Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

My 15ft Bay tree has got too big

pat858daypat858day Posts: 7
in Plants
This Bay tree was already in the garden when I moved to my bungalow. It is getting too close to the conservatory and too high to manage. I’ve never had a Bay tree before so do not know how harshly I can cut it back. You will see from the photo it has 6 trunks. Ideal I would like it around fence height. What should I do and when? Any advise greatly appreciated. 

Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    If you cut it that low and it survives, you will get a bush rather than a tree and you will probably find that you will also get many shoots from the base.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I had a mature bay I tried to get rid of in my back garden.
    I cut all the trunks off at ground level but within a couple of weeks there were new shoots appearing from the ground.
    It took some years of removing the new shoots before it finally gave up.
    I had another in my front garden that I'd hack back any time it got too big, so I'd think you're fine to do whatever with it whenever you like

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    A friend of mine had one that she thought had been killed completely in a cold winter, around 2010 I think. When I went round in the spring to help her remove it, we found a tiny green shoot low down in the middle. Now it's bigger than it was before. So they are tough and it'll probably grow back however hard you cut it, but it'll take a while to train the regrowth into a dense lollipop shape like you have now (if that's what you want).
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Sign In or Register to comment.