John: I like your plan except I can't do a whip&tongue on that short of a stub. I've had very good luck with W&T but would need several more inches to work with. Then if the W&T fail, T bud in May on that same stub or a new sprout as soon as the wood turns from green to reddish. I'd do the W&T when the tree first starts to push leaves, probably March where you are. I've had great luck with T budding in May and forcing after 2 weeks if the bud takes. I'd keep more laterals and space them out up and down the trunk. It won't hurt to do two or three of each W&T and the same on budding if needed later. As long as you cut back on all remaining laterals, the tree will be fine starting out with 9-12 branches. Latter select the best of each variety.

I would suggest same as konrad -- cut branches way way back to about a foot from the trunk, allow new sprouts to come out of the "stumps" this season, then next spring try grafting some good tasting varieties to the sprouts. The tree will look goofy for a few years, but after 6 or 7 years it will look almost normal again and you'll have a great crop of great tasting cherries of whatever varieties you like. There are a lot of good online resources about how to do this. Look up stephenhayesuk on YouTube as I know he's got more than one video about "grafting over" an old tree (in his case it's with apples but the concept for cherries is the same).

Joe: Dare to believe; its true. Chilling hours for apples are a myth; I'm not in the mountains- I grow over 100 apple varieties 1/4 mile from the Parent Washington Navel Orange tree in Riverside on 200 chilling hours. I tore out a big clump of banana trees to plant the orchard, which is getting ready to bloom now right next to my neighbor's big Valencia orange tree. Do not look to university programs to validate this; there's no money in it, and their research is devoted to commercial growers. You will not read it in scholarly books either, as they just quote one another rather than actually sticking a tree in the ground to see what happens. However this has not gone unnoticed; Tom Spellman at Dave Wilson Nursery did a few nice videos at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jwtYhS2Qcs If you're still needing more assurance, check out the Ba' Kelalan Apple Fiesta in Borneo, Malaysia where the apple orchard is next to the rice paddies and they eat their apple pie off a banana leaf. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK0yW7U_ddQ I know this goes against everything that you've ever heard about apples, so I understand; if you still can't get a grip on it, check out some of our clients in tropic Africa at http://kuffelcreek.wordpress.com/

The simple answer is yes; but the IML is probably not your best candidate for that; because, as a tree it is relatively weak compared to the rootstock (Cuban Shaddock, if it is Four Winds), and to other citrus varieties. The net effect of what you are proposing will be a Cuban Shaddock rootstock, a Meyer lemon "internode" and the final variety. It could be an interesting experiment; but I have serious doubts about the success or the wisdom of doing it. If your rootstock, below the bud union, is sufficiently tall, you might try budding or grafting directly to the rootstock.