Yes, it looks like a plum tree. Those huge pruning cuts won't do it any good and the remaining in-growing branch structure is poor. You may have to plant other plum varieties nearby to get it to fruit, perhaps several in order to end up with one that pollinates this tree. And then it may turn out that the fruit of this existing tree is not that great. Or it still fails to fruit, due to weather conditions in your area at flowering time. Such as frost damage to the flowers or pollinators not being out then.

Of course, if it really never has any flowers whatsoever - which is hard to believe and almost inexplicable - then you won't see any fruit on it. And there is really no point in hanging onto it.

it ALWAYS helps to include location .. especially when dealing with fruit ... lack of flower could be related to last summer drought .. winter damage.. early spring cold damage.. etc ...

big city name gets us close enough ...

many fruit trees.. though they can live forever.. lose there ability to put out a valuable crop ... and based on its prior pruning.. this tree has had its problems ... it might be time to let it go ...

and if you want a crop of plums.. to plant one or two new trees.. favorable to you area.. and that will pollinate each other ..

always in the back of my mind .. is the old cost/benefit ratio ... am i going to spend more money [and time] trying to save a worthless tree [???] than it would cost me to just replace it ..

including how the heck you are going to spray the darn thing short of a hazmat suit .. and a very expensive sprayer to cover the whole thing .. maybe you have those laying around .. most of us dont ...

and since its a food crop.. who would want to go the systemic route .. who knows how long that stuff stays in the tree ...

ken

thanks Ken and Embrothium. Yes, no flowers no fruit for the 5 years we’ve lived here.,The scales aren’t too bad. The pruning was done before we moved in and one side the branch was so heavy it actually broke off. We’re in Zone 9, California, Sacramento. The scales are limited to lower branches at this time, will likely just prune those off and see what happens. Tree does need significant pruning of inside branches. We still haven’t found a great arborist yet here. I think we will keep the tree, it provides shade and kids like to play in its lower branches. We have other fruiting trees, I think just as you alluded to this might be too late to help. I appreciate the ID.

If this collection has been retained the USDA Experiment Station at Chico has a significant planting of all different kinds of orchard plum trees. So you are apparently in plum country.

When I saw it some years ago no variety labeling was in evidence, and it was not fruiting time. There were however multiple signs up warning to watch for rattle snakes.

Drove by a purple leaf plum planting today with uncontrolled rootstock top growth coming out of the side of it and it looked like your plum. Also I noticed earlier your plum appears to originate near the ground. So it is probably a clonal rootstock cultivar and that is how it came onto your property. With the scion that was grafted onto it long since having disappeared.