Zils
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Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2018 7:40 am
Location: North Carolina

Bay Laurel help needed

I order Hirts Bay Laurel and it is slowly fizzling no matter what I do and I have no clue how to make it happy.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027 ... UTF8&psc=1

I originally kept it in the pot it came in to let it recover. I put it in the sun as soon as I got it. Then I gave it a grow light. Slowly one by one the leaves are turning brown and dying. I used the provided fertilizer and watered it without leaving it soggy. Finally I transplanted it into a well draining soil and kept it under the grow light and it is still slowly dying. I am not sure what is left to do. I received it January 20th.

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applestar
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Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Could you post a picture of the plant? When you say the leaves are turning brown, is it growing/drying up from the tips of the leaves? Also, have you checked for scale insects? — they look like waxy olive green-brown bumps that you might think is part of the plant.

imafan26
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I think you put it in the sun as soon as you got it was one of the issues. Plants should always be acclimated first. I don't know the difference in climate between Ohio and Northern California, but if I put a plant in a show even for only 3 days that was growing in full sun, I still have to re acclimate it. Changes stress plants a lot. You put it in the sun, it was showing browning leaves and you gave it water and fertilizer. I think it may be on its way out. When my bay leaves do that, usually when I transplant them and change their location, they do not recover very well.

Bay leaves are fairly tolerant of light, soil, and watering. They have slow growing roots so they have to be transplanted with care, especially the smaller ones. I would have acclimated the plant first by keeping it mostly in the shade and gradually bringing it out into the sun. As long as the pot was not pot bound, I would have waited at least a couple of months before transplanting.



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