Looks like the fruit lords and this forum have been good to me as my two year old dwarf Spring Satin Plumcot is loaded with delicious fruit! You can see the three styles of "protection" ( footies, cotton bag and green oragoma (sp) bags) being used in an experiment to learn about how well they keep bidrs/squirrels away and how long they take to apply and how many fruit are ruined in the process! The mockingbirds started feeding on them so I put out the bags. Right now many still have yellow flesh inside and are sweet/sour, but a few are ripening (red flesh) and are out-of-this-world sweet like a bing cherry! My flavor delight aprium just set a dozen fruit and estimate they will be ripe within 30 days. The stark bros plum and apricot that came with the order are loaded and will probably be ready to eat within 30 days as well. Your help and a little luck have been invaluable. Thank you.

I got my teeny CJ from Henry Fields, as a matter of fact! It was really clearance priced. It was incredibly healthy, just quite small. I do recommend them for the little starts of these as far as health of the little plant goes. They might have different sizes. I'm sure mine said it was in a 3 inch pot, so I knew what I was in for that way. If you do go with the little babies, just make sure to pay more attention to it than you might for a bigger plant. The roots aren't as forgiving since there aren't too many of them comparatively ;) I potted mine up in good soil and checked frequently for water needs. It was still really easy to grow the whole time. I've had zero problems.

Cherries vary one kind to another on resistance. In our area research at Mt Vernon WA has listed recommended ones more well suited. I went for that which is why I had long ago went with Surefire and the sweet cherry Early Burlat. Over the years my Burlat had been as disease free as the Japanese types of flowering cherries (shirofugen, prunus osima zakura etc.) And superior to others in my neighborhood. One main problem is the flowers bloom to early on the hill heights area in Vancouver WA (above Portland) and even though the bloom is rain resistant the bees are not pollinating during poor conditions and thus little fruit. I must hand pollinate. Other than the above remedy of selecting the right ones and about later bee friendly blooming ones you could try the idea of hand pollinating. I always set fruit on Burlat from Van cherry from my little greenhouse. In your case a Burlat flower from one you could graft to CJ tree could be dried indoors, possibly store it in fridge for a few days, and applied to CJ flowers. Even though nothing that I know of can be found to spray on to prevent infections you can still "wait and see". By that I mean to get your tree to over about 5 years of age because age 2-4 is the most prone years according to tests done West of the Cascades in Oregon.

Thanks for the input, folks. I'm leaning toward pruning this month, as most sources say that cherries specifically should be pruned in summer, and it's finally cool enough that I won't die of heat stroke if I attempt some work outdoors. This cherry was already here when we bought the property, so we weren't responsible for its size. There's nothing dwarf about it. I think most people locally graft on the common wild cherry, P. avium. I'm inclined to stick with my first idea, namely, to prune out a portion of the water sprouts--which are now fairly substantial branches--and continue next year, so as not to shock the tree unduly. I hope.