My new fruit tree might be dead

I bought a couple of plum trees yesterday, from a cheapo shop. One has lots healthy growth on it. The other has no green on it at all, but the bark was the right colour and texture, and I had a sneaky nick with my thumbnail to see if there was green sap just under the bark near the top, which there was, so I bought it.

When I unwrapped the roots, there wasn't much in the way of the finer feeder roots in there, but I went through the motions and planted it anyway.

If it's dead, I've lost a grand total of £5.99 and about 5 minutes work, so no great loss, but how long should I give it before I pull it back out and replace it with another one? I want to give it a fair chance, but at the same time, I don't want to miss the tree planting season, which we're right at the back end of already.

 

How long has it been in the cheapo shop is the problem , with fruit trees you need them to be top notch to get them off to a good start and to have all the branches growing evenly.

Start with a bad tree and it will struggle for a few years, especially plums and getting silver leaf.

Take it back and get your ££ back this is the problem people keep buying them in such a sorry state they will keep stocking them and catch lots of people out who are ClueLess and then it puts them off in the future , in a £ shop I went into last week they still had daffodil bulbs for sale on the shelves.

Spruce