On Mon, 9 Apr 2012 16:20:39 +0000, Hedgecop
wrote:


Hi All,

I have a Bay Tree on which the leaves are turning brown and falling off.
The tree has been very healthy for the last 5 years and this has only
started happening over the last 4 months. I have tried regularly
spraying it with various bug killers but with little or no success. I
have attached some photos and would really appreciate if anyone has any
ideas as to what the problem may be and how to solve it.

Thanks


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First rule of gardening (well one of them) is not to splash herbicides
or pesticides over plants unless you have identified a problem which
that chemical is designed to tackle. Mixing chemicals can also lead to
problems.

If you've had problems over the last 4 months then I'll make a guess
that first of all you had some leaf browning thanks to a mix of cold
and (in many parts of UK) lack of rain. Both would stress the plant
and it's natural for it to turn off the supply of nutrients in an
effort to shed some surplus growth - sacrificing some of its foliage
for the good of the majority.

Your subsequent cocktail of chemicals probably accelerated that
process a bit. So lay off those completely unless you have an
identified problem and then use only sparingly.

Make sure the ground underneath it is well watered (but not
waterlogged). Around the end of April, give it some general purpose
plant food and repeat that roughly fortnightly through May.

Once all risk of frost is passed, you can prune the dead growth back,
to a developing bud or side shoot if possible but otherwise chop back
to where the dead stem joins its "parent branch". Bays will take hard
pruning and will recover over time (though may be a year if you prune
really hard).


Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the nicely warm but wet east end
of Swansea Bay.