I have two bay trees in pots. We moved house and before we went they
were fine. Now at the new house they are looking very bad - leaves
falling off and most of the remaining leaves going brown. At first they
were situated at the front of the house which I suppose is lacking
sunshine and after the hot weather they may have been lacking water. I
moved them to full sun and gave them a good drink a week ago and as a
treat a few drops of Baby Bio in their water! One thing I have noticed,
if it is of any relevence, they seem to attract a lot of house flies.
Any ideas how I can save them?

wrote in message
ups.com...
I have two bay trees in pots. We moved house and before we went they
were fine. Now at the new house they are looking very bad - leaves
falling off and most of the remaining leaves going brown. At first they
were situated at the front of the house which I suppose is lacking
sunshine and after the hot weather they may have been lacking water. I
moved them to full sun and gave them a good drink a week ago and as a
treat a few drops of Baby Bio in their water! One thing I have noticed,
if it is of any relevence, they seem to attract a lot of house flies.
Any ideas how I can save them?

I thought about asking a similar question but was too ashamed!

My little bay which has been very healthy for the last four years has lost
some leaves and most others are either brown or partly brown. There are some
new, bright green leaves so I'm hopeful for it. It certainly wasn't lack of
water in my case but it's a sad puzzle, I'd hate to lose it.

There haven't been any flies round it.

I thought that it would revel in this summer's sunshine but it didn't get
much, being shaded by raspberry canes.

Mary

Mary Fisher wrote:

I thought about asking a similar question but was too ashamed!

My little bay which has been very healthy for the last four years has lost some
leaves and most others are either brown or partly brown. There are some new,
bright green leaves so I'm hopeful for it. It certainly wasn't lack of water in my
case but it's a sad puzzle, I'd hate to lose it.

There haven't been any flies round it.

I thought that it would revel in this summer's sunshine but it didn't get much,
being shaded by raspberry canes.

I am having the same problem. My bay has stood in a pot in the same position for
years, and it has been losing quite a lot of leaves for a couple of months.

I am putting it down to the recent hot weather. Hopefully it will recover.
--

"Saxman" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher wrote:

I thought about asking a similar question but was too ashamed!

My little bay which has been very healthy for the last four years has
lost some
leaves and most others are either brown or partly brown. There are some
new,
bright green leaves so I'm hopeful for it. It certainly wasn't lack of
water in my
case but it's a sad puzzle, I'd hate to lose it.

There haven't been any flies round it.

I thought that it would revel in this summer's sunshine but it didn't get
much,
being shaded by raspberry canes.

I am having the same problem. My bay has stood in a pot in the same
position for
years, and it has been losing quite a lot of leaves for a couple of
months.

I am putting it down to the recent hot weather. Hopefully it will
recover.

And yet bay thrives in hot countries ... it's a puzzle!

Mary
--

I thought they were indestructible! We have one outside that is
approximately 15 feet tall. I even had to take the chain saw to it over
Winter to remove a large branch that was overhanging the patio!
My guess, right or wrong, is that due to it being an evergreen, it will lose
a few leaves all the time anyway. I've just had a glance at ours and a small
proportion of the leaves are yellow / brown with a few dropped brown leaves
underneath it. I suspect the greatest danger may be over-watering.
Ours is also covered in green berries, it keeps self setting everywhere and
we've given lots of small bays away to our friends. I wonder if I could sell
some on e-Bay ;-)
--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
.... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/

"David (in Normandy)" wrote in
message ...
I thought they were indestructible! We have one outside that is
approximately 15 feet tall. I even had to take the chain saw to it over
Winter to remove a large branch that was overhanging the patio!
My guess, right or wrong, is that due to it being an evergreen, it will
lose a few leaves all the time anyway. I've just had a glance at ours and
a small proportion of the leaves are yellow / brown with a few dropped
brown leaves underneath it. I suspect the greatest danger may be
over-watering.
Ours is also covered in green berries, it keeps self setting everywhere
and we've given lots of small bays away to our friends. I wonder if I
could sell some on e-Bay ;-)

YTou know, you can go right off some folk!

Mutter mutter grumble grumble ...

Mary
--

writes
I have two bay trees in pots. We moved house and before we went they
were fine. Now at the new house they are looking very bad - leaves
falling off and most of the remaining leaves going brown. At first they
were situated at the front of the house which I suppose is lacking
sunshine and after the hot weather they may have been lacking water. I
moved them to full sun and gave them a good drink a week ago and as a
treat a few drops of Baby Bio in their water! One thing I have noticed,
if it is of any relevence, they seem to attract a lot of house flies.
Any ideas how I can save them?

As a general principle, if you suspect a plant may be too dry, and you
give it a good drink, it's best not to move it into sunshine at the same
time. The sun encourages the leaves to pump out water even faster and a
lot of benefit of the drink is lost.

If a plant is unwell and you know it's because of nutrient deficiency
(for example, yellowing leaves which are otherwise firm and not wilting)
feeding is a good idea. But if you're not sure what is wrong, feeding
isn't such a good idea - bit like offering a full english breakfast to
someone with gastric flu.

I suspect the lack of water is the cause - it's very easy to take your
eye off the ball in the flurry of moving.

But best to check out that there's no sap-sucking insects. Most likely
with bay is scale insects - lentil-sized brown scales on the undersides
of the leaves and along new shoots. Usually you spot them because black
mould forms on the sugary stuff that they excrete on the leaves below.

Another possibility is red spider mite - look for fine webbing on the
newest shoots and moving pepper on the underside of the leaves.

Several people have commented on house flies or similar on plants this
year, and I had a few days when the greenhouse was full of them (the
yellow sticky traps for the whitefly caught hundreds) - I don't think
we've come to any conclusion as to the cause.

Bay is pretty tough and good at coming back from the base, so all is not
lost.


--
Kay

Ours is also covered in green berries, it keeps self setting everywhere
and we've given lots of small bays away to our friends. I wonder if I
could sell some on e-Bay ;-)

YTou know, you can go right off some folk!

Mutter mutter grumble grumble ...

Mary
--

LOL, We have huge bays and they dont give us any problems at all apart
from growing huge, like David most of our visitors go away with a baby
bay. Maybe bays grown in pots give more problems.

kate

"K" wrote in message
...

....

But best to check out that there's no sap-sucking insects. Most likely
with bay is scale insects - lentil-sized brown scales on the undersides of
the leaves and along new shoots. Usually you spot them because black mould
forms on the sugary stuff that they excrete on the leaves below.

Another possibility is red spider mite - look for fine webbing on the
newest shoots and moving pepper on the underside of the leaves.

Pests were my first thought because the browning is irregular but I looked
very carefully and found nothing. And it's not cat spray :-)

Mary

Mary Fisher wrote:
Pests were my first thought because the browning is irregular but I looked
very carefully and found nothing. And it's not cat spray :-)

How truly bizarre. My neighbour has lost her enormous one, in a pot for
years and her neighbour too ... They both asked me why mine is still
going. I had absolutely no idea because I have one in the ground and
one potted. The potted one never looked really healthy, but I'm used to
it on the outside of my kitchen window and it's under the gutter so it
receives lots of water. It's pot is home to several kind of mosses -
pretty. I eat the leaves of the one in the ground - it's been there
perhaps 8 years. Never pruned it as I harvest young and old leaves
twice a year.

Now, did the bay problems started in the spring or summer?! Both my
neighbours's bays saw signs of distress around May. Something came to
mind too, is it perhaps because it is not harvested sufficiently? I
know that my neighbour didn't pick leaves from it. She just likes the
tree...

"La Puce" wrote in message
ups.com...

Mary Fisher wrote:
Pests were my first thought because the browning is irregular but I
looked
very carefully and found nothing. And it's not cat spray :-)

How truly bizarre. My neighbour has lost her enormous one, in a pot for
years and her neighbour too ...

Mine's only a miniature.

They both asked me why mine is still
going. I had absolutely no idea because I have one in the ground and
one potted. The potted one never looked really healthy,

Ours has been great until this year.

but I'm used to
it on the outside of my kitchen window and it's under the gutter so it
receives lots of water. It's pot is home to several kind of mosses -
pretty.

From a few weeks after I bought it I covered the surface of the
compost/soil/whatever with large pebbles to stop the hens scratching in it!
It works.

I eat the leaves of the one in the ground - it's been there
perhaps 8 years. Never pruned it as I harvest young and old leaves
twice a year.

I just harvest them when I need them, several times a year.

Now, did the bay problems started in the spring or summer?!

Summer.

Both my
neighbours's bays saw signs of distress around May. Something came to
mind too, is it perhaps because it is not harvested sufficiently? I
know that my neighbour didn't pick leaves from it. She just likes the
tree...

I love ours and admire it every time I pass it - several times a day. It was
bought for culinary use tough, that's its prime purpose.

The browning began very suddenly and doesn't seem to be progressing, new
leaves are growing but slowly. It's getting even more attention now.

Mary