[Eddy Honey]

There are sapplings coming up all around that I want to transplant so they can grow big. The bees seem to like this.

Thanks!

 

[Zulu]

It is a Prunus of some sort, but which is not easy to tell just from blossoms

Apples, cherry, peaches, Plums and Prunes all from same species.
most likely a flowering Cherry would be my guess.

 

[G3farms]

What kind of fruit does it bare?

As zulu said hard to tell from those pics.

 

[Eddy Honey]

Shape and size wise the fruit is like an olive but mahogany colored.

The tree is really humming with bees now.

 

[DLMKA]

Is it a bradford pear? They're in full bloom here in central IL now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callery_Pear

 

[Indiana Dave]

Resembles an Oriental Plum. Prunus (genus) We had several in the yard when I was growing up. The send up 'suckers' EVERYWHERE, even after you cut them down. Does it have a lot of 'sap balls' that accumulate on the main trunk?

 

[Eddy Honey]

No sap balls but it may very well be a plum.

 

[bamabww]

Looks like a flowering cherry tree to me.

 

[dr.buzz]

My guess was Bradford pear as well. Do the flowers stink?
Here is a Bradford pear:
http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/large_plant_images/Bradford%20pear3.jpg

 

[efmesch]

Those are mighty nice photos.
As always, we beekeepers will have to test our patience --- this time it's wating for the fruit to reach a really recognizable stage. Eddy, please reactivate this thread when you've got the answer for us.

 

[Zulu]

Not Bradford Pear, they are very upright trees, branches grow upwards. A full size tree looks like a pear with a pointed apex.

Bradford pear does fruit, tiny hard brown fruit about the size of a pea.

 

[Indiana Dave]

Looks like alternate branching instead of opposite. What color are the leaves in the summer? Are they green/dark green or are they a shade of maroon/dark red?

 

[Eddy Honey]

My guess was Bradford pear as well. Do the flowers stink?
Here is a Bradford pear:
http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/large_plant_images/Bradford pear3.jpg

They don't stink. They smell quite good like honeysuckle.

 

[blueblood]

I would bet it is a crabapple if it has hard red berries later in the summer. I have two in my front yard, the one that looks like yours is a Sugar Tyme Crabapple and the other a Robinson Crabapple (it has darker pink flowers). I have always liked crabapples because the berries attract mocking birds. I have been looking for a Japanese Crabapple but they are hard to find...very beautiful. I have several cistena and they tend to have marroonish leaves if that helps. My money is on Crabapple...

 

[blueblood]

I took a closer look at your limbs and noticed the "crackling" in the skin like a birch or sycamor. It looks like my cistena prunus tree bark in the last two photos. Plus, that leaf that is sprouting in the bottom left of your pic looks like it want to be darker/maroon. The first three pics are of my sugar tyme crab. I coudn't resist commenting more than usual on this thread, I love trees and have quite a few varieties on my property. I like playing stump the chump with identifying a tree by bark, grain or leaf. This one has stumped me at the present.

 

[Eddy Honey]

That sure looks like it.

This picture is from today.

 

[blueblood]

Yeap, most of the guys were were right with the prunus i.d. I have 10 of those around my house by the windows to catch their aroma. I prune mine to control their growth. They are fast growers.

 

[Eddy Honey]

The bees sure did love them. I'm going to transplant all the sapplings that are popping up underneath.

 

[blueblood]

Sapplings are numerous here too. A nursery owner told me last spring a 50/50 mix of sand and garden soil are good for sapplings. He was referring to taking young shoots from my willow trees but I'm sure it would provide an easy medium for young root movement.

 

[efmesch]

I prune mine to control their growth. They are fast growers.

Looking at your first picture, you have pruned your branches too far away from the trunk of the tree, As you can see, the bark cannot grow over the end of the branch you removed. For proper healing of the tree you should remove the branches much closer to the trunk and after a year or so the woulnd will heal with an overgrowth of bark which will protect the tree from potential infections or insect pests.