Bay Cuttings

[Digeroo]

Does anyone please know the best time of year to get a bay cutting to root.  I do remember I had quite a few before one took.  I cannot remember how I did it.  I have promised a friend a plant.

[Digeroo]

[Bill Door]

I took cuttings in November two years ago and they took ok.  So if you try it now you might have some success.

I remember that I did "strip" the cuttings apart from a few leaves to give them a chance.

good luck

Bill

[ancellsfarmer]

Depending on your tree, you may well find suckers in the form of rooted shoots around the root area. Instant tree!

[Digeroo]

Have put some to root, large bush so no shortage of twigs.  Though it is currently looking like it is flowering/fruiting.  Which is the first time ever and it must be 20 years old.  Came from my mother and she died 16 years ago.  Very odd.

It has three shoots near the ground but unfortunately none of them have any roots.  I have earthed them up in hope.

Some site say you can layer them but no instructions as to how.  I suppose I could wrap some potting compost round a branch.  In general the leaves are some distance from the ground.

[ancellsfarmer]

If it has a spare branch that could be brought to ground level, I am sure you could tie a house brick to it and then bury, leaving the free end to straiten upwards. Worth a go?

[Digeroo]

Not big on branches near the ground. But there is one candidate that might lie down under a very large brick. 

It died back to the ground a few years ago, I think we all remember that winter.  I was comparing gas bills and it was twice the amount than this year.  It shot up from below the ground, should have layered it then.

[martinburo]

>I suppose I could wrap some potting compost round a branch.
I've tried that with other plants and it never worked, possibly because I didn't stay on top of keeping it wet at all times. If you have to partially break a branch to get it to soil level that might be a good thing as the water stress that causes could tell the branch it needs to root.

[ancellsfarmer]

Take a plastic pot and cut a 30mm hole in the bottom. Introduce a baytree stem with leaves to the area of last years growth point, and then pack with compost/sharpsand mix tightly. Suspend  and strap the pot with a bent up coathanger to another branch so that they act as one. Water as necessary. A couple of months should do the trick, and then sever below the pot having checked root formation. Once established, "stop" the main stem, pruning to correct balance.

[Digeroo]

Update.

Well I took two pots of cuttings five in each.  Just after this thread.  One rotted, but the other one all five cutting have taken.

Have just divided the pot.  I did them all slightly different, some with more of a woodly bit, others just stems.  They were all about six inches tall.

So now I have five bay trees!!!

[Bill Door]

Very well done.  I suppose you could rename your house Baytree Cottage!

Bill

[ancellsfarmer]

And its as easy as that!  Just the thing to screen the privy. With dried bay leaves about 3 in a packet @£1, you could be on to a scheme!

[ACE]

It grows so wild around here and a half mile hedge along the cemetery boundary, I have never really thought about growing it. I just put a few leaves in my pocket when I walk the dogs. Then last year I was trimming my hedge, when I got the distinctive aroma of bay, had a dig around and found one  growing in the hedge. Somehow I got a self seeder. Birds probably.

[Digeroo]

Yes I took 10 cuttings and potted them in two yoghurt pots, and covered with a plastic bag and left on a north facing window sill. I simply slid the cuttings down the edge of the pot.  Watered off and on all through the summer. One pot then rotted and the leaves fell off.  But the other started to grow some new paler leaves,  They seem to have thrived on neglect.   As you can see I did them march last year.  The cuttings were previous years growth material, some had a little heel of previous year.  Its as easy as that!! 
My original plant was a cutting from my mother.  It is quite big.  It died the winter we had -16C and I thought it was a goner, but it sprouted again from the roots.  In Turkey it is a weed and spreads like rhododendrons do here. 
I think I will do some more, and fill the space on the window sill.
Next challenge is to produce a standard one.  They are expensive.