I went there today and it is very wet under the mulch. basically mud. I removed all the mulch in hopes of getting it to dry out a bit. Also the grandpa backed off the water to that zone. But probably too late. So it is dying and not coming back next year, right? To replace it, does peach tolerate wet feet better then mont cherry? As an additional note I had said the yard sloped, but actually where the tree is the slope flattened out for about 10 feet so the water can really soak in there... So I am certain that is the problem, so we know to keep an eye on that in the future.

I have to say that if I were going to buy a cherry tree (or apple or peach) my preference would be ACN, Grandpa's Orchard or maybe Cummings. But things sell out fast, and this time of year you can get shut out, or have to settle. But you're correct EMW, there are a lot of nurseries out there to get stuff from, which is a good thing because right now I believe Adams County is sold out of all their cherry trees, and looks like Grandpa's doesn't have much. (As an aside, I had intended on ordering a Contender peach tree from ACN, because I knew their Contender Peach is on Bailey root stock out of Iowa, reasoning it would be very cold hardy. Well I waited too long and they sold out... of most everything. I still wanted to get one in the ground this Spring, so I then ordered one from Stark Bros, and I assume it's on Lovell root stock which should be fine). I think a lot of folks just will not buy from Stark Bros or Gurney's because they don't disclose what root stock their fruit trees are on, and that matters to a lot of people - but not everyone. A lot of folks are fine with the Nursery telling them it's a Dwarf, or Semi-Dwarf, or Standard tree and don't care what root stock is used to accomplish that. I just looked back at my Stark Bros account and see that in 2014 & 2015 I'd ordered in 8 various fruit trees from Stark Bros without issue. I have two coming in this Spring from them, and three from Grandpa's Orchard. So that being said, I don't have a whole bunch of trees like some do (I've got 15 apples, 6 peaches, and 3 cherry trees - and will add to those numbers this Spring with the orders from Stark and Grandpa's) but the one time I had an issue with a tree I received from Stark's, I called them after I opened the box to let them know that if it didn't take I'd be wanting a replacement, and they were fine with that. It never took hold and I simply called them and they sent out another. I had a similar experience with Gurney's. I ordered in my first Carmine Jewel bush cherries in '11 and at that time they were sold in pairs, and one of the four I initially got arrived in bad shape - too much leaf and probably spent too much time in the delivery truck, and it was hot. Just dried up and died. I called Gurney's and they said it was too late in the season to replace, that they'd send a replacement next Spring. They sent two the following spring (that's how I ended up with an odd number of 5 CJ's) One year they sent me a Goldrush apple that was broke nearly in two. Looked like the box had gotten caught in the delivery truck door or something. I called them and they sent out a replacement pronto. So that's the long way around the horn, but for a person fixing to buy a single cherry tree be it Northstar, or Montmornency, I just can't think there would be a problem with either of these two outfits. As noted earlier, of the two in question I personally lean toward Stark Bros over Gurney's, but that's probably because I've got more stuff from Stark Bros and I've had generally positive experiences. Now if you were fixing to plant an orchard I'd maybe look a different direction....

Birds :-) They seem to know at least a day before you do that the cherries are ripe. And then tell all their friends. Birds are kind of a big deal with ripe cherries......more so than with most other fruit trees. When I was growing up we had a full sized Montmorency, a Rainier and two Bings in our garden and my dad used to hang old tin pie plates from the trees, my Grannie's old foxfur scarf (looked like two flattened foxes biting each others' tails) and sat out on the patio with his sling shot beaning every bird that he could see. We still only got maybe a third of the crop.

Looks like you have cherry leafspot. Very common on tart cherries. Montmorency is especially prone to it. There is nothing you can do for it now until after your fruit is ripened and harvested. Then spray with a fungicide product containing chlorothalonil. This will coat the remaining leaves and slow the spread of the disease. If left unchecked and conditions are right, you could have the whole tree partially or fully defoliate from this disease. Be sure to clean up all fallen leaves this fall when the tree is dormant. Applying a fungicide spray at white bud stage next year and again after fruit harvest will help prevent or at least slow down the spread of cherry leaf spot. Your fruit will no be affected by this fungi just the foliage. Severe outbreaks can weaken the tree if it totally defoliates too early in the season. I had one of my cherry trees once so severe with it it was totally defoliated by August 15th. The tree never re-leafed until the following spring.