Hello Houzz community -

my first post!

I've been learning a huge amount from the discussions here, thank you to all the brilliant contributors.

I am located in Hollywood / Los Angeles, border zone 10a / 10b

I'm a citrus maniac! I invested a lot of time in growing citrus and other fruit trees in large containers this past year and I'm passionate about them. I have about 13 trees, some doing better than other. I literally watch them grow and I probably notice every new leaf on each of them. I'm simply trying to convey how much I enjoy them.

I'd love some advice on the following.

I recently expanded from citrus to other fruit trees I was curious about -

I got a pomegranate (wonderful) and a pineapple guava.

Questions!

Pomegranate - Bought a lovely tree, about 6 foot tall, bushy, looked very healthy. I repotted from 15 gallon to 25 gallon pot when I brought it home. It quickly quickly turned yellow a few days later, and fairly quickly started to lose most of its leaves about a week after repotting. I can't decide if this is due to the change of weather, is it too early for a pomegranate to lose its leaves in late September? It seemed quite sudden but then I really don't know better!

Pineapple guava - got this tree two weeks ago from a nursery, about 4 foot tall, very bushy, was very full of gorgeous leaves. I also repotted on arrival, from 15 to about 22 gallons. I used citrus fertilizer when I repotted, not a huge quantity, but about two handfuls, under the root ball and sort of around it on the surface. Good lord! The tree lost all its leaves within about 6 days. Is this due to the fertilizer at time of repotting? Should I not have used citrus fertilizer on a pineapple guava? it's all I had.

This whole thing got me worried that the pomegranate might have lost its leaves due to adding this same fertilizer at time of repotting, about a week earlier than the pineapple guava.

What's a good way to remediate fertilizer burn, if you guys think this is my mistake? Did I kill these trees? Can I save them? Will they just grow new shoots and leaves in the spring? The pineapple guava looks especially distressed (it's not a deciduous tree, but it lost literally every leaf within a week. the remaining few leaves are brown, dried and very hard).

And while I'm at it - one more question - I had a nagami kumquat that was doing quite well all year in a 15 gallon pot that I also repotted at the same time as the pomegranate (hard week I tell you!). A few of the longer roots broke as I removed it from its original pot but it wasn't too many, perhaps the longest root (soft white long thingie).. I was surprised to see the root ball being so small considering the tree is about 5 foot tall. I repotted (with a bit of fertilizer too, as above) in a bigger pot and this whole scenario happened too. Lost most of its leaves, turned brown, young branches dried out quickly. Broke my heart in the process.

I've since learned (on this site from you guys!) that I shouldn't add fertilizer at time of repotting. However I have done this with 9 or 10 trees of similar sizes previously, going on a year ago, and they are doing spectacular and I never faced this issue. Assuming the citrus fertilizer might have been too strong for the non citrus, but what do I know! FYI I used the same soil for all above (a pre-mixed citrus cactus soil from Home Depot - I know - as I also just found out this past week, you guys don't like this soil very much).

Photos are from a week ago. Trees are naked now!

Alright alright alright I apologize for the long message, I had a lot of advice to ask and thought perhaps best to put it all in one message. I'd love to rescue these trees and I feel terrible looking them looking sad and leafless / lifeless. Thanks everyone, I will study and appreci

ate the replies! Cheers!