Table of Contents
Broadly speaking, bay laurel plants, Laurus nobilis, are easygoing, low maintenance, aromatic evergreens that are a joy to grow.
There are a handful of common problems that can affect bays, especially trees in pots, which always need extra care.
Spotting and fixing the problems promptly will give your bay a new lease of life.
They are resilient trees that respond well to pruning and replanting.
Our guide to troubleshooting the six most frequently encountered bay issues
When your bays look bad, inspect the leaves, and inspect the soil moisture.
The most common causes of these problems are:
| Pot Grown Bays | Bays Growing in the Ground |
| Poor drainage is keeping the roots wet too long | Overwatering, often unintentional by lawn sprinklers, road run-off, etc. |
| Underwatering, sometimes the potting soil mix is not absorbent & the core stays dry | Location is too wet. Bay likes heavy clay on uphill places that dry in Winter, but not winter waterlogging. |
| Lack of nutrients |
Bay Tree Leaves Turning Yellow
Yellow leaves on bay trees are usually caused by overwatering, or by nutrient deficiency, both of which are more likely with potted trees.
Yellow leaves caused by constantly wet soil around the roots often happens to bays in pots that can’t drain, and trees that are irrigated unnecessarily by sprinklers, road run off, etc.
- Potted plants must be watered during the growing season, but free draining, not soggy all the time.
- Repot root bound trees with fresh, free-draining potting compost for containers.
- Established bay trees in the ground should not need watering
Yellow leaves could also be nutrient deficiency, lack of N-P-K.
Again, it’s typically an issue with pot grown trees, which cannot access soil nutrients.
- Light applications of fertiliser like Rootgrow Afterplant, during Spring and Summer when the bay is in growth.
- Mulch the soil surface with rich compost, attractive bark chips or gravel.
Bay Tree Leaves Turning Brown
Brown bay leaves in:
- Winter and Spring is cold winds scorching the foliage, which is worse when the rootball is frozen.
- Summer is a simple lack of water.
- Both are most common with bays in a container. But trees in the ground surrounded by paving that sheds water might get too dry in their early years.
- Water pots thoroughly, fully rehydrating them if they dry out
- Soak new bay trees in the ground weekly in dry weather
Established bay trees are very drought tolerant, a few brown stems here and there don’t mean anything.
Mulching around the base is enough, watering should not be necessary.
Peeling Bark
Peeling or cracked bark can be a sign of stress from fluctuating moisture levels when dry spells are followed by British rain, or extreme winter cold.
Bay trees are hardy down to at least -10℃, but when the temperature drops below zero for extended periods, exposed bark peeling is common.
No intervention is usually required, the tree will revive when the weather warms up, but a bit of horticultural fleece (we’re selling our last tubes of it) during the worst winter months is recommended for recently planted bays that are still setting in.
Bay trees in pots are most vulnerable in Winter, protecting the pot from frost is beneficial; horticultural fleece is one option, or moving it into a sheltered place beside the house.
Leaf Spot
Leaf spots can be a sign that:
- Container grown bay trees need to be repotted,
- The plants are overwatered.
Scale Insects
These sap sucking bugs are a common pest on bay trees.
They live under their brown flat waxy disc, initially quite inconspicuous under leaves and stems.
The bugs themselves cause little damage to the tree, but where their numbers build up, so does their collective excretion of sticky residue.
This waste product gets colonised by black sooty moulds.
These unattractive fungi block light and stop the leaf from making energy for your plant.
- You can easily control scale insects on single trees by picking them off by hand, a rubber glove helps, and the jet of a hose.
- Cut off the worst affected stems.
- Insecticide should not be necessary.
- Encourage natural predators such as ladybirds into your garden.
- Nurseries might use a biological control such as the nematode Steinernema feltiae.
Bay Sucker Insect
Bay sucker (Lauritrioza alacris) is a sap sucking bug that feeds on bay leaves, causing them to become discoloured and distorted at the shoot tips, the leaves turn brown, not a good look.
Check the undersides of the leaves, bay suckers are small greyish white insects as larvae, and look like large winged aphids as adults.
Bay suckers rarely become infestations that lasting damage to the tree.
Encourage natural predators such as ladybirds into your garden.
Wipe them off with a soft brush and the jet of a hose.
Prune and Repot Old Potted Bays
Bay trees in pots need repotting and pruning to stay in top condition.
If the top of a bay is snapped off or dies back, prune back to healthy wood and it should regrow:
Key Bay Takeaways
Bay tree leaves turning yellow or brown are common symptoms of too much water or too little water, and sometimes depleted potted soil.
Keeping potted bays lightly fed, watered but also well drained, repotted every few years, are often all it takes to keep them gorgeously glossy and green.
- Check the leaves each year as Spring warm up for pests.
- When planting, check that the soil has adequate drainage, and use mycorrhizal fungi.
- Mature trees in the ground shouldn’t need watering, but mulching’s always good.
- Prune Bay trees in the growing season, Spring to Autumn, avoid pruning in frozen mid-Winter.
Although my bay tree standards are covered in winter I still get brown leaves. They are in pots and watered monthly in winter, fed from spring and topped with compost each year.
Spring to autumn they grow well.
Is the answer thicker fleece?
Hello Michael, sorry for the slow reply.
These things are a bit of a troubleshoot – it could be one or more of a number of things and so a process of elimination is necessary. Thicker fleece may well be answer, as might less water in winter. As your trees begin to slow down for the year in late summer, a high potash, low nitrogen fertiliser should help to ripen their wood before winter.
But all that may be a poor use of your time & resources compared to snipping off the brown leaves each spring and letting the new growth take over.
I don’t ever water my lollipop bay trees, also in pots, unless we are having a really long hot and dry spell. I don’t cover/wrap them in winter ( I’m in Cardiff) They just sit on my patio doing their thing and have flourished for many, many years, I think I’ve had them about ten or fifteen years now… maybe fertilised them half a dozen times over the years. Getting more and more dense foliage each year. They literally thrive on neglect which is what I like most about them! They have a quick haircut once a year to smarten them up again and then they look great until next year! Perfect plants really.
Maybe yours need less love??
Hello Jess,
Great comment & I must update this post sometime to mention that fact – it’s easy to give bay trees too much of a good thing!
I’m glad that I came across this site, as I have had my bay tree for 9 years, it was in a pot for about the first 6 years & it has always thrived, even after planting in the garden. For the past 4 months, it has been looking really stressed, brown leaves, cracking bark, so much so, that we were reluctantly thinking about giving up on it, but we’ve decided to stick with it after reading these comments. Fingers crossed!
Fingers crossed indeed. It’s not really possible to diagnose from a distance, but do you remember if the Bay was badly pot-bound when you planted it out?
Hello, I have two spirelled bay trees which I love and have had for about 3 years. They were so healthy but this year, having moved them to our new house, they’ve just shrivelled up and the leaves at the tips have gone black. I think they might be too far gone but I’m so desperate to revive them. I’ve never had to water them and this year in the UK had been so wet that I didn’t think I needed to. Anything I look up says lack of water but I don’t think it’s that. I can’t see an infestation of bugs. I’ve bought some fish blood and bone but that hasn’t helped. Any advice would be much appreciated.
My bay tree in the ground for last 10 yrs approx – this year, new growth but whole tree turning yellow. Help!
Hi Gill,
We have been having dry weather lately so a general purpose feed, a good watering, and some organic mulch is the first thing to try. Let us know how you get on!
Hi, really hope you can help. Just arrived back from holiday yesterday and found my lollipop bay tree very sad. It had not been watered for 2 weeks and looks very crispy , brown leaves. It sits in a container against south facing wall and it does get very hot here . I immediately watered. I am confused about what feed to use – high nitrogen or low nitrogen. I have fed with Westland bonemeal on one occassion in May. Which I was going up continue monthly . Any help greatly appreciated as I don’t want to loose it ! Many thanks
Hi Karen,
Water. That’s all. How is the patient now after a stiff drink?
Was someone watering your plants while you were away?
Two weeks should be fine for a plant in a large pot outdoors where the pot at least is protected from direct sun and wind.
But a pot exposed to full sun, sitting on a baking patio as the hot breeze caresses water out of it: two weeks of that can kill a lot of plants. If the pot is on the small side and the plant is pot-bound, that’s worse.
Hi my bay is in a pot. She gets water. Has been fed.
The edges of her leaves are going crunchy and brown. I’m in a cool climate. Help.
Hi Marley,
Is too much water the issue for you – perhaps something near your bay is being watered as it requires, but that’s too much for the bay beside it?
I assume there is no scaley bug problem, they are quite visible and I typically notice all the ants guarding them first.
Hello
One on my lollipop bay trees has lost lots of its bark after really suffering in the Winter but made a good recovery
Now 1/2 of the tree has lost leaves and many other leaves are wilting
Can you advise on any remedy please ? Thank you
Maree Atkinson
Hello Maree,
Assuming water is well and the roots are fine in general, the next question is an appropriate feed: damaged plants are often taking up less water and nutrients so need less than a vigorously growing plant, but they still like a fertilizer of that essential N-P-K to help them recover.
Prune stems that are dying back to good looking tissue, light feed & water well, then mulch solves most problems.
Hi the branches on my bay tree have turned yellow with black marks on them HELP
Hi Jenny, that’s no good unless it’s going to a leopard party, are there scale insects everywhere?
Hi I’m sure 25 yrs. ago we purchased a young bay tree from you ! I’m sure you’ve been going that long
It’s always been potted re potted with John innes two and three for good drainage and holes in the large wooden pot ! When I last repotted the roots were like stone solid I cut loads back and even took a long drill piece through the root ball to create oxygen and try to looses up. It’s still living a year on. Iron tonic every now and again and feed too dressing . I know the root ball is probably finding it hard to access stuff I’m giving it but it needed something with yellowing leaves ( will it ever get its dark green leaves back ? They are a mid green now ) as it’s thirty years
O ld I’m wondering how to look after the 0 ld tree ? Epsom salts ? Does that help keep leaves greener ? Anyway it’s not yellowing anymore but the root ball is a worry ? Do you have any advice ?
Thank you for your question. I will answer as best I can, but I don’t think the tree is ours as we really only sold native hedging and trees 25 years ago. But it sounds as if it was a good tree and you have done very well with it as from your description it has spent a quarter of a century in a pot.
I think what your bay needs is a really good root prune, but not until it is back in growth in mid/late March. Then take the tree out of its pot and with something like an old rusty carpenter’s saw cut striagnt down the rootball just to one side of the trunk. You wil remove about one third of the whole rootball in one cut. Put the reaims back into the pot and fill the void with a good quality compost. John Innes No 3 would be perfect. Carry on looking after your tree as normal. As Spring turns into summer you will see new shoots appearing (in the right shade of green).
The following March, do the same thing again, but cut off an old piece of rootball. By the way – you will notice the new compost will contain plenty of new, young, healthy roots. Repeat the process in the third year and your bay will have a completely new lease of life.
Good luck
Hello, I’m after some advice.
I recently inherited 3 potted bay trees. They have been in pots that were waterlogged, absolutely no drainage! I would like to try and save them if possible. The bark is very hard, almost fossil like, there are a few very brown leaves left and the branches are brittle and twig like. I have managed to remove them from the swamp pots, where do I go from here? Bigger pots, obviously with plenty of drainage but which soil or supplements to give them any chance?
Regards Jane
Hello Jane,
The fact is that we are experts on growing premium plants for sale on a nursery scale, so we have an advanced solution for every plant that is sick or struggling: chuck it away.
I can’t give you a genuinely authoritative answer on how to bring a half-dead bay tree back to life in this precise situation, but I can tell exactly what I (and lots of other experienced gardeners) would do in your shoes: given that you have three subjects that would be dead as doornails without your intervention, this is an ideal time to do a casual experiment and treat each of them differently.
The potting soil is not terribly important, as you say, it’s the drainage that really matters. The only supplement at the potting stage that I think should help is Mycorrhizae friendly fungi. When they are in growth this Spring, a drop of general purpose fertiliser won’t hurt.
Because the roots were in such a bad state, I would wash off as much soil as possible in order to reduce soil pathogens and to inspect the roots. Cut out dead bits, and if it is rootbound you could either saw off the bottom, or saw straight down the rootball, thus removing around a third of it.
Then, I would experiment: repot one plant in (for example) a poor mix of grit & sand, with a little soil & compost, the next plant in my default home potting mix (roughly half-and-half clay-rich garden soil with compost), and the third plant in a rich compost.
Good luck!
My potted bay tree has 70% yellow leaves can I repot it in new compost and save it ?
Hi Pat,
Yes, and I recommend adding a pinch of Rootgrow fungi. Is it badly rootbound? If so a normal saw for sawing wood is a good tool for removing a chunk of the rootball (either the bottom of it, or cutting downwards, to one side of the trunk, thus removing about 1/3rd of the rootball).
Snip off the yellow leaves, they are useless now.
Was it in an exposed location and/or are you up North? Bay is hardy, but cold winds tend to “singe” the leaves.
If you are doing it right now, keep the pot in a sheltered place or wrap it up so to keep the frosts off it, this is better for the fragile new roots as they establish.
Good luck
My potted indoor recently repotted Bay tree seems to have leaves that appear to be drying and some developing brown spots. I I bought this when it was about 10 inches tall, now it’s about 4 feet. I need ideas and help. I thought about misting it but I’m not sure if it would burn the leaves where it gets plenty of sun. I have a gage that measures moisture and I so I can watch that it’s not over watered or too dry. Can you give me some advice? I don’t want to lose it.
Hi Christine,
It’s not unusual for recently repotted plants to shed old leaves, especially if they were pot-bound and had some matted roots removed in the process, so it may be nothing.
The most common issues with indoor plants are overwatering, underwatering, and of course cycles of the two are even worse. A bay tree indoors can’t photosynthesise as much as it would like to (unless it has a grow lamp, see below), so it can’t take up as much water, but OTOH it’s in a pot, indoors, with central heating, so it can dry out quickly as well. The ideal watering situation is for it to be well watered (i.e. no more bubbles come out of the rootball when water covers it) then allowed to more or less dry out before watering again.
Because it’s a sun loving Bay Tree being grown indoors (which is a bit like growing in a cave), it will benefit greatly from a grow lamp that will give it all the energy it needs to briskly grow new roots & leaves and look smart again.
BTW – Misting won’t burn the leaves, that’s an old chestnut. Misting can cause fungal problems in some cases, which may in turn cause burnt looking foliage, but I don’t think that’s a concern here with a bay tree – I don’t think it will help either.
Good luck!
I move house and initially put my thriving Bay leaf tree in a large pot. I then replanted at New house some 8 months later. Since replanted in ground it has struggled. Still some leafs but Brown ends as yet no new shoots I’m desperate had it over ten year’s
Hi Michael, tell me about the location – what is the soil like, drainage, how much sun and wind – and the planting process, what you did when you planted it. How much did you water it after planting?
Bear in mind it’s still March, the weather is cool, and a transplanted plant will usually be slow to come into leaf, so it’s a bit early to know how it’s doing for sure.
Spent ages tonight searching your problem page, hoping to find someone with my query. I have had a Bay tree outside in a very large pot for about 15 years and it is much admired. I have had the common brown leaves problem in the past but now it’s looking nice and green BUT I notice today that there appeared to be lots of white flower buds (which I have never seen before ) and I wondered if it was a sign of distress and it needed to reproduce before it died!!!!??
Hello Sylvia,
The distress of needing to reproduce before death is common to all creatures in varying degrees, but it’s unlikely to be an ill omen in this case.
Did the pruning regime change / get skipped this year or last? Perhaps you had been trimming off the buds each year before they opened.
And did you start with a baby tree 15 years ago? It could simply have taken a while to decide it’s time to flower.
What is the feeding regime? Flowering drains nutrients, and all potted plants need a feed anyway to stay healthy.
We have a smallish bay tree in a big pot, which this year has yielded much fresh growth, but the leaves are thin and floppy, and not as dark as the remaining ‘proper’ leaves at the base. We tried using one, but is dissolved (like spinach). What can we do?
Hi Philip,
Sounds like you got the same issue as Mary Brill, below. It’s probably a nutrition issue like too much nitrogen, which tends to cause lush but sappy growth, but it’s impossible to diagnose without knowing the patient in question. Were you fertilising it? Is the potting medium very rich?
I have a “lollipop” bay tree in a pot, which seems to be doing very well, but this year the new growth looks different from the old – still bay leaves, but different. (Can I send a photo?) Should we just snip off this new growth, which I assume is some sort of reversion to type – something which I once noticed in a climbing rose bush, which reverted from red flowers to white? The new leaves don’t seem to have the typical bay tree scent when crushed, which is partly what I grow it for.
Hi Mary,
It’s almost certainly not reversion: pretty much all Bay Leaf laurels are the species type, Laurus nobilis, so no reversion possible there. There is one cultivar, Aurea, but it is not common, and it’s not on my list of reversion prone plants.
Clipping your bay regularly is good anyway, so it’s fine to snip them off, but diagnosing the issue is hard without having been there myself. My guesses are that it either got stressed either by drying out or overwatering, or it got too much nitrogen.
Out of interest, did the roses revert on the main stems, or were the white flowers coming from root suckers?
Good luck!
I have two bay trees with twisted stems. I mistakenly forgot to water during a hot spell and all the leaves went brown and crispy. I watered immediately and one has recovered fully with growth at the top and suckers at the bottom. Unfortunately the other one only has sucker shoots from the bottom but no growth on top. It has been a year now and I was wondering if the second one will ever recover fully and if so do I need to do anything or just be patient? Thanks David
Hi David,
It sounds like the second one has died in the upper stem and recovered from the base. If you scratch the bark on the upper stem, it should be dry, brown, crispy, with no sign of moist living tissue underneath. Having established that it is dead, you can chop off sections of the upper stem until you see living tissue, which then has a chance of healing over the cut.
If you have a lot of plants in pots, a simple irrigation system is a wonderful thing – I love container gardening on balconies & roofs etc, and never start a project without planning the irrigation.
In large containers, terracotta Olla Pots could help, but larger ones are not so easy to squeeze into an established container already full of roots, and the small ones won’t do much.
Good luck, and as ever, the solution to losing plants is more plants! Bay trees are pretty easy to propagate, and now is the ideal time to take cuttings.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/herbs/bay/bay-tree-propagation.htm
I would like some information about my Laurus Nobillis tree. Bought in May 2020. Only the leaves there for about 12months then they all fell off in the winter.Seconed winter I covered the tree from the frost. Now know leaves at all. If I break the steams it’s white inside. Not all the tree is dead.I paid a lot of money for this tree for after my husband died .
I’m so sorry to hear about your tree, Mrs Rawlinson. If it has no leaves on it in its fourth year, then it’s dead.
It’s impossible to diagnose from a distance with no detailed info about how the plant was grown, but the two most common causes are underwatering and overwatering.
Hi, I’m so happy to have found your informative site. I have a smaller ( about 18″) bay laurel grown in a pot for about 4 years. It has great drainage and always done well, full with dark green leaves. But last year and again this year, it has been so wicked hot. I usually only water it about every 2-3 weeks, but the leaves on the older branches have been turning brown, from the edges in. I started watering more often, they haven’t improved and I’m assuming won’t? But they haven’t gotten worse or dropped. It has sent up a fast growing branch (not a sucker) that is super healthy and twice the size of the rest of the plant. I’m not sure I just wasn’t watering enough, or if it is a nutrient issue or just the heat. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Hi Izzi,
If it’s growing vigorously, it’s clearly doing OK.
Are you certain that you are soaking the entire rootball when you water it? Depending on the potting mix, it can take ages to rehydrate when it dries out (this tends to happen if you use plain garden soil, especially with high clay content).
Is it rootbound, and needs a bigger pot? Rootbound plants will dry out faster and show signs of stress as they use up all the nutrients.
Depending on the size of the pot, 3 weeks is quite a long time not to water in hot dry weather – as soon as the pot is dry, it’s fine to water again. Bays are very drought tolerant in the ground, but rules are different for plants in pots, which obviously can’t develop deep roots.
Practically all pot-grown plants need some fertiliser to thrive, especially when they have been growing in the same medium for a few years. Potted bays will certainly appreciate a few light feeds during the growing season – use something slow release, and don’t feed them at all between during Autumn and Winter. Mulching with rich compost every spring is also good if there is space in the pot.
Thank you so much for taking time to reply! I’ve never thought to check the roots and it’s been in the pot for several years now, so maybe. I’ll also follow your other suggestions and thanks again for the advice, it’s much appreciated.
Hi lovely people. I have a huge multi stemmed bay tree, planted in the ground, probably approx 20 feet high, not sure how old it is as it was fully established and huge when we moved in 30 years ago. Whilst there has always been some shedding of yellow leaves, this year, 2024, its been so excessive, have already filled three wheely bins since the spring. This is the first year we didn’t get it pruned/shaped as left it too late. The outer leaves are lovely and green, but when peering up the inside of the tree you can see the yellow leaves, as soon as I clear them away, more drop. No scaling or insects. The area under the tree, which has shuttlecock ferns is quite dry, so during dry periods I have watered the area. Help please. Thank you so very much in advance for any suggestions. Teresa
Hi Teresa,
“This is the first year we didn’t get it pruned/shaped as left it too late.”
Yes, if the plant was clipped yearly, it’s normal for it to adjust when allowed to grow. The outer leaves look good, it’s losing old leaves from the centre, so the tree sounds fine.
Not sure what you mean by left pruning too late? You can clip and trim your Bay at any time to tidy. Hard restoration pruning is ideally done in Spring, but I would only prefer to delay hard pruning garden plants at the extremes of summer heat or winter freeze.
Right now in September is a good time to prune it and encourage new growth from lower down – bay laurel may grow back best when coppiced .
“filled three wheely bins [of leaves] since the spring.” + ” area under the tree, which has shuttlecock ferns is quite dry, so during dry periods I have watered the area. ”
You water, you collect leaves: do you also mulch the soil, or is there grass / paving / beds around the bay tree?
Bay is a drought tolerant Mediterranean plant that should not need watering.
The ferns will catch all the light rain in Summer, but they also shade the soil well.
Thank you so very much indeed for taking the time with your excellent detailed response, I really appreciate it. Teresa
I have two standard bays, one of them the leaves are limp and going a paler green, both in same location and treated in the same way, what could be causing this?
Julie, I don’t know. Are they in pots or in the ground?
If pots, are they rootbound?
If in the ground, are they both firm, or does the poorly one move in the soil when you push it around?
Do dogs/cats pee on one and not the other?
Hi
I would welcome your advice regarding my Standard Bay Tree with bushy lollipop heads atop approx. 170cms tall and the trunk is 5 cm in diameter, which is planted in the ground in proximity (60 cm) of my neighbour fence.
I keep it regularly pruned, but recently my neighbour has attributed that the cracking of their pavement(a surface of 3 square metre cracked with lines from different directions and slightly lifted) has been caused by the Bay Tree.
I gently explained that this type of tree has shallow roots hence could not be the cause of such damage.
I would appreciate your opinion and would be happy to provide more info should you need more precise indication of the problem.
Thank you
Kind regards
Paola
Hi Paola, my opinion is that your neighbour is looking for something to make problems about.
There is probably no cure for this, so good luck!
Best regards,
Ashridge
Hello I hope you can help me!I was wondering why 2 of my mature bay trees have developed crinkly edges on the leaves otherwise they’re very healthy- got any suggestions please?thanks Shirley
Hello Shirley,
You’ve got to give me more than that! Are they in pots, do you check them for sucker bugs, what region do live in & how has the weather been, do you take them dancing on weekends or do they go themselves? So many questions.
My guess is you either don’t fertilise them, and they are hungry.
Or you do fertilise, and it could be too much, or a macronutrient other than the staple N-P-K is lacking, such as Iron or Magnesium, all of which needs some common sense and soil tests.
I Have had this bayleaf tree since I rooted it over 15 years ago. It looks beautiful and I supply family and neighbors with plenty of leaves to last the winter each time I bring it in the house to winter. My only question is, How come it never blooms? The parent tree died and never bloomed either. I live in zone 5 on s.W. Michigan.
Bay trees are slow to come into flower, and life in a pot can be tough: if a plant is malnourished, it physically can’t flower. How do you feed it?
Does it get full all around sun outdoors in Summer? Is it well lit indoors in winter beside a South facing window, or maybe has its own little grow-light? Being in gloom for half the year will be bad for flowering. It’s a Mediterranean plant, as you know: not much gloomy weather there in general.
Bay’s unimpressive, small flowers are semi-hidden by the leaves, and fade quickly, so it’s no loss.