Thanks for the question.

The “scratch test” is used to determine whether branches are living or not. I would suggest that you do this on all the brown branches. Start doing this at the base of a branch. Then continue out doing this test until you get to the tip of the branch. If you see only brown tissue throughout, the branch is dead and can be pruned out.

I see that there are branches showing leaf development. This implies that the tree is alive, and the root system is functioning. For the time being, I wouldn’t be too concerned about the branches that are brown. It is possible that these brown branches had died during the preparation of the bare root plant.  I would have greater concern if some of the yellow branches start to develop into brown branches.

Good luck; be patient. Thanks for consulting our forum.