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Bay trees browning

nilgerami90770nilgerami90770 Posts: 8
in Problem solving
Hi all I’m relatively new to gardening and picking up tips along the way! I have bought some bay trees over summer and they were brilliant and fine for a while and I have followed the advice to care for them however, I have noticed despite regular watering one of my bays has gone very brown? I can see bright green leaves at the base of the stems but the majority of the leaves are VERY brown and I’m not sure how to deal with this ? Is this fixable with continued feed and water ? Or do I need to strip the leaves all the way back to the green leaves ? Any tips would be great ! It’s off as the other bay I have was 1m away and that’s lovely 

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  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    That looks like a very small pot for the size of your tree. I would guess it is lack of water. I would stand the whole pot in a bucket of water for several hours then let it drain. Remove the brown leaves, allow them to dry thoroughly then store and use in cooking. Bay trees are evergrenn and pretty tough so leave alone, no more feeding but keep the soil in the pot damp. At this time of year, plants are going into hibernation so it would be best to wait until Spring before moving it into a bigger pot. Put the pot onto supports to avoid it standing in water, keeping it damp should not be a problem at this time of year. It is surprising how much water a plant like yours needs to keep that amount of foliage going, especially with the heat we have had this year. 
    Your bay tree would have needed thorough watering every day during this last summer and standing in a bucket of water every week to give the compost time to soak up enough moisture.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    edited September 2023
    The plant on the right of the 1st pic is showing signs of chlorosis where the leaves are yellowing. Those leaves will probably also go brown.
    It indicates a lack of nitrogen, or possibly a lack of magnesium and/or manganese.
    There are quite a few possible causes-
    If you have been feeding them, you may have overfed them and caused an imbalance in the compost.
    Overwatering is also a possibility - the roots don't have enough oxygen to work properly.
    Underwatering is also a possibility.

    Use pot feet or something similar to raise the pots off the ground a bit so they can drain easily.

    I have 2 bays in pots and they thrive on neglect.
    I give them a seaweed extract drench about once a month from March to Sept and water them with rainwater when I remember.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    edited September 2023
    That's not neglect! @Pete.8. A handful of slow release in spring and watering with tap when needed is what I do and that's not even neglect😊
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • nilgerami90770nilgerami90770 Posts: 8
    Thanks Joyce ! I will give this a go, with regards to the leaves would you recommend to take all the brown ones off all the way back to the bright green ones that are left ? Joyce Goldenlily said:
    That looks like a very small pot for the size of your tree. I would guess it is lack of water. I would stand the whole pot in a bucket of water for several hours then let it drain. Remove the brown leaves, allow them to dry thoroughly then store and use in cooking. Bay trees are evergrenn and pretty tough so leave alone, no more feeding but keep the soil in the pot damp. At this time of year, plants are going into hibernation so it would be best to wait until Spring before moving it into a bigger pot. Put the pot onto supports to avoid it standing in water, keeping it damp should not be a problem at this time of year. It is surprising how much water a plant like yours needs to keep that amount of foliage going, especially with the heat we have had this year. 
    Your bay tree would have needed thorough watering every day during this last summer and standing in a bucket of water every week to give the compost time to soak up enough moisture.

  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited September 2023
    rhs tree - chlorosis.  Give it wee bit of Sequestrene.

    lhs tree - Leaves dried outcompletely at some stage.  Should recover.

    Pete is right: overfertilising, overwatering and underwatering are all causes of plant demise.  Not underpotting.  Respect to anyone trying to diagnose from a distance.
     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."
  • nilgerami90770nilgerami90770 Posts: 8
    Thank you ! So with the one that is brown/dried should I leave the leaves on? bédé said:
    rhs tree - chlorosis.  Give it wee bit of Sequestrene.

    lhs tree - Leaves dried outcompletely at some stage.  Should recover.

    Pete is right: overfertilising, overwatering and underwatering are all causes of plant demise.  Not underpotting.  Respect to anyone trying to diagnose from a distance.

  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    It willmake no diffrence.  Aesthetics only.
     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."
  • nilgerami90770nilgerami90770 Posts: 8
    Thank you ! Ok so just be patient and carry on and allow it to recover and with the other give it some of that liquid you mentioned :) thank you! bédé said:
    It willmake no diffrence.  Aesthetics only.

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