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Bay tree frost damage.

bédébédé Posts: 3,095
edited February 2023 in Plants
Not a question.  Just thought you would be interested in my 40 year old bay tree.

Pic 1.  After just removing the fleece cover.  Conclusion:  Not enough, should have had a double layer and moved it nearer the house, but it is very heavy.  The damage is unsightly but superfiicial.


Pic 2.  
Shows trunk still wrapped in bubble-wrap.  (this is what CW does to a vertical pic )

Pic 3.  
Shows frost damage to the trunk about 10 years ago.  Scar stained black so that it doesn't show so much.



The dead leaves top right are deciduous aganthus with tops left on for root and pot protection.
 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."
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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
      
    Right way up now … hope that helps @bédé 



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





  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Thank you Dove.  I didn't think it mattered as it was only to show some polythene.

    But how do you do it, please?

    I would have gone back to my Apple Mac >>photos and reshaped my cropping to make it fit.  I judged that not worth the effort.
     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."
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
      
    My bay, grown from a cutting taken about  twenty years ago … it’s been unprotected in this East-Nor-Easterly facing spot here in Norfolk since we moved here in 2011. No ill effects from the cold snaps so far 🤞 
    Can’t say the same for the ‘lawn’ but it’s had a lot of fat woodpigeons, blackbirds and redwings stomping about on it 😊 

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





  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    My only experience of Bays are as large well established trees in the ground  The biggest problem I usually have is keeping them to a reasonable size ( current one is about 18 ft or so and needs a bit of a haircut ).  Next issue is having to constantly yank out the endless seedlings !!. Wouldn't be without one tho as I use the leaves frequently.
    I do recall my sister having 2 outside her front door ( West Yorks.) .  They were the same as @bede and @Dovefromabove show in the pics.  She lost both over a winter period - maybe 15/20 years ago.
    I had begun to think that they didn't do so well constrained in pots and pruned in a Cloud ( unsure if that term is correct ? ) but the pics I have seen on this ( and other threads ) seem to say the opposite.  Particularly the 40 year old one - not bad at all  ;)  
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited February 2023
    @bede I saved your picture on my iphone, then turned and trimmed it a fraction and reposted it, then deleted it from my phone.  You should be able to do it on your laptop too. 

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





  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    Our bay tree has been in the ground since 2000. We have never protected it and it has never been caught by the frosts (2010 was -16 here in the SW). We have had some weeks of -6 this year but still no sign of damage. Is the issue with the plant being in a pot and the roots are damaged by the frost?
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Dovefromabove said:
    @bede I saved your picture on my iphone, then turned and trimmed it a fraction and reposted it, then deleted it from my phone.  You should be able to do it on your laptop too. 
    Thank you Dove.  Especially for going the last mile, which I didn't.

    By the way, apropos pot frost damage:  I notice that the lip of your baytree's pot has been split, possibly by frost.  Does it have pot feet?  Does it normally stand on soil?  Was it protected this winter? 
     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."
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited February 2023
    bertrand-mabel said:
    Our bay tree has been in the ground since 2000. We have never protected it and it has never been caught by the frosts (2010 was -16 here in the SW). We have had some weeks of -6 this year but still no sign of damage. Is the issue with the plant being in a pot and the roots are damaged by the frost?
    Half of my baytrees are in pots.  I have never noticed any root damage.  The damage, if any, is to the growing tips.  And rarely, but more seriously, the stem.  The ones growing in the ground are self-sown or relocated.  They are amongst shrubs and hedges and are never affected. 

    PS the mop-head bay tree in my pic was bought in a Sunday market in Gent (Gand, Ghent ).  It spent the first 8 years of its life with me, undamaged, on an exposed balcony in a continental climate.  I have just remembered that in 2022 it was very late in growing, so the new leaves, though dark green, may have been a bit more delicate.
     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."
  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    My bay laurel are in the ground and I keep them under control because of where they are, either side of a path. They've been in the ground for about 5 years and haven't been as badly frosted as this year. They will be ok though, I'll trim them back about April time.




    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    My pleasure @bede :)

    Yes, it stands on pot feet and on the paved terrace... always has.  I'm afraid the split occured during the Beast from the East (was that 2018?) when it was pretty grim here ... I lost quite a few pots that had been wrapped, but obviously not enough  ... the bay tree's pot had been wrapped with several layers of bubble wrap but still succumbed.  It's not an expensive one tho' (although nothing at the GC is cheap these days is it?) ... we didn't get around to wrapping it this year ... life stuff got in the way ... and it didn't make any difference before so ... we've sort of decided that if and when it (and the one the fig tree is in) crumbles we'll replace them with this sort of thing as recommended on here a few years back by ... I think it was either @fidgetbones or @pansyface ... to my shame I can't remember which ... I hope it was one of them and that at least I've got that much right.

    https://www.gardenandpetsupplies.co.uk/products/blacksmith-black-patio-planter-35cm

    I know the black tubs aren't as aesthetically pleasing as the terracotta, but they're large, weatherproof, lighter in weight (and that's getting important as we begin to creak and groan a bit ourselves) ... and as the terrace paving is a sort of dark grey stone at least they won't look too garishly out of place ... and as Ma used to say, sometimes needs must when the devil drives ... 

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





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