How about a few clues? Where are you, when was it planted, and how was it cared for?

tj

Maybe stress from being newly planted. How much water has it been getting?

I swear I had my zone listed on my name and it disappeared, anyways I'm a little east of Toronto, zone 6.

They were planted in May, I have been watering deeply once per week if there wasn't much precipitation. One is full sun and one is full dapled shade. They both have a similar thing going on. I mean they don't look terrible just patches here and there. If there an issue I would like to figure it out before it gets too bad.

Thanks for the info. I think Stuart is correct. A bit of transplant stress. Perhaps even damage from being hoiked around at the nursery. If it doesn't progress, you'll be fine.

tj

I think cutting back (still once a week if no/minimal rain, just less, maybe 50-60% as much) on watering could help a bit. Ive got three, two are doing well, the third (in the wettest location) not so much/a lot more needle loss than yours. It is not an “all other variables held constant” experiment though as the wettest location is also the shadiest. Having said that, I probably have the wettest land of anyone on here and one very clear general observation I have made (for basically all conifers) is that wet locations/too much water = needle loss. Plus the temps are cooling so less water will evaporate. My water wasnt even hooked up this year so nothing got watered.