Bayleaf planters 10 Years

lebigmacncheese

Plants never took off, very thin on leaves and leaves being eaten.... Any suggestions would be appreciated.

SnowyMuckish

Maybe plant them on into bigger pots with fresh nutrition and plenty of drainage. Don’t know what’s eating it, usually when plants are stressed that’s when they’re more susceptible to attack. if it’s slugs you could tape the planters with copper tape or wire.

lebigmacncheese

The planters are pretty big, 1m high x 0.5m wide... And they're separating two spaces (the intent was these plants would give privacy). So I either need to do something to save them, make them grow, or replace them with something else.

Not sure if the planters have any drain holes, I think they must but not 100% sure, do bayleaf need to be dry? I thought they needed a lot of water....

looksee

Bay trees need some water but prefer to be a bit on the dry side. If there were no holes they would be drowned by now, but they can be a bit temperamental. After ten years I'd replace them with something a bit less fussy.

Its possible the leaves are being eaten by vine weavils, the grubs of which are very partial to roots of plants, not sure whether they like Bay tree leaves. You could lift the trees out of the pot, do this on concrete so any weevils don't get into your soil, tease off the compost and bag it, then hose the roots till they are clean of soil. Look out for little curved white grubs. Squash any that you see. Put the waste compost into a rubbish bin, don't keep it in the garden. Clean out the container (check it has holes, I think it must have) then re-fill with new John Innes compost. If there is a considerable amount of root growth you can cut it back a bit. Replant and wait to see what happens. There are some healthy leaves on the plants and they don't really seem to be starving so you might rescue them.

The Continental Op

Too many competing plants in one pot.