Tuesday 19 January 2016

Starting some new Bay trees

When we moved into this property of ours, in 1991, we brought a potted Bay tree from our previous house, and I planted it in one of the borders. It has grown into a huge bush / tree, and we use leaves from it very frequently in our cooking - particularly for flavouring stock and casseroles. Soon after we moved here I took some cuttings from this tree and I have grown them into a pair of standard-trained ornamental trees, clipped into a rough "lollipop" shape.


The two standards will not last for ever though, and since Bay trees grow very slowly I decided in 2013 to start another pair, so I took two more cuttings. Unfortunately only one of them "took". Here it is in June 2014.


By October 2015 it looked like this:


And you can see it again here in a photo taken just a few days ago.


Just recently I noticed that the big "Granddaddy" Bay tree had put up a few basal suckers. These are the best material for taking cuttings, so I thought I would demonstrate here the procedure I use for this.

Here are the suckers coming up out of the soil at the base of the mature tree:


There were 3 of them, but I decided I would only cut 2.


They both had a very pronounced curve.


I cut off a couple of inches of the base to straighten them, but not too much, because the part of the cutting that was underground is the bit most likely to root. Then I dipped each cutting in some Hormone Rooting Powder, which will (allegedly) help it to produce roots.


Then I stuck each one in a pot of moist garden soil to which I had added a about 10% gravel, which will assist with drainage.


These pots are now sitting on a potting-bench in the garage, near the window, where it is warmer than being outside (by a long way!), but still relatively cool. There is now nothing much else I can do apart from wait and see whether they "take". It will be several weeks before I know, but if/when I see some new leaves forming at their tips I will know that I have been successful. And in about 10 years time I may have two more standard Bay trees!

P.S. Thanks to everyone who offered advice about the care of Fig and Olive trees. Much appreciated!

5 comments:

  1. A prize goes to you for patience :-) we used to have a bay tree but we found it was always becoming infested with scale insect do you ever have this problem on yours?

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    1. The big parent tree dis have some scale insects once, but it's never been much of a problem. On the other hand all my trees are constantly attacked by "Bay sucker" insects - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/Profile?pid=505 The damage they cause is very unsightly.

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  2. It was lovely to read of your bay tree adventures, there is a wonderfully large one in the ground of one of the front gardens in the lane I live. It must have been there for years as I remember it as a child.

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  3. I had a very small bay tree many years ago, not much bigger than those cuttings, but it didn't do very well and eventually succumbed. I've learned a lot since then so I will likely give it another try at some point.

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  4. I was going to ask you how long/old those were but missed it in the beginning of the post. We have a small, though growing, bay tree that just grows so slowly. I thought it it was something I was doing wrong but now I realize "patience" is the key, ha. And perhaps a bigger pot! :-)

    BEAUTIFUL trees! Thanks for the tutorial, I swear, I always learn something new when I come here. Thanks!!

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