Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi all,
It's been a while since I visited - hope everyone's well and your gardens are flourishing.
Anyway, back in January I salvaged 2 6' bay trees (laurus nobilis) from a supermarket who tried to sell them at christmas and abandoned them to die afterwards. They were in sorry condition, the compost was completely dried out and all the leaves having turned brown and crinkly, but I brought them home, gave them a big drink, and put them in the polytunnel.

One of them has recovered fantastically, with loads of new bright green little shoots and leaves, but the other still looks sad with no new growth at all, although it is sending up suckers around the base so I'm sure there's still life in the roots.

Does anybody know how I can tell for sure when it's all over for the poor thing, and what if anything I can do to try to save it?

Another curiosity about these trees is they have big signs hanging on them saying "For decorative use only - do not consume". Am I missing something - what strange variety of laurus nobilis could be dangerous to use as a herb??

Thanks all,
Bruce

I'm sure that if you cut the dead bits off the sad one the suckers will go for it.
Have a hazy recolection, from when I was very small, of dad having to cut down the eight foot cube of a bay and it being back a few years later.

Is it still alive? You can just wait and see of course, or you could starting at the 'top' 'outside' and working your way in and down scrape a little bark off with a penknife. Dead 'under bark' will be dry, alive wet. The trouble with this method is that if any of the original bay is still alive eventually you will be damaging the part you want. A variation of this is to prune down in stages until you reach live wood. This is perfectly practical on a small plant, it could take rather a long time on a large bush.
And I agree with Peter that it will regrow from the roots if none of the original bush survives. I have a similar memory of an eight or ten foot bay being cut down one bitter winter to regrow to its former glory in a surprisingly short time.

As for the 'for decorative use only' bit I would guess that some pesticde had been used that it is not safe to consume. I don't use them myself, so I have no idea how long any such might persist.

If the bay is regrowing from the base you could have fun making it into a fancy shape. You don't have to clip bays very often, so they are a lot less effort than most topiary. I'm growing and shaping my own standard bay at present and it seems to be shaping up well on the 'trimming' it gets when I harvest a sprig to use in the kitchen.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Think I'll leave it a little longer and see what happens.

I hadn't thought of pesticides as a reason not to use the leaves... doh.

While on the subject of bay trees i have two in pots . The leaves are a yellow colour. Could some one tell me what type of fertiliser will "green them up". I have gromore Vitax Q4 and tomatoe fertilizer
Will any of these do the job
Regards Brenjon

Come on Johnboy . You must have the answer.
Regards Brenjon

You might be better either repotting them or removing as much of the top layer of compost as possible and replacing it. The problem could be solved by liqud feeding, but you would have to go on feeding for ever and while you will remember in summer when you will be feeding other things, there is winter to consider. The bay as has been discussed will survive better if it is on the dry side, but it will still need nutrients for the warmer days without being too wet.