Bay Trees

another question, i apologise if im getting on your nerves with them :o

i have a bay tree that had been root bound in a pot for about 3 years. it was about 3ft tall and only had about 6 yellowing leaves left. it was early autumn when i planted into the garden, it made some good growth very soon. each year since it has gone from strength to strength in terms of putting on growth. but the older leaves have darkened tips to them (i hope the photos are clear enough) i have been picking the odd leaf here and there for cooking as it now seems strong enough to be able to do so. someone mentioned to me that it might be scale insect. there were some scaly looking looking things living on the underside of the leaves when it was in the pot but i cant see any evidence of them now.


any suggestions anyone?

 

That could be drought,

or Witches.....

Bay Leaf Spells

 

i doubt its drought, given the amount of water i give it.

 

Not Witches and not Drought, hmm,

Only other thing I can think of would be the cold winter we just had.

Try picking off the blackened leaves and keep an eye on the new growth.

If you don't get any further tips blackening this season then its more likely that than a pest. Bay trees are highly resistant to pests.

 

Your bay tree has got off incredibly lightly from that hard winter. Every bay tree in this village was badly affected or killed. Here's mine which is now recovering well:



But next door's got really badly hit by it:



I do think however that some people may have prematurely pronounced their bay trees get and got rid of them before they started re-spouting. That pic above was taken this afternoon and it's taken until June for the first green shoots to appear.

I've had those and got rid of them by squishing them.

 

i dont think that your neighbours tree has gone beyond recovery Scrungee. ok its lost leaves, but mine looked like it had been struck by lightning it ws so bare. theres hope for it yet. is in a pot? if it is then knock it out of it and give it some space.

as a side note, one thing i missed when making a lasagne was not including a bay leaf or 2 in the white sauce whilst the tree was recovering

 

Still recon witches have got something to do with it.

 

Bella donna was the witch:



Bay leaf was the gardener:

 

I'd forgotten about Belladonna

Still recon i'm Bayleaf myself though.

"I'm Bayleaf i'm the gardener, I work all day from dawn,
I'm always sweeping up the leaves and filling in endless risk assesments and method statements just to please health and safety."

 

YouTube - ‪Top 10 funniest Health & Safety Pictures you will ever see!‬‏

 

thanks for the advice everyone, i could go with frost damage (or at least the cold) as each year the new growth's tips start to blacken once the growth has stopped.


love the tv series reference. how that takes me back.....mrs onion the teacher in tears and the chives her class. they dont make em like that anymore!

 

I have a Bay tree I brought from the IoW ten years ago and it has given me nothing but grief, mostly sooty mould problems and every year I diligently wipe every leaf with soapy water ... big task with a 1.5 meter tree!

Well, now it has scale insect disease so that is it ... I am getting rid of it and put something more pleasant looking on the kitchen patio next to the door.