Your description fits that of a tree that's been drowned in too much water,
which killed off many of the newest, fragile roots and made it difficult to
take up nutrients. When you first planted the tree it needed to be kept from
drying out completely, but once it was established, (by about June1) it
probably only needed about 3/4" of water 2-3 times a week. To help keep
moisture at an acceptable level, you also need about 2-3" of good mulch over
the rootball, but not touching the tree trunk.

As a check, with a small trowel or even a long screwdriver, poke around the
base of the tree. The surface may be dry, but you want to know about the
water level down at the root level. You'll probably find that the soil is
rather soggy, especially if your clay content is significant. Let the
underground rootball area dry out some, but not get completely dry (too dry
for mud pies, but more humid than a sandbox). Then give it about 3/4" of
water, either from rainfall or your irrigation system, wait for two days and
repeat. Good luck --

"raizn4kids" wrote in message
...
Hey, everyone. I live in SE NC and I bought a double grafted dwarf pink
double bloom cherry tree the first of May. Planted it in good drianing
soil( a little clay/sand on the top1-2" and good dark soil underneath)
where it got full sun in the AM & early PM and shade after 3pm (which the
nursery keeper stated was fine) and keeping it watered every day. All
things going good for a month (to the first of June) and then we had about
a week of rain, off and on, so I did not water it for 5 days, as there was
rain at least 2 hours everyday. Three days after the rain subsided and
decided to move northward, my trees' leaves started to "curl" not tip to
stem, but side to side and looked a little 'puney'. I had already started
to watering it again for two days. The NEXT day the leaves turned yellow,
but not on the tip of the branches, but near where the branches stemmed
from the tree to about half way down the branches. Again, the very next
day the yellow leaves started falling off. This is no exaggeration as it
happened over a three day pass that these events too place. The tree
still has green leaves on the end of the branches but is 'naked' from the
trunk to the middle of the branches where the greenery begins. Any
suggestions? Too much water? Not enough? Needs something extra? Thanks in
advance for any advice.