I only was able to upload 4 photos to the post. Here is the other tree

Arbutus do tend to shed older foliage in summer so not too early for that to be happening. But I would also wonder how much water they are actually getting. Running any irrigation system for only 7 minutes at a pop is unlikely to be providing enough. Even the largest flow emitters for a drip system max out at 2 gallons per hour ! You are applying mere ounces.

Dig down next to the rootball and physically check to see how damp or how dry the soil is and then make the appropriate adjustments.

I was told to be very careful to not over water the Strawberry trees. That they don’t like “wet feet.” They prefer to be dry. But since they’re newly planted I’m confused.
The drip we have them on is like a tiny sprinkler, not a drip-drip kind. 🤷‍♀️

All newly planted trees regardless of species will need periodic deep watering until they become established. The arbutus is no exception. As long as soil drainage is good, there is minimal concern about 'wet feet' during this period of establishment.

I am mystified by your description of your irrigation system but the rule of thumb for watering newly planted trees is one inch of water per week per inch of trunk caliper. I am not sure you are anywhere close to delivering that amount.

Hmmmm interesting. I was worried so I've been giving them hose water once a week in addition but I honestly don't know how much. I leave the hose on each tree for about 5 minutes. Thank you for the specific amount of water detail... that is very helpful. Should I do it all in one watering or break it over a few days? Could this by why they look so sad?

This is the drip system on the trees. Each tree has 2 of these.

Yeah, that's not gonna do it :-) Leaving the hose on at a slow trickle once a week for 20-30 minutes should get you close to where you need to be. And it's best to do so all at one time. The key is low and slow.....infrequent but deep watering

Perfect. Thank you so much for the advice

Don't water the trunks. And do make sure when you leave a hose running on each that the water is spreading around and soaking in throughout the entire rooting area (except for the bases of their trunks). Otherwise if you set the hose in one spot and the water penetrates just in the immediate vicinity of the hose end you are going to be producing a deep narrow column of moistened soil with the rest around remaining dry afterward.

Both need to be fertilized, the first one in particular has very poor overall color. With this implying a nitrogen deficiency specifically (but sampling soil and having it analyzed is best before undertaking a long term fertilization program).

Can you get rid of the landscape fabric? Or at least pull it well back from the trunk. That’s not going to be helping water to penetrate to the roots.

I would second getting RID of it. Any tree, but especially a shallow-rooted Ericaceous one, wants a healthy, living layer of soil to root into where mulch is slowly breaking down and amending the top strata with organic acids, etc. The landscape fabric is going to impede that.

Embothrium, thank you so much for all this info. Ugh, I had no idea about all this. I'll change up how it's getting watered and look into fertilizers. I'll also get rid of the fabric

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK and davidrt28 (zone 7) thank you for this info. I'll remove the fabric

Embo's advice is probably correct but don't go too crazy with the fertilizer. Use towards the lower end of the recommended rate. These are not heavy feeders. I'm seeing a plant that could be a deeper green but not something in acute nutrient distress; and I don't know much about the 'husbandry' of Ericaceous plants in California (LOL, do we have a truly equivalent term in the horticultural world?) but my guess is maybe the alkaline water so prevalent there is tying up iron vs. there being a true nitrogen deficiency. I will defer to someone like @Sara Malone Zone 9b if she's around. I might start with a chelated iron and see what that does.

davidrt28 (zone 7) thank you for all this infoI

What was the point of the landscaper putting in the fabric? It was just done a few months ago so it should be easy to remove I would think. Does the type of mulch matter? Like shredded kind or more large chunks?

The idea is to keep weeds from establishing. It does work in the first couple years but there are tradeoffs - there are various youtube videos or posts here about that topic. I personally think landscape fabric makes sense in certain very limited circumstances but yours would not be one of them.

A few comments - Arbutus 'Marina' was pretty damn-near bullet-proof until we started seeing evidence of Botryosphaeria fungus. If you keep your trees healthy this should not be too big an issue but be aware of it. The San Marcos site that I link to has a good (albeit quick) discussion. I have many of these trees and I would just water them generously this summer, especially if it's hot, turn off the irrigation in winter, and next year water deeply once a week or so. The next summer you can back off a bit. and water deeply once every one-two weeks. I have some that get drip twice a week and some that get overhead every 10-15 days or so, they all seem fine. I've lost 1-2 over the years and that may well have been due to Phytophthera not Botryosphaeria.

The microsprayers that you are using are, as noted, kinda wimpy. You can get very similar form-factor sprinklers that have a continuous stream, not invidual holes, and they put out a lot more water. Yes, pull them back so that they are watering the root ball and not the trunk. I use in-line tubing (Rainbird makes the best in my experience) and I wrap a coil around the base of the tree, which I can move out farther away from the trunk as the roots grow.

I have never fertilized Arbutus as I have clay soil that has its issues but it is not lacking in nutrients. If I were to fertilize them I suspect that I would use alfalfa pellets, which is basically just organic nitrogen. Makes the rabbits happy, too.

Arbutus 'Marina' at San Marcos Growers

Sara Malone Zone 9b, thank you! I'll change up the watering. Do you see issues with the photos of the 2 trees? Do the look fine for being just planted or no? The nursery says they look fine but they look sad to me.

Here are the two drip heads. The right one is far too close to the trunk based on your advice. Is the other also too close?
If I move them out, can I just schedule them to spray for longer durations to make sure it gets the water it needs this summer? I also have mature but newly planted Tuskegee crape Myrtles on the same drip line. Can they be watered the same? Thank you so much for helping me! I’m a newbie to all this and want to make sure I do it right.

They look fine. You'd do better with this type of sprayer (or hand watering): https://www.dripdepot.com/item/adjustable-vortex-fan-sprayer-on-6-inch-stake-by-tempo?gclid=CjwKCAjw2ZaGBhBoEiwA8pfP_h5qcqHCJOIzbcYHBxPDnlKam8vNZeyRa2BGkui_RNfKWWfeC1UYFhoC71wQAvD_BwE

Light green on a plant not supposed to be light green = severe nutrient deficiency; plants can look pretty green and still be quite low on minerals.

Thank you so much!!

So I checked the make of the sprayer... its a dial-a-flo bubbler. Supposedly puts out a 8.1gph when spraying 9" max. Well, we have some crazy pressure at my house and it will spray 4'... so I'll have to look into that. I adjusted the stream distances and put a measuring cup under one stream for 1 minute... it filled 1 cup. The sprinkler has 8 streams and there are two sprinklers on each tree. So, the trees are getting approximately 16c/min. We were watering for 7 minutes, twice weekly... so the trees were getting 0.875 gallons twice a week. Whoops.

I have changed where the streams are spraying so none are hitting the trunk. The tree circumference is about 9". So, do I need to run this irrigation for at least an hour once or twice a week? I'm so confused! I can't switch it all out yet so I have to make due with what I have right now. Thank you again for all you help