After some weeks away we came back and found our pine trees getting yellow. It starts from the outside and at the moment there are not many brown branches/needles.
I read it could be manganese deficiency, or the cold weather (we have been told it was freezing in the south in our absence). I will appreciate any comments as we are quite new and my dad (the gardener) passed away last year.
I've seen this in the North (Wisconsin and Minnesota) quite often. It looks like your "Pine", which may be an Arborvitae (White Cedar) may have experienced winter burn. The fact that your tree is planted in a pot makes it susceptible to winter burn because of its shallow root system. The browning occurs when the plant might try to transpire in the sun, but it cannot replace the water it is losing because the soil is frozen.
You can prune out the dead foliage about now since new foliage may be emerging.
