"Paul Taylor" wrote in message
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Hi,

I have a Bay Tree in a pot. I have had it for three years. The first
year its leaves were plentiful, green and healthy looking. Its been
pruned into a standard. It is about 4ft tall, the trunk is about 1.5 to
2 inches thick, so I guess is was quite mature when I got it.

Now, the leaves are yellowing, some are falling off. It does have some
flower buds on at the moment, but alas it still looks sad!

I am considering what to do with it:

(1) Maybe just replace the compost?
(2) Maybe a bigger pot? - the one I have it in is about 18 inches
diameter, 18 inches deep.
(3) Or maybe I just need to feed it with something that Bay tree's
respond well to?

If anyone could suggest how I might try to revive it, I would be very
pleased.

You may have a case of vine weevil - I have a bay which had most of the
roots eaten away and it behaved much like this.

I think it is now recovering but it was touch and go.

AFAIK you will probably have to take it out of the pot and examine the
roots.

If they are fine and healthy just repot in new copost.

If they are mainly missing, repot in a new pot in new compost, and treat the
compost for vine weevil.

I guess you should throw away the old compost and sterilise the pot.

Keep the plant out of direct sunlight in a cool shady part of the garden to
make the conditions as stress free as possible.

Bay trees are usually very hardy and tolerant of neglect, so I suspect
something serious is happening :-(

HTH
Dave R

I've had the same problem, my tree is about 4 years old, and 3 1/2 feet
high and never been pruned, so I really went to town on it at the weekend
so find out the cause:

I inspected it thoroughly and found it had scale, so I've taken off all of
the infected leaves.

It needed pruning - did that.

Then took it out of the pot, found it also to be pot bound, (the pot is 15
inches diameter) so I shall repot it when I can find a suitable pot. (we
are surrounded by garden centres, most of which concentrate more on selling
books and smelly gifts rather than things that are necessary for
gardening!)

I am now keeping a better eye on it and have promised not to neglect it
again. I feel so ashamed - I just hope that there isn't a 'cruelty to
plants' organisation, I feel that I shall be hung, drawn & quartered!!!

Ros
Hi,

I have a Bay Tree in a pot. I have had it for three years. The first
year its leaves were plentiful, green and healthy looking. Its been
pruned into a standard. It is about 4ft tall, the trunk is about 1.5 to
2 inches thick, so I guess is was quite mature when I got it.

Now, the leaves are yellowing, some are falling off. It does have some
flower buds on at the moment, but alas it still looks sad!

I am considering what to do with it:

(1) Maybe just replace the compost?
(2) Maybe a bigger pot? - the one I have it in is about 18 inches
diameter, 18 inches deep.
(3) Or maybe I just need to feed it with something that Bay tree's
respond well to?

If anyone could suggest how I might try to revive it, I would be very
pleased.

Thanks,

Paul.

Chichester
West Sussex, UK.

In article , Ros Butt
writes
I've had the same problem, my tree is about 4 years old, and 3 1/2 feet
high and never been pruned, so I really went to town on it at the weekend
so find out the cause:

I inspected it thoroughly and found it had scale, so I've taken off all of
the infected leaves.

If you get scale again, merely removing the scale is enough - or even
squashing them across their middles with a finger nail. Of course, if
there are enough on one leaf it's a lot easier just to remove the leaf!

Did you also check the stems - I find a lot of scale insects hide along
there.

I am now keeping a better eye on it and have promised not to neglect it
again. I feel so ashamed - I just hope that there isn't a 'cruelty to
plants' organisation, I feel that I shall be hung, drawn & quartered!!!

Bay get scale - this is the bay's fault, not yours! Regard the
descaling as an annual job.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

Paul Taylor wrote:

Now, the leaves are yellowing, some are falling off. It does have some
flower buds on at the moment, but alas it still looks sad!

That happened to ours, and we tipped it out of its pot,
trimmed the roots, and reset it in the same pot with new
compost and some epsom salts. It recovered for a while but
it's beginning to turn yellow again, so we're taking a
cutting to put back in the pot and we're going to plant the
tree in the ground. I hope it likes living under a privet
tree, because that's the only place to put it.

Rhiannon

Thanks very much for the responses,

Regards,

Paul.

Kay

Thanks for the advice about the scale, I didn't think of checking the stems
- I shall do so, and your kind remarks make me feel a lot better - thanks!

Ros

Chichester
West Sussex, UK.