Are they indoors?

No they are on my patio table outside, covered by the overhanging roof.

did you just receive them .. and pot them ... are they new to you??? .. or did you just dig them up and pot them ????

there was some prior stress. and its just now showing ... water properly.. and hope for the best .. look to new growth for current condition ...

and if freshly potted.. i would keep them out of direct sun for a while ... just to settle down from the stress ...

dont keep trying to fix .. what might already be fixed ...

sounds like a lot of water.. but i dont grow this plant ... maybe it doesnt mind ....but you arent going to heal the damage.. so dont overwater to accomplish that ... i think i would let it dry down an inch between waterings ... but again.. i never grew this plant ...

weather, temps and shady location sound spot on ...ergo my stress theory ....

ken

I repotted them when I received them about three weeks ago. I keep them out of full sun even though it is supposed to be a full sun loving plant, as the days here are long and hot and the plants seem pretty stressed out for some reason. I will let it dry more.

Do you have room to put them in the ground?

Not right now. Our soil is solid clay. we Have to keep them in pots at the moment

I just have no idea what would cause the leaves to dry out like that

Maybe I should water them with a liquid kelp solution?

"Maybe I should water them with a liquid kelp solution?"

You can if you like but it will have no effect at all on the dry leaves. That is not a nutrient issue....it is a cultural issue. So either too much or too little water or not yet acclimated to local weather.

I have a Bay Laural, in a pot, that is roughly 8 years old. I've found that I get the damage you have when I get water on the leaves and then it sits in the hot sun. Apparently my Bay doesn't like sun on wet leaves. Perhaps that what happened at an earlier time.

Also, Bays in pots need regular water. If they dryout the leaves also get crusty. Most of your leaves look OK, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Aha thank you! Do you also water when the top 1/2 inch dries out, or more frequently?

Bay laurels are pretty tough plants IMO. I use a soil mix that is not too moisture retentive (that rather poor-quality finely shredded bark potting mix with perlite added, rather than a peat based one that tends to retain more moisture). The pot sits directly beside an a/c unit, with half day full SoCal sun. It gets water 1-2 times per week in the hot seasons, much less often during the rest of the year. Too wet would probably cause more problems than being allowed to become too dry. The plain clay pot will dry out much quicker than a glazed one though.

My Bay is in a 24" wide plastic pot. It is in full sun and gets watered at least every other day in summer. I guess i should say that the plant is in full sun; the pot itself is buried amoungst all the other pots crowding around, and so doesn't get hot at all.

Since CA Kate waters much more often, I checked out what they say at San Marcos Growers* (they have a lot of good info in their descriptions.) In part, it says "Grows in sun or shade but seems to do best in cool coastal sun or light shade inland, with little or regular irrigation but not waterlogging – tolerates heavy soils so long as they drain well." So they seem to be fairly flexible about watering, as long as the roots are not kept soggy wet too long.

*https://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp?plant_id=2544

Thank you everyone. it does get light shade so I’ll keep it where it is. And it is well drained and well watered. I’ll keep an eye on them. They are only a month old from when I got them so I hope they will improve with time

floral_uk, generally speaking, plants that have a broader range of water amount tolerances when grown in the ground, also have a greater irrigation range tolerance when grown in a container.

Thank you everyone! I can’t wait till they grow up into big tall trees in a decade or so

Um.... mine is 8 years old and I cut off at least 4 feet every year to keep it at around 4 feet. If you do nothing you will have a tree in just a few years.

Kate, yours has an established root system that can easily support the top growth, especially since you prune it back. A younger plant, without that extensive a root system, will not usually grow as vigorously. The plants tend to produce side growth and be more shrub like. If a tree form is preferred, they can be pruned towards that end, and the plant will become taller at a quicker rate than if left as a shrub.

I want to prune it like a tree eventually but I figured being so young any leaves are good leaves. I don’t want to dress it too much by pruning all its lower leaves off as a sapling.

If you want a single trunk standard tree you need to reduce it to one stem and rub off side shoots. I've done many of these and I start immediately on the seedlings. Remember this is a cooking ingredient. And leaves removed are used in the kitchen.

thank you. How do you rub off the shoots if the Base is under the soil

I think Floral is referring to removing new growth on the lower part of the stem/someday-trunk. Yours it far too small and too young to worry about this yet.

I grow mine for the leaves and so want mine to stay short and a shrub. When I prune mine back every Fall I have lots of takers for the extra leaves. Personnally, I like using the fresh leaves over dried, and can do so living in CA.

I completely agree with you about using fresh bay leaves for cooking.

I discovered that if I sprayed water in the morning on my bay leaf tree leaves on a sunny day then by the next morning those leaves would be brittle, dry and sunburned. I did this about 3 times before I figured out the problem.

“Don’t wet the leaves“

I also switched to watering the tree in the late evening just in case I accidentally got the leaves wet.

I haven’t had the problem since.