Browning needles on Mugo Pine

[Horsefeathers]

I repotted a yardadori Mugo last summer, and noticed since the weather broke that some of the needles are turning brown. I had two branches last year that were 50/50 brown and green and neither of those survived the dig / pot up.
Fast forward to today and there are brown needles in each of the "pom-poms" (is there a proper term for these, haha). Some of them fall off with basically no effort. Others are stuck on pretty good and I'm not pulling them until they're ready. The browning doesn't seem to be isolated to one particular "pom", but there are a few brown needles in each. I'm curious if this is just normal needle drop or if there may be something wrong? Any insight would be appreciated.

It's also Cicada season here, so enjoy that guy, heh.

 

[Attmos]

"Yardadori". That one's a keeper.

 

[MGTT]

Pending other input, the brown/yellow needles look like 2-3 year old needles. I’m guessing no issues. And, yes, some come off easy, others will ‘release’ when they’re ready - it looks normal to me.

Although, the tips of the new growth needles are a little yellow. Maybe something to watch moving forward (effected by soil, sunlight, watering - others may have more thoughts, but it’s looking a touch overwatered to me - but I’m going off JBP:JRP experience- wait for better advice from single flush experts).

 

[Horsefeathers]

I appreciate the input. I was hoping it was normal, but I just couldn't tell...

We've had a ton of rain and it's been unseasonably cooler here than normal so it wouldn't surprise me if it's a bit wet.

 

[MGTT]

Fwiw, I go through daily-ish, and needle pull old needles from my pines. If they don’t come off with light hand pull, I generally leave them - they’ll get there in a few days/weeks.

And, not being too far removed from you weather wise, yeah it’s been a wet spring this year. I’ve lost a seedling to it, but, in general, my established trees have been pretty happy - but I’ve had to spend more time evaluating each tree’s watering needs than the previous few years.

 

[Japonicus]

Looks normal to me.

However expect to have to use antifungals in Spring.
Im about 3 hrs drive ESE of you in the river cities.
Banding and orange/brown needles are the result of needlecast which simply is in the air from forest trees. Your tree does not look infected.

 

[Shibui]

Even evergreen needles have a finite useful life. After 2-3 years needles are old and not working efficiently so the tree sheds those in favour of younger, healthy needles that will harvest more energy from sunlight.
The pictures show only oldest needles turning orange and dropping so that's perfectly normal. Seems to happen in Spring/Summer each year after the newest needles open and start work.
Need to remember that this will happen each year so green foliage gets further out on branches every year. To avoid long, bare branches with tufts of green at the tips we need to prune strategically to encourage more branches closer to the trunk.