Look for live buds - these should be present even now. On stems that have NO indication there are live buds, you can safely assume to be dead wood and remove as appropriate.

I would also rub off any foliage that is appearing from below the graft. That is rootstock and not the same as the top growth. If not removed, it will outcompete and overwhelm the desired top growth.

Other than that, there is little more to be done until next spring when the tree leafs out. If you continue to grow in a container, you may want to replant/pot up while still dormant. Protect from excessive cold this winter and keep soil just barely moist.

Small JM's can endure a lot of abuse and still come back fine. I'm not at all sure I'd make an assumption that the tree was 'dying' just from current appearance :-) Certainly stressed and that combined with typical end of season at the garden center looks is pretty much to be expected.

Sorry im am not the best at giving descriptions as you can see. I thought as much with the rootstock so ive done that.

Being a novice, to me 85 % of the jm has turned white and i cant indentify buds therefore got a it worried.

Thats great advice and i will put that into practice. So thankyou very much your helps really appreaciated.

'White' doesn't sound good :-( Stem color should be intense - either an orange/red, green/gold or brown/burgundy. Gray or white sounds like dead wood, unfortunately. And I'm not sure I like that you don't see buds, either. They should be pretty obvious.

You have a couple of choices - you can post a couple of clearer, close-up photos if you like and we make some educated assumptions on the health of the little tree OR you can just leave it to see what happens in spring.

Hope this helps

Hope this helps

{{!gwi}}

Hope this helps

{{!gwi}}

To be honest, part looks dead, the rest looks OK. Still, I'd be inclined to wait until spring and see what happens. It is fine to remove any dead growth at that time (and it will be much more clear to determine) however, what remains may not be particularly attractive.......

Hope they discounted it heavily as the poor thing looks to be more dead than alive.

Ok and thanks again. Well they wanted ã15 but got them down as a thought it would come ack in spring. My mother in law had the same problem with a Bihou whih she kindly donated to my jm addiction collection and thats growing brilliant now. So i will wait till spring and see what happens.