Cherry Tree - alive?

[Maggiethecat]

Bought this cherry tree online and planted a few weeks ago but it is looking very devoid of life!
The supplier says I should give it another month or so to see if it springs to life but I must admit my doubt!
in case it’s a bit confusing- there’s a dark branch stake on the left to which the cherry is tied and there’s a bamboo stake, kind of in the middle of the cherry.

Yes it's alive you can see tiny buds forming

That’s good to know as it’s dry as chips 😂

Sometimes plants like to keep us on our toes. Everyone else’s Wisteria on my road is in full, glorious, fragrant bloom. Meanwhile mine has only just confirmed that it is alive by pushing out some tiny buds. It does this to me every year. Gardening is a cruel hobby sometimes.

the tiny buds might or might not develop - I’ve bought some recently that were bare root but towards end of the season and with small buds but whether it was timing, something I did or poor packaging they didn’t make it. Tiny buds dried out and clear after several months that they hadn’t made it. That said, it can take a good 6 weeks or so to see signs of life. I’ve lost about a third of my recently purchased fruit trees but of those that made it there were some that I had all but gave up on and yet eventually sprang to life

Well if you gently scrape the bark back a wee bit with your fingernail, if it's alive it will be green where you've scraped,. That's what I do when checking for dead wood to prune out. Everything seems to be taking longer to get going this year, I thought my Apple trees & Rowan tree had died off but this week they all suddenly burst into life again

Can you post close ups of the budding places? Looks like it's budding but a bit hard to see. Defo don't write it off yet! Keep it well watered.

Scraped back a bit and looks there’s green under there!

Looks it is budding but wondered if they had just dried up!

I'd be surprised if it wasn't - cherry trees seem indestructible in my experience. Be prepared for it to grow massive and have babies that spring up all over your garden!

Hope so!

That's great news, very promising, make sure the soil doesn't dry out without drowning it and it will probably burst into life now the good weather is slowly arriving

I think it's OK...please post an update pic when it's a bit further along - I'm fairly convinced it's alive! 🌿

Update.

It looks it may still be alive!

Everything else on it still looks like dry sticks but I noticed today that there are some shoots appearing at the base of the tree.

not sure if this is a good thing as I read that shoots at the base may indicate a stressed tree.

Also, as I believe the tree was grafted I’m not sure what would happen if these base shoots (below the graft level) were allowed to grow. Would I get a different tree?

It sounds as though the scion (top) may have died and the grafting rootstock is now growing. So, yes, it would be a different tree, and might be unsuitable for your needs. There are a number of different rootstocks, and I doubt you know which it is.

The rootstock won't be something worth growing for cropping or ornamental value. Send pictures to your supplier and either ask for a refund, a pot grown tree or a bare root next winter. Who was the supplier out of interest?

I find it very hard to give up on things if there’s a chance of life.
if it did turn out that the graft bursts to life would I just cut off the shoots at the base to prevent that growing through?

That’s what I feared - the rootstock would be nothing desirable.

Roots