A picture of the plant might help.

Harry

I think the problem is over-care. Just stick it in the ground and leave it alone. Pomegranates are pretty tough. Watering, fertilizing, and spraying fungicides help but I don't really do any and I get a decent amount of pomegranates throughout the year.

Also, you said it was planted in the ground in a mix with sandy soil? What exactly does that mean? Did you amend the soil? If you did, when you do re-plant it there is no need to amend the soil. Just plant it as is. You can spray it with a copper fungicide if you're worried. The summer is an excellent time to plant it because it is rainy season in FL and the tree should have an easier time establishing.

are the brown patches only on the damaged branch or on the entire plant?

i know poms tolerate drier conditions than most other fruit trees. we've had drought conditions here since march, and i water my in ground and potted poms twice a week.

too wet could be a problem. if your soil is clay and you dig a hole then add another soil mix in there, you created a bowl, and when it rains a lot, your tree is sitting in a large bowl of water.

Thanks to all who replied.

Harry: I know it's hard to describe, I'm attaching the pics below

murahilin: What I meant was, the site where it was planted was basically just sand, nothing much by the way of nutrients at all, so I just added some cow manure whilst transplanting it...thought it would help, but it didn't seem to take either due to the previous damage or something else? I planted 2 other Poms in the same area and in the same way, and they are doing well, this one is just, well...anemic for lack of a better term!!

houstontexas123: The brown patches are throughout the plant, even on the undamaged stalk! The photos are below. Luckily I don't have clay soil. As I said above, I planted in a mostly sandy area and threw in some cow manure.

Below you can see the damaged stalk:

This is really very ominous looking, I just hope its reversible:

So what's the final diagnosis?

I understood what you meant. No need to amend sandy soil. Just plant it and fertilize after. That leaf damage looks like possible fertilizer burn. Possibly from the cow manure.

Just stick em in the ground and water and fertilize after you plant if they need it.

i see some new growths, so it seems to be growing. i would prune that damaged stalk. my poms send out a lot of new stalks every year. yours will recover.

Appreciate the help guys, keeping my fingers crossed...