here is a photo if this works

The dormant buds look nice and fat there, it could just be heat stress which sometimes produces August leaf drop in cherries. If thats what it is it will come back fine next spring. You don't say where you are so I don't know how much heat stress you may be getting.

Scott

Cherries don't like "wet feet" so if the sprinkler is keeping the soil wet then the tree will definitely suffer.

Feel the soil to determine if it too wet or too dry or just right.

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 personally would wait until next spring and see what leafs out, if you can keep the watering to that area down in the future. Your pic looked like a stressed tree, not dead yet.

I personally would wait until next spring and see what leafs out, if you can keep the watering to that area down in the future. Your pic looked like a stressed tree, not dead yet.