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Bay tree blues

nic.humphriesnic.humphries Posts: 7
edited May 2022 in Problem solving
Hi. I am havings some problems with my bay trees. Over the last couple of months the leaves have yellowed and some have black rings. I have tried feeding but doesnt seem to have made any difference. Has anyone experienced this?

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Hello @nic.humphries and welcome to the forum 😊 

    What lovely trees … I really like the way they’re grouped like that. 

    My first thought is that I wouldn’t be too concerned about what I can see in your picture. Those are old leaves and all trees, even evergreens, shed old leaves. The new young leaves look really healthy. 

    How long have the trees been planted? Is the landscaping work around them recent? 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • nic.humphriesnic.humphries Posts: 7
    edited May 2022
    Dovefromabove said:
    Hello @nic.humphries and welcome to the forum 😊 

    What lovely trees … I really like the way they’re grouped like that. 

    My first thought is that I wouldn’t be too concerned about what I can see in your picture. Those are old leaves and all trees, even evergreens, shed old leaves. The new young leaves look really healthy. 

    How long have the trees been planted? Is the landscaping work around them recent? 
    Thanks for the response. We inherited the garden from the previous owner. From what I can gather from the neighbours the trees were planted when the landscaping was done. My neighbour mentioned the previous owner had problems with the bay trees and had to treat them which is why I thought it might be more than shedding “old leaves”. 
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Lots of evergreen trees and shrubs, including bay, attract scale insects so maybe that’s what it was ‘treated’ for in the past, but we’ll never really know. They were probably fairly mature specimens when bought which are often under watered or can struggle to get established, especially of the ground wasn’t prepared properly - they like a free-draining soil to grow in. However, I agree with Dove, they look lovely and really healthy with lots of new growth and it’s just shedding the old. You can accelerate the process by just snipping off the offending tatty leaves of you like 😊 
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • TheGreenManTheGreenMan Posts: 1,957
    Mine does this. It has done since I got it five years ago. I think it’s as the others have said, just the older leaves. 

    We’ve had a dry spring so make sure it has plenty of water.

    That’s a lovely way to grow them. Looks very nice 👍🏼
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    If you want to give them a bit of extra tlc I find spraying the foliage with dilute seaweed solution every couple of weeks in the spring/summer helps to keep the leaves green and fresh.  :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • nic.humphriesnic.humphries Posts: 7
    edited May 2022
    nic.humphries said:
    Hi. I am havings some problems with my bay trees. Over the last couple of months the leaves have yellowed and some have black rings. I have tried feeding but doesnt seem to have made any difference. Has anyone experienced this?



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