Should I cut these mature branches from my stella cherry?

Hey all--

This is my stella cherry tree. It's probably about 10 years old. It came in a "vase" shape with multiple branches off the main trunk, which was fine initially but now I have two problems:

1. I get lots of new growth growing inward each year that I inevitably prune away, due to lack of airflow and crossing of branches, often it's so vigorous I prune some away in summer and additional limbs in winter.

2. You can see bark accumulation between the trunk and these branches, which I'm worried will eventually cause the trunk to split.
Is it too late to make this right? I sort of wish I had one central leader due to the issues I'm having above. Should I leave it alone? Should I take prune away one of these acute angle branches yearly until I have a central leader? Or will removing multiple large branches be asking for illness in this tree?

Any advice is appreciated, thank you!

My Stella is infected with brown rot.  This spring was dreadful because all of the rain we had.  It was my plan to spray it with sulfur every week or two, but it rained at least every other day for months...is it any wonder we have the Green Mountains"!? Anyway, I did what I could, and now half the leaves are falling off and the branches are mostly denuded.  I, too, want to cut the tree way back, but I'm not even sure if it will live until next year, and if it dies, I won't know if it was the brown rot or the severe pruning.  I do believe that you're not supposed to prune a tree after the summer solstice so that its energy can go into the roots and store it for the upcoming cold.  Of course, once dormant, it's fine.  At this point, I'm thinking that keeping the tree might never be worth it.  With all of the genetics work, you'd think they would have come up with varieties that are immune to such diseases!  

Blaise, I think you might just shorten the branches, like by about half--I've heard that when pruned in winter, trees will put on a lot of growth in the growing season, but if you prune when it's actively growing, it won't grow so rambunctiously.  This would help with any weight issues and also make the fruit easier to pick.  I also want to say that I'd wait and get others' opinions because I am very much a novice and don't really know!  I'm just passing on what I've read from many watched videos, etc.

I used to prune cherry trees for my neighbor's cherry orchard on a regular basis when I was a teenager. I was taught to eliminate most of the new leaders that shoot straight up, as you want to form the tree to reach outward to make it produce more easily picked fruit. Also cutting any branches that cross over into another branch's territory is good. In your situation, I would try to hollow out the inner branches to give more space inside and encourage outward leaning branches to grow.

As for trying to eliminate the basic branching of the trunks, I think it is too late; trying to do this would be too traumatic for the tree, and make it vulnerable to diseases.

Kelly Hart wrote:
As for trying to eliminate the basic branching of the trunks, I think it is too late; trying to do this would be too traumatic for the tree, and make it vulnerable to diseases.

Thanks for the advice Kelly. Do you think there's a high risk of the branch splitting the trunk? Or is my fear overblown and just leave it be and maybe that will never happen?

I think it is unlikely that one of the primary branches will separate from the trunk, even though the bark pattern might  suggest that.

I'd concur with Kelly. I've got a compact Stella and it's got a nearly identical structure: multiple branches from a common point where I removed the main leader, and all at narrow angles (classic weak crotch potential). They show the exact same sort of collar ridges that would have me running for the saw if I see them on a plum, apple, or pear tree. But this seems to be the way this variety rolls and so far it hasn't been an issue.

What's more likely is that I will give up on growing cherries in the next few years, because our winters have warmed to the point that we no longer get enough chilling hours for them to produce fruit. They were always a marginal producer in this part of the country and the writing is on the wall for some cherry wood to add to the pile for carving and turning stock.

I notice some leaf and twig litter in your photos.  Treatment of brown rot should start with cleanliness.  Ensure all cherry tree litter is removed.  When pruning, ensure all cancers and obviously diseased branches are removed.  Pruning of dying wood should not lead to additional issues.  Brown rot is a fungus, so copper fungicides or pyrethrin w/sulfur are useful.  While Northern California is not subject to snow everywhere, it can fall and if it is wet or near freezing, breakage of main trunks. One of the last wet snows around here broke one major section off, but did not appear to really harm the remaining sections.  
Note:  Pyrethrin is a natural insecticide/fungicide from chrysanthemum flowers.

I did once cut a major branch out of a cherry tree.  It didn’t seem to hurt the tree.  The branch I cut might have been the main stem.  Thinking back on it, I think it was.  The tree was so high I didn’t get any cherries.  All the lower branches were shaded.  The cherries were all out of reach, so I wasn’t risking much.

Removing a major branch, or a large part of the tree while the tree is dormant does encourage lots of weedy regrowth.  All that sap that went underground at the end of the growing season has to go somewhere!  I prune for shape and structure in the winter and prune for size in the summer.

Pruning when the sap is rising or just before might be the worst!