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HELP! My Bay Laurel is sick!!! :(

RikardSRikardS Posts: 12
in Problem solving
Really need some help, please. 

I noted a while back that some of the leaves on my baylaurel had “curly edges” and were a bit thicker, and that when ‘unfolding’ the leaves there were like a whiteish substance under. Some form of pest, so I pruned them quite a bit and got rid of most infected leaves. On the front, that worked well… in the back garden, some problems persist. 

Just got home from holidays, and found that the trees in the back look dull, with leaves browning, spotted, and generally just look sad and sick. I attach photos. 

What can we do?? I love these little trees…. Shall I buy / spray with somethig antibacterial? Really apreciate some help!

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  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    edited September 2022
    Very probably just a lack of water.
    On many plants the leaves will droop to indicate a lack of water, but bay leaves are stiff, so they can't droop.
    Then the plants becomes weak leaving it open to attack by bugs.
    It's probably just lack of water, but worth checking over for scale insects on the back of leaves or on the stems - they look like tiny brown limpets.

    PS - a few of the leaves seem to be curling a bit which may indicate bay sucker.
    It's not something to worry about, just trim off the curled leaves


    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited September 2022
     looks like the effects of the incredibly dry year we’ve had … mine has been watered generously at least every other day for months … 
    Drought makes plants susceptible to rusts and mildews etc … they’re not functioning strongly enough to throw it off. 

    I would just start a regime of regular generous watering. My
    lollipop bay in a container gets at least a bucket full per watering. Your trees look bigger and there are more of them … are they in the ground?  It’s almost impossible to overwater a shrub planted in the ground so don’t worry about that.  I think at least 3 buckets full every other day for the next 3 weeks  … poured slowly and gently over the soil at the base so that it soaks in and doesn’t just run off the surface. 

    A lot of those leaves will go yellow and drop … panic not 👍… next year in mid March feed the ground around them with some Fish, Blood & Bone slow release organic fertiliser and start a watering regime  … a bucket full per tree twice a week should do to start with, but as higher temperatures arrive you’ll need to increase the frequency.   

    If you’re not sure what’s needed, dig a hole in the garden a foot deep, down to where the roots of shrubs that size should be, and see how dry/damp the soil is down there. 

    Your trees will put on lots of fresh foliage next year … I give mine a spray with some dilute liquid seaweed every so often during the summer .., it really perks them up. 

    But don’t feed now … feeding struggling plants just stressed them more. 

    There’s no need for fungicides .., most act as a preventative anyway and you’re past that stage.  

    Personally speaking I never use fungicides in the garden … there’s an increasing body of scientific evidence of serious fungal infections becoming resistant to anti-fungal medical treatments in the way that a lot of conditions  are now resistant to antibiotics. We gardeners really need to think about what we are doing … sorry … a little hobbyhorse of mine. 

    Let us know how your lovely bays are next year. 

    Here’s a pic of mine this morning 






    I grew it from a cutting some years ago.  Whoops!  I’d better get those weeds out of the pot … and ignore the slug damage on the hostas 😳



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





  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Top right of your first pic is baytree sucker.  Just pick off, or spray with a food-friendly systemic bug killer. (I trust you cook with the leaves.)

    re The spotty and browning.  Look underneath the leaves, it may be some sort of mite/leaf sucker.  The same spray might work.

    They may just be old and ready to go yellow and drop off (or be picked off, if you are tidy-minded).
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • RikardSRikardS Posts: 12
    bédé said:
    spray with a food-friendly systemic bug killer. (I trust you cook with the leaves.)
    Thank you. I don't really cook wth the leaves, and I have four healthy ones in front of the house so I'm more concerned with keeping these ones healthy and happy for the beauty of it. Could you recommend a good 'systemic bug killer'? Thank you! :smile:
  • RikardSRikardS Posts: 12
    Dovefromabove said:
     looks like the effects of the incredibly dry year we’ve had 



    Dovefromabove said:
     looks like the effects of the incredibly dry year we’ve had … mine has been watered generously at least every other day for months … 
    Drought makes plants susceptible to rusts and mildews etc … they’re not functioning strongly enough to throw it off. 
    thank you. I'll give them a bucket / day for the next week or so and see if they come back to happiness. Yes, they are in the ground actually. They are surrounded by some star jasmine and some other shrubs however that seem to be growing happily!
  • RikardSRikardS Posts: 12
    Pete.8 said:
    Very probably just a lack of water.
    ...worth checking over for scale insects on the back of leaves or on the stems - they look like tiny brown limpets.
    a few of the leaves seem to be curling a bit which may indicate bay sucker.
    It's not something to worry about, just trim off the curled leaves

    thank you Pete! I'll give them a bucket / day now for the next week or so and see if that makes them perk up. I'll also trim off the suckers, though... they seem to be a bit everywhere! I do not cook with these leaves, so could you also recommend a generic bug killer that I can use to give them some extra help to recover?? Thank you
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Those leaves will never recover so you might as well remove them along with the bugs. With plenty of watering, new healthy buds will sprout very soon. You don't need to spray.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    edited September 2022
    RikardS said:
    Pete.8 said:
    Very probably just a lack of water.
    ...worth checking over for scale insects on the back of leaves or on the stems - they look like tiny brown limpets.
    a few of the leaves seem to be curling a bit which may indicate bay sucker.
    It's not something to worry about, just trim off the curled leaves

    thank you Pete! I'll give them a bucket / day now for the next week or so and see if that makes them perk up. I'll also trim off the suckers, though... they seem to be a bit everywhere! I do not cook with these leaves, so could you also recommend a generic bug killer that I can use to give them some extra help to recover?? Thank you
    Bug killers won't help. The affected leaves are dead, they just don't look like it yet.
    They're really tough plants. I've cut mine back to the ground and they happily shoot up the following year (I've been trying to get rid of one for ages!).
    As others have also suggested, just keep it watered for the time being and give it a good trim up next spring.
    Cut off any bits that offend you now if you like, the only risk doing it now is that it will produce tender new leaves which may get frost bite over winter
    One of the best things you can give them is seaweed extract during the growing season (I've just fed mine this morning with it). It really helps keep plants healthy and helps them fend off any attacks.
    If mine get a load of suckres on them, I just trim back all the affected bits.
    You could use a Pyrethrum spray if you wish but it's not going to make a lot of difference.
    I use this occasionally-
    https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0052CNS14/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited September 2022
    For systemic inscticide I use Scotts Bug Clear Ultra.  But be careful in reading the packet, they seem to call several things by the same name. My pack says "for vegetables".
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • bcpathomebcpathome Posts: 1,313
    Just try the cheapest and most obvious thing first which as had been said ,lots of water from wherever you can get it ,be it tap ,bath ,wash up water whatever .Don’t be buying treatments until you’re sure you need them .That’s my advice for what it’s worth .
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