Standard Bay in touble
 

hi all

I have a standard bay in a container and it
was severely potbound (even when supplied!)

I have repotted and the leaves are still dry as a bone

My neightbour told me its practically inpossible to kill a bay!?

the dry foliage is just sitting there
would I prune to enduce new growth
any thoughts

tia
niall

Niall Smyth wrote:
hi all

I have a standard bay in a container and it
was severely potbound (even when supplied!)

I have repotted and the leaves are still dry as a bone

My neightbour told me its practically inpossible to kill a bay!?

That is basically true. I once defoliated on eby using soft soap as an
insecticide on it and it's leaves dessicated and dropped off almost
overnight. It still came back from the roots the following year.

the dry foliage is just sitting there
would I prune to enduce new growth
any thoughts

I'd leave it out in the sun and the warm watering periodically when it
is dry at the roots. If you prune now you could easily be cutting out
live wood.

My olive trees also suffer similar problems largely because N Yorks
isn't very Mediterranean in winter. They grow more slowly but still survive.

Regards,
Martin Brown

Niall Smyth wrote:
hi all

I have a standard bay in a container and it
was severely potbound (even when supplied!)

I have repotted and the leaves are still dry as a bone

My neightbour told me its practically inpossible to kill a bay!?

the dry foliage is just sitting there
would I prune to enduce new growth
any thoughts

No, don't prune it yet: that won't make it develop leaves if it
wasn't going to anyhow. You can certainly kill them, especially with
the aid of your friendly neighbourhood vine weevil. How long is it
since a new leaf appeared? Is there a healthy-looking little pointy
bud at the base of the top leaves? What watering have you done?

--
Mike.

In message , Niall Smyth
writes
hi all

I have a standard bay in a container and it
was severely potbound (even when supplied!)

I have repotted and the leaves are still dry as a bone

My neightbour told me its practically inpossible to kill a bay!?

the dry foliage is just sitting there
would I prune to enduce new growth
any thoughts

I had a similar problem with one of mine and decided to plant it out in
the garden. It is now thriving.
--
June Hughes

"michael adams" wrote in message
...

"Niall Smyth" wrote in message
...
hi all

I have a standard bay in a container and it
was severely potbound (even when supplied!)

I have repotted and the leaves are still dry as a bone

...

By dry leaves do mean they're drooping ?

Did you tease out the rootball before repotting ?

The latter is a very good point.

Regards,
Emrys Davies.

"Niall Smyth" wrote in message
...
hi all

I have a standard bay in a container and it
was severely potbound (even when supplied!)

I have repotted and the leaves are still dry as a bone

My neightbour told me its practically inpossible to kill a bay!?

the dry foliage is just sitting there
would I prune to enduce new growth
any thoughts

tia
niall

When you say 'dry foliage' do you mean that the leaves are dried suitable
for culinary use?

If so, it is in serious trouble, but possibly not dead.

The leaves should be a nice glosy green.

I had one like this, and it was to all intents and purposes dormant for
about 2 years.

The stem was still green, there were minute signs of buds, but no growth.

I kept it in the shade (less stress) and watered it when I remembered.

It has now recovered, with new growth from below the soil but nothing from
the main stem, which has slowly died back over the two years. Now cut back.

I did kill another one in a much smaller pot by severely underwatering.

My suggestion would be to put the pot in amongst other vegetation - shrubs
etc. - where it is out of direct sun and the surrounding plants provide
shelter and raise the humidity.

This should be a low stress location.

Keep it watered, and hope for the best.

Don't give up too soon - they can be dormant for a long while but as long as
the stem is green there is still some life there.

HTH
Dave R

Hi all

thanks for the tips

answers to a couple of questions posed back

The leaves are brown and crispy - not suitable for spag bol!
The trunk is solid and seems okay
I didnt remember to tease it out - probably the solution?

Will rest it in the shade - in my inexperience
I have been thinking that the sun would revive it

Regards

niall


"David W.E. Roberts" wrote in message
...

"Niall Smyth" wrote in message
...
hi all

I have a standard bay in a container and it
was severely potbound (even when supplied!)

I have repotted and the leaves are still dry as a bone

My neightbour told me its practically inpossible to kill a bay!?

the dry foliage is just sitting there
would I prune to enduce new growth
any thoughts

tia
niall

When you say 'dry foliage' do you mean that the leaves are dried suitable
for culinary use?

If so, it is in serious trouble, but possibly not dead.

The leaves should be a nice glosy green.

I had one like this, and it was to all intents and purposes dormant for
about 2 years.

The stem was still green, there were minute signs of buds, but no growth.

I kept it in the shade (less stress) and watered it when I remembered.

It has now recovered, with new growth from below the soil but nothing from
the main stem, which has slowly died back over the two years. Now cut
back.

I did kill another one in a much smaller pot by severely underwatering.

My suggestion would be to put the pot in amongst other vegetation - shrubs
etc. - where it is out of direct sun and the surrounding plants provide
shelter and raise the humidity.

This should be a low stress location.

Keep it watered, and hope for the best.

Don't give up too soon - they can be dormant for a long while but as long
as
the stem is green there is still some life there.

HTH
Dave R

Niall Smyth wrote:
[...] thanks for the tips

[...]


"David W.E. Roberts" wrote in message
[...]
I had one like this, and it was to all intents and purposes
dormant
for about 2 years.

The stem was still green, there were minute signs of buds, but no
growth.
[...]
Dave, this is inspiring. When I moved last year I brought away two
little bay seedlings. Something pesky took away all the leaves --
only maybe four in all! -- from one of them a few months ago, but the
skinny five-inch stem is still green and alive-seeming, though it's
died back to about three inches now. There are the same tiny but
static signs of buds. I've been treating it just as you describe in
the faint hope that something might happen eventually from root
level; now I'm going to take the possibility seriously. Many thanks.

Niall, not spreading out the roots on planting a tree is quite a
common cause of failure -- often many years later. Sometimes if you
dig up an unexplained casualty, you find the main roots have grown so
big that they've strangled one another in the bunched-up position in
which they were left on planting out. Some trees can't compensate for
the crowding by sending out new roots above the constriction. Best to
shake the soil off a new tree and soak it in a bucket for an hour, so
the roots are flexible when you plant it. (There'll be some for which
this is asking for trouble, but these will have a note in the
gardening book saying something like "resents root disturbance". I'd
be cautious about doing it to eucalypts, for example.)

--
Mike.

In article , Niall Smyth niall****off
writes
Hi all

thanks for the tips

answers to a couple of questions posed back

The leaves are brown and crispy - not suitable for spag bol!
The trunk is solid and seems okay
I didnt remember to tease it out - probably the solution?

Will rest it in the shade - in my inexperience
I have been thinking that the sun would revive it

Try scratching a tiny piece of bark. If there is a green layer under the
outside layer of bark, there is still some life in there.

Were the leaves ever anything except brown and crispy? I'm beginning to
wonder whether it was dead when you got it!
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"