Here's the new leaves that shriveled and the brown spot that came a week or so later (today). As you can see it had a hard time keeping it's top leaves this winter and lost more when some shriveled from what I believe was drought stress.

When you say you put the tree outside to get some sun, are you putting in direct sunlight? A tree will burn if it is taken from inside and put into direct sunlight, it needs to be slowly acclimated to full sunlight. New growth will be the first to dry up if the tree is thirsty so that is probably what happened to your new growth, especially if you put it out in full sun.

No, it sits on my east facing covered porch until summer when I do put it in direct sun and it thrives at that point. I'm wondering if maybe it was too cold yesterday? Was 54 when I got home and brought it inside.

I'll give that a try. Will it hinder future upward growth?

NO

Your plant's most tender foliage either got burnt by the sun, or desiccated from drying winds. Or it got fertilizer burn. When you put your tree out, keep it in dappled shade for at least several weeks and then introduce to more sun gradually. I personally don't like slow-release fert as it has a lot of salts in it. Hold off using fert until summer when watering will increase and flush salts away.

Your tree should eventually develop some side branches. But seedlings typically grow TALL, at least initially. Keep in mind that if you trim off the top, it won't bloom as soon. They also need to get tall for earliest bloom -- at least 5 feet high. Generally seedlings take 5 to 10 years before they will bloom.

I believe the foliage was a result of radiator heat and not enough water. It wasn't outside that day. My porch only gets an hour of direct sunlight a day and the tree isn't usually out that early anyway because of the cold.

Fertilizer burn from a slow release fertilizer product would be highly improbable.