Double grafted cherry pruning and grafting (forum)

MelbFruit starts with ...
I purchased a beautiful double grafted Rainier/Stella bare root this year, and I potted it up about a month ago. There is one branch cousing right through the middle (with Daley's label), and two branches (one from each side) that are pretty close. I was thinking of trimming the big one in the center and one of the two "close" branches from the other graft. I also acquired 3 pieces of scion wood (3 additional varieties). Should I try to graft to the branches that I cut off and angle them to reduce overlap, but risk eventual overcrowding with 6 main branches? Or should I bud graft onto the 4 main branches I have left after pruning? Finally, will removing the 2 branches weaken the original structure of the tree (will the sides ge heavy and the graft sites split)? They are more central, so sort of balancing each graft nicely.

Advice much appreciated!
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Time: 2nd September 2023 8:20am

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About the Author MelbFruit
NEWPORT,3015,VIC
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MelbFruit says...
For anybody who is curious, I ended up cutting the 2 branches, and now have 2 Rainier and 2 Stella left. I bud grafted 3 varieties onto the tips of the branches. The buds aren't looking half bad. Maybe that means I have space for one more variety? :D Cheers.
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Time: 17th September 2023 9:42am

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About the Author MelbFruit
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Edward3 says...
I think the plant looks nicely balanced now. Good job.

I am also playing with multigrafting. I have a morello cherry tree 14 years old, and I have just grafted 6 other varieties of sweet cherry onto it using whip and tongue. The morello cherry gives us fruit each year but I am not sure if there is sufficient chill for the other varieties here is Sydney. So this is a bit of an experiment.

Time: 2nd October 2023 3:21pm

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About the Author Edward3
CARLINGFORD,2118,NSW
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