View Single Post
  #4   Report Post  
Old 27-12-2009, 05:27 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
BAC BAC is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 243
Default How easy is it to propagate a bay tree?


"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...
We have a laurel/bay bush in our back garden (which is actually a tree
which has been cut down to a stump and then regrown as a bush).

I have some other bushes in tubs but they have a different scent and I
particularly like the one in our back garden.

However it may have to go because it is really in the wrong place for our
redesigned rear area.
Obviously being a truncated tree it cannot be lifted and moved.

http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_bay_laurel.htm makes it sound quite
difficult to propagate (however as they can't even get their
Farenheit/Centigrade conversions right I don't know how much to trust
them).

Of the three options, I don't see any seeds and layering may take too long
(although air layering is not mentioned, which might be an option) so
cuttings seems to be the best bet.

Has anyone had success taking cuttings from bay?

How do I tell which type of bay it is?
The web site above describes it as a bush but the trunk was pretty big and
the bay trees around this area seem to be just that - trees.
My other bays have grown from seedlings lifted from a friend's garden and
his bay tree is huge.


I have propagated a bay from cuttings. Initially, the potted cuttings seemed
to take quite easily, but most died off in the first year. The sole survivor
stayed stunted for the next five or so years, but then took off like a
rocket, for some unknown reason.

'True' bay trees can grow very big - there's one in the gardens at
Portmeirion that must be over sixty feet tall.