Wind fall, scrounging, tree ID.

[bfitz3]

Had some mighty vicious wind here last week (gusts near 70 recorded) and there's a decent amount of downed trees near me. The state lets you scrounge downed wood on state land for $50 and I'm thinking of doing this next summer after finding a good amount of maple, beech, ash, and cherry near my house. Also found the tree seen below. I think it's a maple, but the bark is different than the other maples I've been processing. Is it maple?

Also, a thought... A sticky with the most common trees (pics of leaves and bark at different tree ages) sorted by climate zone might b&b used by a lot of people. Even better... Is there a link to an interactive page for tree species classification?

 

[Firefighter938]

Ash maybe.

 

[bfitz3]

I've found a few ash around here, but not many and all were much smaller than this. Googling large ash bark, I think I have to agree that is what it is. Amazing how the bark changes as the tree matures.

 

[Firefighter938]

Twigs help also. Buds/branches will be opposite each other.

 

[Mike Z]

Had some mighty vicious wind here last week (gusts near 70 recorded) and there's a decent amount of downed trees near me. The state lets you scrounge downed wood on state land for $50 and I'm thinking of doing this next summer after finding a good amount of maple, beech, ash, and cherry near my house. Also found the tree seen below. I think it's a maple, but the bark is different than the other maples I've been processing. Is it maple?

Also, a thought... A sticky with the most common trees (pics of leaves and bark at different tree ages) sorted by climate zone might b&b used by a lot of people. Even better... Is there a link to an interactive page for tree species classification?

Do you have tulip trees in Northern Mich? - They're tall, symmetric, straight and pretty to look at, but hard to split by hand and without a lot of heat value. The bark of tulips, maples, green ash all sort of look like what you show. Quite a few trees have similar bark so without seeing some of the wood itself, it's hard to tell

 

[Edav]

I would guess poplar.

 

[TedyOH]

Twigs help also. Buds/branches will be opposite each other.

Yes, the buds will have a "smile" shape / scar from where the leaf was attached.

Could be tulip poplar if you have that up there, bark is identical to ash here around me, can only tell the difference by seeing the seed pods up in the canopy this time of year. Any seed pods on the branches?

 

[chopp056]

I would have guessed ash also with the diamond pattern bark but I have cut yellow poplar with some pretty aggressive bark like that too, those would by my guesses

 

[Applesister]

Bark can vary drastically and is hard to ID by exclusively. I personally feel safer with leaves. I have a better memory for them. Twigs and leaf buds I have to look up.
Try Virginia Tech college, look up the App for your phone. It uses GPS to show you trees for your geographical location. Its pretty good and seems accurate enough.
The tree does have wild bark and Im leaning toward White Ash. Tulip is a good second.

 

[Applesister]

I have a cousin who lives by the Canadian border and he has a very healthy very large Tulip tree(yellow poplar) on the edge of his field/woodlot. I always considered the tree to be a southern tree. Hes just below Montreal and it gets really cold there.

 

[Oldman47]

My 36 inch DBH ash had bark almost identical to that picture. I do not remember what it looked like the first few years because I paid it almost no attention back then. It was about 1/4 inch diameter when my then 3 year old planted it.

 

[claydogg84]

Ash

 

[XJcacher]

Also, a thought... A sticky with the most common trees (pics of leaves and bark at different tree ages) sorted by climate zone might b&b used by a lot of people. Even better... Is there a link to an interactive page for tree species classification?

I have this app on my phone: http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/main.htm
You enter you're location and it shows state specific trees.

 

[Hickorynut]

Just my opinion, the ridges/grooves are broken up and checked which says ash. Tulip poplar has the ridges/grooves longer and more linear. I never was more disappointed years ago when I bucked and brought home a score that I thought was ash and it was tulip poplar. Similar and confusing trees when trying to id by the bark alone.

 

[TedyOH]

I have a cousin who lives by the Canadian border and he has a very healthy very large Tulip tree(yellow poplar) on the edge of his field/woodlot. I always considered the tree to be a southern tree. Hes just below Montreal and it gets really cold there.

I have way too many here, i need to start thinning the smaller ones. Some are really massive.

 

[TedyOH]

Just my opinion, the ridges/grooves are broken up and checked which says ash. Tulip poplar has the ridges/grooves longer and more linear. I never was more disappointed years ago when I bucked and brought home a score that I thought was ash and it was tulip poplar. Similar and confusing trees when trying to id by the bark alone.

And it's the massive ones that look identical to massive ash around here (bark). I've been there more than once (processing the tulip) but i find the really big ones burn pretty decent.

 

[bfitz3]

Sounds like I need to venture out in the snow (finally!) and get a few pics of the top/buds.

 

[Applesister]

Look and see if you can find opposite twig growth. Thats easier to remember than smiley face leaf scars. Or...old dead leaves (cheating)

 

[Applesister]

I bet you didnt think is was gonna be a science project?
We got snow here too, I think someone was wishing for it. It went from 70° to 18° within a week.
I think alot of people here prefer Ash but I lump the 2 (Tulip) in the same "medium" heat range. The one year wood pile vs the oak piles.
So you go from exacting science to rough catagorying.

 

[Wood Duck]

I don't think there is enough info to ID this tree from the one picture above. Several trees have similar bark, and a small section of bark just isn't enough in my opinion. Could be Ash, also could be Tulip, Black Walnut, Basswood.

As far as ID help, I'd look for a good field guide (book) and learn one tree at a time. Start by making sure you know the trees you think you know, then when you come across an unknown tree every once in a while (like this one) figure out what it is. It really doesn't take all that long before you know most of the trees in your area.