Bay Leaf

hi all i need some help with my bay trees one is taller than the other.
Ive been told i should cut them.
iam not sure where and how!
Also the smaller one of them has yellow leaves.
the bigger tree is getting a gap is the ground where the tree as been swaying.
I need to know how to car for these propley.i have attached some photos,

 

Hi Herbgrower,

Welcome to GC.

Your bays look sick and spindly, they can be pruned back to about a third along each branch to a bud or leaf joint and they won't mind. Aswell as that, I would seriously consider feeding them and giving them a shot of sequestrine to green the leaves back up.

They look a bit dehydrated aswell, but maybe that's something that will improve.

 

Hi HERBGROWER and welcome to GC ...

To be honest, I think Bay trees are an entity on their own. When I lived in the Isle of Wight on the south of the island they grew wild and were huge and gorgeous.

I was given a seedling to bring here about six (?) years ago and I have it in a pot on my kitchen patio. It is now 130cms tall and I have many problems with it. Sooty mould and yellowing leaves but I sort of understand this is normal and I clean the leaves every year and the yellowing ones I think are just a normal thing .... picked two off mine today. I have never cut mine back but have braided three stens that came up from the base.

I would also like to hear other views regarding this.

Enjoy the forum.

 

Thanks for your replys ppl.
Can i cut the leader as well? I'am wanting the tree's to grow to full size!
Also would they be ok to prune in spring?

 

Hi,

I would leave the leader intact, and yes, Springtime is when I would do it.


Victoria-is that because of the dry climate?

 

Thanks for help.

 

No problem, keep us updated.

 

Could be the dry climate here, Claire ... a bit of a nuisance I must admit.

We used to spend the summers on the IoW and a few years ago my neighbour asked if she could have some leaves whilst I was away for her casseroles and of course I said she could. All of my neighbours (all four of them) are Portuguese and know near to zero about flower gardening .... their theory is if you grow it you eat it ... fair enough ... When I came back I was horrified to discover she had actually taken the top off the plant and there were two shoots springing up at the sides already quite tall (I was away several months). This is when I plaited the three stems and now one of the side stems is the leader and a fine tree it is. .. so maybe my neighbour did me a favour ....

Here's mine taken just a few minutes ago ...

 

Doesn't look that bad-certainly nothing like as yellow as I have seen some.

I suppose it can be quite humid too so maybe that doesn't help with the sooty mould.

 

Could be healthier looking ... but I'm not really complaining. When you get the sooty mould off, the leaves are pale and it takes most of the year for them to 'green up' again but the leaves can be used and smell as good as they should.

It's virtually never humid heat here ... we are dry heat thankfully ... unlike when I was in Alabama for 14 years and that was/and still is heat and humidity to its extreme ....