Emerald Green Maintenance

I was wondering if anyone does anything special with their's - I know the old needles die on the inside.  Does anyone try to clear these out?  Do you cut off the brown pieces?  Should I be concerned with too many needles shedding?  When I do shake out the needles, I tend to end up with bare spots by the base.

I did feed them with a food spike at the beginning of the season - and I am currently setting up a drip irrigation system to insure they are watered.

As long as the dead needles are on the interior it's probably normal shedding.  If the tips or the lower branches are dying that's something else.