It's easy to see from these leaves that something is terribly wrong with my sweet bay. In years past I've had scale. I know what to do about those disgusting little things, but this is something I know nothing about. I have questions. Should I remove all the leaves that look diseased? Is this some contagious disease so that this plant should be isolated from my other plants? I prefer not to use chemicals, but maybe? Worst of all, is this something terrible and terminal so that my bay tree should be exiled and sent outside to an icy death?
It's easy to see from the picture that this plant is in big trouble. Perhaps I let it get too dry or watered it too much.The important thing is what should I do next?
7 comments:
It's hard to tell from just a picture what might be wrong, but yes, you should isolate it, and you should removed diseased leaves - they will not make a comeback.
I posted about non-toxic pesticides here: http://goodtogrow.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/wednesday-the-plant-lady-chronicles-safe-alternatives-to-toxic-pesticides-part-1-of-2/. Let me know if that helps.
I'd say it was lack of water if I had to guess. My bay trees are rarely bothered by anything but scale.
Not sure what's up with that plant, but I'm wondering if it's a nutritional issue? Have you overfed/underfertilized the plant? Hopefully it's just a physiological thing (too cool, too hot, too wet, too dry) but I'll try to find out something more. I'll pop back if I find anything useful.
Lack of water is a real possibility so is too much. I'm prone to over water plants that I have let get too dry. Too cold is possible. I'm pretty sure the bays got compost top dressing before they were brought in this fall. I removed the worst looking leaves and moved the plant to another spot. Like Scarlett I'll worry about what to do next tomorrow.
Mine goes through this stage this time of year. It drops a good amount of leaves and then blooms and all is good again through the season. These look like old leaves and the stems look like those that have shed old leaves. Some stay on and some don't. New buds form all over the place. Well I hope that is the case cause my other clue is the ground is too wet. Ahhh!
Becky, this plant might need the resting period. They say it's essential to reduce the frequency of watering and feeding; cooler conditions might be required.Fresh air is important. Well, I am sure you know all this... I hope it'll do better in spring.
I would be plenty upset if my 15 year old bay tree was ailing. It lives outside unless the temps go below 20...I've not seen this before, but I did notice that a few of the leaves looked like I let them dry out too long! It get's very dry in a heated house so I put mine in the shower after a week in the house. It seems to really help. I do hope it pulls through~gail
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