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:

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.