patio cherry tree tape queery & genral advice

[andyblr]

I recently bought 2 small patio cherry trees on-line, they arrived a couple of days ago, both have what looks like sellotape rapped around the bottom of the stem just above the level of the soil. I'm new to fruit trees so can some one tell me what this might be and if i should leave it or remove it?
One of them is doing very well the other is looking a bit lifeless so any tips to revive it more generally would also be appreciated.

many thanks

[veggiechicken]

Probably grafting tape. You could remove it if its free of the trunk.
Can't help you with the kiss of life for cherry trees -sorry!

[FB.]

The tape is probably what was used to prevent the graft drying out. Usually the tape falls off on its own. If the graft is healed and the shoot is growing nicely, you can peel the tape off.

I am a little concerned that you might have been sold "just-grafted" plants, which may be a little immature to be shipping just yet - and the reasonable rate of graft failures (especially in horrible years like this year) may well be why one of your two isn't happy.

I recently begun pulling the grafting tape off some of my home-grafted apple trees and the healing is almost complete, but not fully ready as it's been a dull, cold year and plants have been very slow to get going.
You can usually tell if a graft has failed because the grafted bit (the scion) will send out a small cluster of leaves, which don't properly expand, then slowly die. A successful graft soon sends out a shoot of several inches length. It takes a graft a few months up to perhaps several months to heal properly.

As for the "dead" one - maybe it really is dead. Maybe it's been kept in cold storage and doesn't know what time of year it is, so will be delayed leafing-out - although it is now very late indeed for a cherry to think about leafing-out (they usually leaf-out about three months ago).
A picture would be helpful.

An easy way to tell if something is dead, is to see whether the small young twigs look a bit shrivelled/wrinkled, and whether they bend or snap. Dry, easily-snapped twigs are dead. If the "snap" test isn't good, try scratching a small piece of bark off and see whether it's damp and greenish underneath.
Also look for strange discoloured or sunken areas of bark on the twigs, branches, trunk or at ground level which may indicate a canker of one kind or another.

[orangepippin]

If you can still see the remains of the grafting material then the tree must be very young, in which case, as FB says, the grafts may not be fully healed and that might explain why one of them is not looking good. That seems surprising though, because most "patio" cherry trees would be sold as 2-year trees, with some initial pruning, in which case you would be unlikely to see the remains of any grafting material. How tall are the trees and how many side shoots do they have?