Not that I'm aware of. However, pick only mature leaves, not the young ones, and don't harvest from plants smaller than about 40cm tall. I forget why, but there is a reason.

We harvest as the need arises. We use them fresh, not dried.

Will you share your recipe for Laurino?

would you all stop gloating about the fact that you all live in climates where you can grow bay leaves while I'm freezing my butt off here? :-p

Actually, bay will survive some mild freezes, so I leave mine outside unless it goes below 28 degrees or so.

The recipe for Laurino, Bay Leaf Liqueur, is from a Sicilian cookbook about a restaurant called Gangivecchio.

50 bay leaves
2 cups water and 2 cups sugar, heated to dissolve.
1 cinnamon stick
1 lemon--peeled rind only.

put all together with 2 cups vodka and let age.

Now THAT is a recipe I can use! Personally I don't drink any alcohol at all, but everyone around me likes it, and especially vodka, tho as far as I'm concerned it tastes like something you should put in your car. But I have two huge wild bay trees and found a third one growing near the compost last week, so this is finally something I can do with large amounts. How long do you let it age? Details, please! And anything else I can do with lots and lots of bay.......Batya

peanuttree, be aware that bay makes a perfectly good house plant and I'm growing it in a climate far colder than yours. Batya, be sure that your bay is the true bay and not one of the many, many plants that is called bay but isn't. What you want is laurus nobilis. In Israel, yours is more likely to be the real thing.

This book that I am currently reading called "Rodale`s Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Herbs" suggests that individual mature leaves of Laurus nobilis (bay) be cut off to use fresh or dry by putting under boards or other heavy objects to prevent from curling.
If anybody has any cuttings or seeds of Laurus nobilis to share or trade with me I would be interested.
neerukat

peanuttree,

You can grow your bay laurel in a pot. Mine is in a pot and that is where it will stay forever. They do not mind light shade.

DL

I can't resist needling you peanuttree by telling you that one of my neighbours has an arborist's truck parked outside today. They are using a large trailer mounted heavy duty chipper to deal with the excess boughs of her baytree. They grow VERY large round here! Wonderful smell in the street. Evil snigger. ;)

The leaves on my potted bay laurel are getting really dry, almost brittle. I recall reading that over-watering is really bad for it, so I've been giving it a good watering 1x/week. Am I not watering enough, or could there be another explanation for the brittle leaves?
Also, I've got rosemary indoors in pots for the winter, too. Will my potted herbs ever have to be re-potted, or can I just keep lugging them outside every spring and back in every winter?
Thanks!

Yes, like any potted plant they will need to be moved to a larger pot when they become root-bound. When repotting, tease out any matted outer roots so they will continue growing outwards. Once mine reached 16 inches (40 cm) or so, they have needed repotting every year.

Does the pot have good drainage? Is the plant putting on new growth? How old is the plant, how big, and how long has it been in its pot? If more than a year, tap it out and see if it needs repotting.

Thanks, mygardener. The pots have good drainage, and the laurel plant, and the rosemary plants continue w/ new growth. I think the bay laurel is 2 yrs old, and the rosemary plants are 1 yr old. The bay laurel is probably 2 ft high, and the rosemary is a little shorter, but quite full.
What does 'tap it out' consist of? Also, the pots are so large, there's no way we can get bigger and still have any realistic hope of moving them.
Any thoughts about the brittle bay leaves?
Thx.

Hmmm. A 2 year old bay tree in a pot that is nearly too big to handle. Could be that the pot is too big for the plant. If that is the case then watering 1x per week is way too much. If you are far north and have the plant in the house then it is not getting much sun and therefore needs even less water.
Until recently, I had 15 7 to 9 year old bay trees in 12 inch nursery pots. They were 6 to 8 feet tall. I had them in my heated greenhouse that gets as much sun as is possible for my area. I was watering them about once or twice a week during the winter. In the summer they were outside and needed water maybe 2 or 3 times a week. I also have lots of 2 foot tall bay trees still growing in 4.5 inch/ quart containers-they are probably 4 or 5 years old (the small pots are restricting their growth otherwise the would be taller). They are also in the heated greenhouse and only need watering about 2 to 3 times per week. All that to illustrate the following point: Bay can tolerate much drier conditions, especially during the winter, than it seems you are giving your plant.
Symptoms of overwatering and underwatering can appear to be similar. Usually, overwatering shows up as leaves with brown edges that eventually drop from the branches. When a bay is under watered it will wilt-especially any new growth. If it dries out past wilting, the leaves kind of curl and turn a sage green color just as if you had harvested some leaves and were drying them on your counter. If the overwatering is severe and killed the roots fairly quickly the symptoms might be similar to severe underwatering as the leaves are aren't able to get any water from the dead roots.
An even better way to tell: if your soil is wet and not really drying out between waterings and the plant isn't responding to more water-it was probably overwatered.

Baytrees are hardier than people often think. They go through the winter quietly ticking over so it is probably not a good idea to keep them too warm or wet or to try to get them to grow all year round. Same goes for rosemary. New growth is likely to be soft and sappy and prey to bugs. Like Daisyd, I am a big believer in fresh air for plants so try to leave your bays out as long as possible before bringing them in. Then keep them cool and just moist in good light but not hot sun through a window.

Here is a link that might be useful: Happy baytree in the English winter.

Ok, I am pretty sure I killed my poor bay tree. Even its tiny little new-growth leaves are positively crispy and dry. I plan to pluck off the dry leaves for cooking and start over with a new plant in a new pot.
How do the smaller (1 qt) pots work? Do you get enough leaves to use? We cook a lot, but of course, don't use that many bay leaves. My goal is to have enough for a couple of leaves per week on average. Will one smaller plant be enough? If not, would I be better off w/ 2-3 plants in smaller pots vs. the one giant pot I have now?
BTW, the one I fear is dead is in soil that has appeared dry all the time. I'd water it, thinking it was a desert and needed a ton of water. The dirt is even cracked. Is there something I can do to prevent the dirt from packing down like that in my new pots?
Thanks so much to everyone - your advice is really helpful.

I have one in our backyard but I have lost many to Northern VA hard winters. This one is in a corner of a walled garden and I am keeping my fingers crossed. I got 5 leaves off of it last year. flora UK must be laughing at me on that one... But my hollyhocks and Marsh Mallow were huge, so maybe that is the trade off. So New Jersey don't feel too bad. Maybe I will start one in my kitchen this year.