Hi.did you water well before you fertilised?What type of fert did you use?High nitrogen is good,a little and often is better than lots at a time.Feed when you see new growth,spread fert around tree but not against trunk.Mulch with grass clippings but not against trunk.These two work together= organic/inorganic.The leaves do look a little pale.trees in the ground dont need so much water,their roots spread.Blooms should be coming soon?I would prune back any dead wood.
Citrus feeder roots are near the surface,so too much fert would burn the roots.If you used granular food and didnt water first,that would be my suspicion.Citrus like a big deep water once in a while.If there is rainfall dont water.
I have left my lemon all through summer,never watered it all,chucked some slow release fert on it.Left any rain to do the job.Mulched with grass clippings.Has huge lemons on it.
Good luck

Meagan, your tree appears to have more problems than what could easily be explained by improper watering/fertilization. Branches wilting and dieing one at a time whispers root disease to me.

Why not call your local extension office, which will certainly be staffed by people who are very experienced in citrus problems. You could probably email them your images.

Thank you for your advice. My first call to the extension office didn't provide any info but I'm hoping the email w/ pics I sent today will help me get more of a response from them. I did notice some new growth on some of the branches today so I think that all is not lost.

I did water well before fertilization and a bit afterward. I don't think I burned anything.....

I was hoping that it wasn't a root disease, I'm still crossing my fingers!

Thanks again for your input.

Meagan

If not root disease then think maybe root pest. Do a search on 'diaprepes root weevil'

Thanks for your suggestion, I did some reading about it and I don't know that this is the problem because I never saw evidence of adults being present. I talked with the extension office again and they think that my problem is just a late reaction to the hard winter we had. I am going to just keep monitoring.

Thanks again!

Megan,
Before you watered and fertilized, how had the moisture level been? If it had been dry for quite a while, what did the leaves look like right after you watered? If your leaves didn't respond, the possibility is root damage. When you watered, how far out from the canopy/drip line did you water? Was your tree just fine before the freeze? If the extention office didn't ask you these questions, I suspect someone isn't in the know. Perhaps you have a tree that didn't have vigor in the first place. Just some things to wonder about.