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Patio bay tree rejuvenate

lizzykincaidelizzykincaide Posts: 99
in Problem solving
Hi a couple of years ago, the bark on my bay tree started to split but the leaves remained healthy.  Then last year we'll before the heat wave the leaves started to turn brown and crispy. I waited but then the whole tree followed. Today, I have taken it out of its pot and I cut it right back. Are the roots healthy enough to try it in some fresh compost or is it too late? Thanks

Posts

  • lizzykincaidelizzykincaide Posts: 99
    The roots
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    I should think it's too late but nothing to lose except some compost. If the roots are alive you'd get multiple suckers rather than another tree. My feeling is it will never again be what you want and not worth the effort


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • omghiomg_123omghiomg_123 Posts: 96
    I’m afraid to say there doesn’t look to be any life, the branches don’t have any green in them. That’s a fair amount of damage to the trunk, but sometimes the tree can last a while before it succumbs to the damage. All that being said I’d still put it in some new compost just to see, but I wouldn’t be expecting anything. If there’s no sign of life by mid summer it’s gone I’m afraid 
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited April 2023
    You may have lost more bark than shows in the pic.  I lost, to frost, about 1/2 the circumpherence and the tree still continues.  You may not be so lucky.

    If you cut a root, does it look alive?
     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."
  • lizzykincaidelizzykincaide Posts: 99
    Thank you all for your advice but I think I am going to have to let it go. The roots are white when I cut them but then as nutcutlet says, they may send up suckers. I cut even further down into the main stem and there's no green there either.
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