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Baytree turned yellow.

bédébédé Posts: 3,095
edited April 2023 in Problem solving
Not my tree but a non-garden has askeded my help.  I am stumped.  Can anyone help with a diagnosis and, hopefully, a cure.



I last saw this bay pre-covid when it was a healthy green.  It has become yellow over the last 3 years.  It is budding up healthily.

The tree is about 20 yeas old, in this pot ca 10 years, JINo3.  It was at that stage neglected, and I advised pruning it.  Which they did to its current shape.  I think it has had some occasional sprinklings of growmore.

I have suggested Sequestered Iron, but I doubt if the owners will do this soon.  I doubt whether it is iron deficiency., but thought it harmless enough to try.
 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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  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I have an old tall bay tree with golden leaves. It was like that when we came here 5 years ago. I thought it was the variety and is supposed to be like that but now you have made me wonder if there is a deficiency in the soil, but nothing else has gone yellow.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • TheGreenManTheGreenMan Posts: 1,957
    Mine started to turn yellow. 

    The pot was too small and the soil needed refreshing. 

    Once repotted and refreshed it turned darker again. 
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    Mine is in the ground. Looked it up and it must be the "Aurea" variety.
    https://www.bluebellnursery.com/Laurus/1581-Laurus-nobilis-Aurea.html#:~:text=(Golden Bay) Laurus nobilis ',particularly good for winter colour.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited April 2023
    My logic is that this bay is not genetically "aurea".   It may have decided that it was really yellow, but born with the wrong leaves.  However it has not had any hormone treatment nor re-asignment operations that I am aware of.

    Greenman  used the phrase. "started to turn yellow".  I have seen that in other plants and it is a slow and partial process.  This is definitely not the usual chlorosis.
     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."
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Either it’s dying from starvation because it’s been in the same pot and same compost for so long or the roots have rotted due to poor pot drainage and claggy, wet soil. The former can be corrected the latter cannot. Until they extract it to repot it and inspect the roots, it’s impossible to say which applies. They do need good drainage and regular feeding in pots.

    This is a useful guide and also has a video about yellowing leaves  - maybe send them the link?

    https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/bay-grow-guide/

    Without seeing the inbetween stages and pattern of yellowing it’s impossible to say what nutrients it’s deficient in and it’s tricky to be totally sure even then, but that’s gone beyond a simple deficiency, I’d say.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I suspect slow starvation, possibly not enough fertiliser or some trace element lacking. That's quite a small pot and even the best compost will be exhausted of nutrients in much less than 10 years. I think I'd be looking for a bigger pot and fresh compost but if the owner doesn't want to do that, maybe try a feed with some trace elements in it (fish blood and bone meal or something seaweed-based) and if it works, use it more regularly.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Agree. That pot is way too small. It might have found a way to root through into the ground, otherwise I'm surprised it lasted this long.
    People are awful cruel to bay trees😐
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited April 2023
    B3 said:
    Agree. That pot is way too small.  ...  People are awful cruel to bay trees
    I blame the bay trees, they seem to accept poor teatment without complaint.

    Regarding size of pot, the owners' ideas about aesthetics are important. Any plant would always prefer to be in the open ground in its home country.  But, I agree, a bonsai would get regular compost changes, root pruning and feeding.

    When I repot my own bay pot-grown trees, it's quite an effort, a strong man's job.  If it is to go back into the same size pot, then removing excess compost and pruning roots is a skilled craft.  I can't see the present owners doing that.  I'll have to break the news gently.  The JINo3 was at my insistence, they would normally use plain soil:  clay with many flints in their present property.
     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."
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Like the man who had almost trained his donkey not to eat anything. Then one day, it inexplicably died.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    If they must have a bay tree in that pot, perhaps they could plant the old one in the ground and get a new smaller one for the pot. It would put off the problem for another 10 years.
    I've repotted (and root pruned) large potted shrubs on my own occasionally. Not an easy task, but I managed so I would dispute the claims that it's "a strong man's job" and that the root pruning is particularly skilled for anything that makes dense fibrous roots - just tease out and trim some.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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