed 5 hour drive from me in the middle of the praries and one of the coldest places in winters in North america .

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1879831/romance-series-cherries-fresh-eating?n=71

matt, yeah, we don't see a lot of 50 below down here :D :D But I got it for like 6 bucks in with an apricot tree order I was already buying, so I figured I'd try it and see. We need very healthy cherry varieties down here is our problem. If CJ ends up fruiting nicely in our temperatures, he sure is easy to grow, so that will be a win! I'm growing tree cherries, too, so the CJ is more of an experiment than they are :) But I don't mind. He's a cute little guy, and I have room ;)

They get cherry spot very easily.