Bay tree with brown leaves - please help!

Hello all


New to this forum so bear with me! I have a gorgeous (or at least it used to be!) conical bay tree at the front of the house (SW facing, nice and warm etc, not too dry or wet). Last autumn I repotted it because it had clearly outgrown it’s previous pot (I’d actually left it a bit late and the leaves had started to turn brown already, soil very compacted etc).


However, it is still looking very brown (possibly worse than before!) as you can see from the images. I realise it may be just because we’re coming out of winter but should I be doing anything to help it along? It’s clearly struggling and I don’t know what to do – we have another bay next to it which is very healthy and still growing new leaves!


Many thanks

 

Oh... here's the pics

 

Hello Simon...nice to see you
Bays are very tough.....almost impossible to kill I think.
That leaf damage is probably similar to that many of us have on our plants. Cold winds prob the main cause. Despite the wet winter have you checked the compost is not too dry? If it is dry I would water it a little.
Since you repotted it I would simply leave well alone for now. In a month or so, when it starts to regrow, you can prune it back, remove dead leaves and give it a feed. You can have fun with it too by shaping it

 

I think the answer lies in your post ...

...
When you repotted it, did you tease the roots out a little bit?
Have you been feeding it? I use those little balls of slow release fertilizer on my potted bays; I buy mine from the £ shop. I give them a dose every Spring.
Take off the brown leaves, they are serving no purpose now.
Cold wind can be an issue, but, you have them close to the house (which will be exuding some heat) so that shouldn't be causing the problem but might be adding to it. We have had some pretty cold weather recently!
Do you keep your pots watered through the summer and do they have good drainage?

I'm fairly confident that you can rejuvenate it if you remember the basics: food, water, good drainage, sheltered site and repot in Spring every 3 years to prevent compaction.

 

I agree with “M” cut every brown leaf off ,they will not revive.
Give them a feed and hope .

 

Thanks everyone! It's warming up nicely down here in Devon but maybe I'll leave it for a couple of weeks to be completely sure. It's next to the house so it never catches frost (I pull it under the canopy of the roof for the winter to save it being waterlogged and frost-bitten, and keep it watered).

It will look rather bare with all the leaves removed but worth it if it recovers!

Yes, I did tease the roots out when i repotted it too... I tried to be careful! Let's see what happens