How to rejuvenate bay tree

[Burnzie]

I've get two standard bay trees that have served a three year " tour of duty " at either side of my front door,

They are starting to look a little the worse for wear, pale and a bit straggly. Also some sort of sooty mould on the leaves.

They have now been retired to the back garden.

Any suggestions of best treatment to rejuvenate them ?


best regards

Burnzie

[MrsC]

Hi Burnzie, will be watching this thread as my neighbour has justed given me one that sounds exactly the same. I do already have one which is growing wonderfully

[Duronal]

I was reading in a book today that spraying the foliage of plants with a seaweed based mix will increase growth and encourage a healthier plant.

It's worth a go

As to whether or not you'd save your bay i don't know, i gave mibne a good feed today with FBB and hope that'll help with the slightly pale leaves.

[crichmond]

A Trio of Culinary Trees

[Burnzie]

Hi, I've been asking around today and the general consensus seems to be :


pot up, but only by a couple of inches, into a loam based compost
place in a bit of light shade
give them a general feed
wipe down the leaves to remove any dirt & mould.
and ..................


keep fingers crossed.


best regards

Burnzie

[Snadger]

I have put my potted bay tree into the greenhouse as the tips of the leaves got frosted!

[bramble]

mine are sitting outside for about 6 years now.
I never take them indoors in the winter and the cold weather does'nt appear to have affected them.
I have potted them on twice into larger pots with ordinary potting compost and fed them with chicken pellets in the spring.
They are lovely and healthy with real dark green leaves.
Perhaps tough love is the answer.

[rana]

Don't forget to keep the bay trees well watered. When grown in pots they will get very quickly stressed if allowed to dry out.

[srodders]

The sooty mould bit sounds a bit of a problem - I reckon you may have scale insect (or possibly aphids). I had a potted bay that had that problem and literally cut all shoots with leafy growth off. It grew back like new as a great bush.

Pale and straggly - are they getting enough light?

[Edwardo82]

Hi Burnzie,

Have you tried giving them some Epsom Salt? Worth a try if not

Kind Regards

Ed

[sarraceniac]

The 'pale' bit sounds like it could be magnesium deficiency. So Ed is, I think, on the right lines with epsom salts for that symptom.

[wellie]

Be Very Brave?

Trousers and I bought a Lollipop Bay Tree years ago, and I planted it in a kind of galvanised trough thing, and it's in a semi-shaded position.

It first of all got a really bad dose of Scale Insect, followed by a really bad dose of Sooty Mould.
If it could actually talk, it was going 'Help Me! Help Me!' It was really, really sick.

Is this in any way sounding familiar to you yet?!

I treated it with every appropriate remedy in the book, with no joy.

Then there was only one remedy left. To cut it back to a very basic framework, spray it with (I can't remember) what the book suggested, and cross fingers, and hope for the best. Which thankfully worked. And I'm pleased to say that it did survive all of that.

But all that lovely re-growth, is now showing signs of Scale Insect and Sooty Mould once again. I'm completely 'gutted'......

The only thing I can think of doing, is getting it out of it's containerised environment, and planting it in the open ground, in a much sunnier place.

Maybe the stress of being 'containerised' isn't helping it.
I'll seek extensive further advice, and if I happen to learn anything that's at all helpful to me and you, I'll let you know.

[Burnzie]

Hi, and thanks for the advice.

I potted up by about a couple of inches in a 50/50 loam/compost mix including a small sprinkle of epsom salts. Wiped off the sooty mold.

I've been rewarded 4 weeks later with fresh healthy looking growth on all branches.

thanks again

Burnzie