Question
I received a tree secondhand from someone...that is, they planted it in their yard, then decided they did not want it, dug it up, and brought it to me. So, I then planted it in MY front yard, and it lived for approx. a year and then died. When it died, I cut the the trunk off just above the roots, but since then a bunch of suckers have grown up out of the roots, and they are now (basically) looking like a big bush, with the (cut-off) tree trunk buried in the middle.  What will happen if I allow them to keep growing? Will they remain a bush, or will all those little suckers start to become little trees?  Should I dig it up and move it to my back yard, or leave it in front and plant a NEW tree next to it (so that my neighborhood birds have a good place to build nests)?  Help!  Thanks.

Answer
This sprouting is common, in fact this is one method foresters use to regenerate hardwood trees. In a forest over time one of these sprouts will show dominance and will become the main trunk and the others will normally die- this take many years of the bush type look. You can aide "mother nature" by slecting a couple of the sprouts and cutting the others (select the largest and leave one on either side of the old cutoff tree trunk). If after a year or so one of these sprouts is quite a bit larger than the other cut the smaller OR if they are about the same size leave both and you will have a double tree or forked tree.