Bay tree issues

Can anyone help me? I have two 4ft bay trees, potted in terrecotta pots one of them is absolutely thriving, but the other one has been well eaten i think?! Ive rung the nursery were i got them from this morning for advice, and i went out to have a look and there was little bug crawling around in a curled up leaf. Some leaves are curled up and some have holes in!!! I have just been out and sprayed it with warm soapy water, hoping to kill the bugs? Any ideas? xxx

 

Hi Deborah,

maybe they'll be wanting a towel?? lol, no sorry, you have done the right thing but if you can do it without damaging the tree any further a leaf by leaf wipe would help-and then regular squirts of the soapy water, it works on contact by suffocating the insects so if any have been protected from the stuff (hiding under leaves and behind twigs and what not) they won't die. A good initial clear will help your efforts.

 

thank you for your help i will do it regularly and see how i get on x

 

If there are not too many affected Deborah, I would remove the damaged leaves. It will probably look a bit ragged for a while but they will grow back. I've had a standard Bay in a pot for a long time and a few years ago it got very badly infested with Scale Insect. I took the drastic action of cutting off all the leaves, making it look more like a stick. A friend said it wouldn't survive because it couldn't photosynthesize. However, the leaves did grow back, it's still here and looking very healthy so don't despair.

Chris