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When do bay trees grow?
Emily Westerman
Posts: 8
Hi, Can someone please tell me when bay trees grow? I may have killed my lollypop bay trees by forgetting to water them during the winter last year while they were in my garage. I have put them outside since February but they do not look any better for it. I cannot see any new buds either. I'm hoping to find out that they grow in the summer or there abouts and I'll look out from new buds.
0
Posts
Hi Emily
No need to put them in the garage - just wrap the pots in a couple of layers of bubble wrap to protect them from the frost and leave them outside. Mine has been outside all winter every winter for about 15 years here in Norfolk. They need light to photosynthesise otherwise they'll be very sad.
Can you show us a photo of yours to give us some clues about what's going on? To post a photo you need to click on the green tree icon on the toolbar above where you type your posts
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
If you killed them last winter the leaves will have turned brown and probably fallen off by now.
What size pots are they in - have you repotted them since you've had them? Do you feed them? They're quite hungry plants.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hmm - I thought something seemed familiar - I've found your previous thread
http://www.gardenersworld.com/forum/problem-solving/have-i-killed-my-bay-trees/659933.html
I'm afraid that if your trees still look as they did in the photos you posted in April, then yes, they're dead.
Sorry.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
You could give them one more chance this spring just in case. I have a bay tree which appeared to die after one of the cold winters a few years back. Most of the leaves turned brown and there were no new ones at all the following year but the year after that it leapt back into action and now is covered with healthy leaves.
In the meantime I bought a small pot labelled "kitchen bay" from the GC to replace my "dead" bay tree. This turned out to be lots of separate seedlings so I potted them on individually and ended up with 18 bay trees - which is rather more than I need!
Yes, I've given several away and have a row of potted ones down the side of the patio. I'm also experimenting with trying to turn a couple into twisted stem standards.
If they're the ones in Dove's link they've been dead a long time now
In the sticks near Peterborough
Emily,
If they haven't grown any green leafs or new shoots for near a year now (if they've been outside since last February) it isn't going to be easy getting them to grow if they're still alive.
Can you take a few branches and cut them off with a sharp knife and see if they are "green" underneath ? With this mild weather the tree shouldn't have gone into full hibernation so I imagine you'd be able to see the fresh green wood underneath quite easily.
If you have the fresh moist green that the tree should be still alive and you could try re potting them into a larger pot with fresh compost full of nutrients to give it a boost when spring kicks in.