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I bought and planted a dwarf cherry tree about a month ago , it has been doing OK till now but now all  the leaves are going brown and dying off. It's near my currant bushes and gooseberry bush which are doing great, can any body help!

was the tree well pot bound, did you tease out some of the more delicate roots from the outside, It could be in slight shock.  As long as you kept it well watered, it will more than likely recover. You don't mention what ph your soil is. I'd give it a couple of months tlc. Let it overwinter, then do the thumb nail test to see if there is life beneath the bark. Hope it gets better soon.

Hi peasmad  its not a pot tree but bare rooted and our soil up here in west yorkshie is acid so can you help me some more with this infomation

Right ho. All stone fruits like neutral to lime, Its the lime / calcium that helps them form the stones in the fruit and therefore more fleshy fruits. Without that, there are tiny stones and just a thin bitter flesh. Now there's no need to worry, there's one of two actions to be taken. You could give it a lime watering, which is a tablespoon of garden lime added to a watering can of plain tap water, (rain water would only add to the problem being on the acidic side) Do this from now until end of june mid july. OR.....Do what i have done in my acidic soil. I put the trees in large pots, 18 - 20" diameter and sank that in the soil, I planted them in compost. Every year I carefully remove an inch or so of the compost and add a new layer with a little slow release added. The only disadvantage to this is that it will need regular watering. If you leave a 2" gap between the compost and the rim of the plot, you can fill that with water, let it drain away and re do, this should be done fortnightlyduring droughts but definately once a month. Even if you gt heavy rain, persist, so as to wash the acid from the rain through, as Cherries are shallow rooters.  Also is your tree in a sheltered spot. They don't like a lot of wind. If it is in a windy location, give it some protection. The buds don't like frost, and also to add to the problem, Pigeons, doves (or anything else that goes well in a pastry jacket or on toast) love green cherries that are just forming, so you could net it too. Keep it to a size that is easy for you to deal with. Prune it in summer after the fruit has finished.  Sorry i seem to have rambled on a bit. But hope this info helps.

Hi peasmad thanks for your reply, yes its in a sheltered spot and as you say that they prefer lime not acid that could be the problem as i put rotted manure in the bottom of the hole before i planted it! should i dig it up and remove the manure and replant with slow release fertilizer(fish/blood and/bone)and water it with some lime added? also i planted a nectarine tree the same way and as you pointed out stone fruits like lime its not doing well either (in sheltered spot as well) so replant it removing manure same as cherry tree? there was no references on labels to not using manure  re lime, not had them before only apples/pears await your reply Compo49   ::)

You've got me wondering now.  I have a minarette cherry on my plot which has fruited well the last 2 years.  This year, for the first time I mulched my whole fruit area with manure.  The tree looks fine, lots of healthy growrh but it only had 2 flowers and has set 2 fruits. 

It's in the middle of my fruit space - how large an area around it needs to be manure free in future.  It's only about 6ft tall.  And how would I restore the lime balance?  My soil was perfectly neutral before the manure.   

I forgot to mention that it may well be worth taking a close look at the foliage and make sure there are no nasty's like the small grubs of the plum sawfly.
Anyway getting back your queries. Well rotted manure, should do no harm as a mulch, and they also require a soil that is moisture retentive, but not sodden. Your manure under the tree may be holding far too much water that is unable to drain away, especially if you didn't mix it with back filling soil. Cherries also hate competition, So no plants or grass or weeds around the base of the tree for the first 5 -6 yrs.
They should never be allowed to dry out, as I may have said the roots spread out rather than travel down. so the top few inches needs to be watered well. If the watering is sporadic this will result in split fruits. Take heart, if the fruits do split, they are still edible, it just means harvesting and eating sooner rather than later.
Cherries like nitrogen. so you could feed them with a top dressing of dried blood, buy a purpose made nitrogen soluble feed, but a cheapo way that the ancient chinese did and the modern probably do now, is to soak feathers in a bucket of water. Old pillows etc, or even the odd quilt!  place in a fine net bag, hessian sack, or even the old pillow case. weigh down in a container of water in shade and leave to soak in the water until they become a mush, up to 2 mths steeping, then either use them as a mulch or add them to the compost bin.
The rule of thumb is usually, that the height of the tree is the length of distance the roots travel from the main trunk and only a couple of inches below the soil. They do have a tap root, but it doesn't go down very far. But cherry roots are renowned for popping up above soil some way away from the trunk. Once they are settled they are not fussy and no problem to keep. like all stone fruit trees, they should be pruned in summer after fruiting.
Too little nitrogen can result in being more prone to disease etc, but too much can result in fewer blossoms and fruit.  The lack of fruit may well be due to the cold spring we have had, No insects to pollinate. The blossom buds are also a delicacy of certain birds, like bull finches. So for the next spring it maybe well worth covering your minarette with some fleece or net curtain at night. Not only protect from the cold but birds too. I do hope this helps you both.

Wow, peasmad, thanks!  Lots to think about there.  Printing it off and taking it to the shed!

Hi Ceres, hope yoiu didn't spend the night sleeping in the shed.

Ooooh nooooooo!  Far too spooky! 

Pinned it on the wall with lots of highlighting pen to remind me what to do/not do. Thanks again, it's really helpful.

You're very welcome