Grow Your Own Bay Tree from cuttings
Winter gardening time but hey, in my optimistic mind I like to think Spring is just around the corner.
Bay trees or laurus nobilis are amazing evergreen shrubs. They are easy to grow and care for and can be planted in the ground or do really well in pots and containers. If planted in the ground they can grow to in the region of twenty feet high!
Often they are used for ornamental reasons but for me, the best thing is using the leaves in cooking. You can use them fresh or dried but fresh is simply the best and what better way to have a constant supply than to have your very own tree!
Look at all them lovely leaves dying to be thrown into a good spicy sauce!
Bay trees are fairly hardy but can be damaged by frost and freezing conditions so if you live somewhere like me that has minus temperatures in winter then you should take your tree inside for protection.
Ideally the best time to take cuttings from this type of tree are early or late summer. However trapped in wintry Scotland we only have a summer in June for a couple of weeks so we have to get inventive.
Besides this trick really works!!
So go get some..
Compost, preferably a decent ones for seedlings but it really doesn't have to be.
A pot
A sealy bag
An elastic band
A stick of some kind like a bamboo skewer
Go find your willing bay tree and cut a couple of sprigs from it. Cut them just below a leaf joint.
They should be flexible young shoots. Not old barky things. Try to get ones at least six inches long .. to a guy that's about ten inches.
Snap the leaves off by hand from the bottom all the way up to the top. Leaving only one or two leaves left. This means that the plant can survive without having to draw up to many nutrients with its non existent roots
Remember and keep your lovely picked bay leaves for the cooking!!
Prepare your plant pot, fill to near the brim with compost and then firm it down
Spear your plucky cutting into the side of the soil in the pot till it is almost at the bottom
A note on hormone powder or rooting powder. I don't use this as I don't really feel it is very natural. But that's just me, feel free to use what you like.
Now do that for your other cuttings. I usually do two but if you want to maximise your success you can do four. One on each side.
Once they are all in the pot - prop your stick in the middle of the soil and put your sealy bag over them and wrap your elastic round the pot to seal them in. The stick keeps the sealy bag off the leaves. This prevents leaf rot/mould
Now bang it somewhere warm and most importantly light. It is this bit which works well for me. I think it must completely fool the plant into thinking it is spring proper and it takes really well
The final part is to wait about six weeks. Then you can tug ever so gently on your cutting. If there is some resistance that will be the new roots and it will be going well and can be repotted.
Enjoy your new trees!!!
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@meesterboom! freaking awesome gardening post!
I didn't know there's bay tree here! nor that we could grow them here! that 's great news!
Thank you for sharing!
I love bay leaves on meat - I could put them on every meat - a lot of them
I love the smell in the kitchen with a chicken broth that has it in it.
I want to have one! I'm going to look for one! Copy cat mewwww~~~
It's not really organic eh, I wouldn't use either.
Europe is full of bay tree..bay plant..what is it called? Even in Kensington gardens got loads. France and Italy got loads. You can choose where to pick them. My cousin once took home a branch from south of france :
@immarojas I haven't seen around here - but then you know this country used to be just water and they just filled it up with sand and soil so most plants that exist here are the ones people planted - but since you tipped me out about France perhaps they have it too in Germany so the next time we go to the border - will check one plant shop out. Thanks for the tip!
Lola..mga shrubs nila laurel! Check it out and let me know :)
@immarojas am not in the UK hahaha
am in the Netherlands - shrubs here are hydrangeas and most plants are tulips and so on - maybe in Germany maybe ..
if i find one i'll let you know
Meron yan sa mga halamanan nila. Maulan dito so meron din jan.althoug i must say mga naiuwe ko pinagkukuha ko lang sa mga daan daan and kapitbahay lolss
Lola..look around in the bushes, more often they are laurel plants. Just crush 1 leaf to check then smell.you wont do no wrong.some are even in pots.
@immarojas - the trees that we often see around are either acorns, beech, conifers, apples and fruiting trees but never seen bay tree around yet.
Trees and shrubs are laurel..even potted. You'll recognize the leaves am telling you.hugot ka isa and crush it matutuwa ka.amoy adobo na kamay mo.
@immarojas, not here :P
it wouldn't have escaped me if that's the case we also have lotz'a dandellions and weed - can't make adobo from that can we? wahahahha kulit mo wag k d2 lipat k dun skin huhugot to s knya wawa nmn
Yeah they are fab, I love being able to just pick a fresh leaf when cooking!
That powder, I know. It's hardly the way nature intended!!
I was ready to see you wearing a laurel wreath, from the branches, around your head like the victorious Greeks and Romans! Maybe when all your cuttings take root and you have lots and lots of laurel bushes, lol. Do you ever grind up the leaves for cooking, or do you just typically use the whole leaf and then remove it? I use our wild California Bay Laurel (also called Oregon Myrtlewood here in Oregon) (Umbellularia californica) just like your laurel, but only in whole leaf form. Happy cooking with all your Bay leaves!
Hello!! I have ground up the lead before for inclusion into a spice mix. Mostly though I use the whole leaf. I am intrigued my the sound of the Myrtlewood, is it very similar would you say?
And dang, I wish I had thought of wearing a wreath!!
Oh, I bet we will see you in a laurel wreath, sooner or later! ; )
Our wild Myrtlewood is stronger, I think, than a European bay leaf. I leave a leaf in soup for only a few minutes. But it is so good! I really like it for tomato soup.
Now I am sorely tempted to ger that wreath going lol. I will check out the myrtlewood. I love growing things, even if they arent suited to Scotland!
I bet Scotland and the wet side of the Pacific Northwest would have a lot in common, plant- and garden-wise. We have a lot of heath and heather in gardens here.
That's what i was looking for LAUREL!! I prefer using the whole leaf as its easier to remove. U can put it in rice too if youre planning to cook Asian :)
Thanks for the tip for using the leaf in rice. That would be good, for sure! :D
you're welcome. an indian friend is fond of putting sliced tomatoes in hers as well.
That sounds good, too! So much good food advice here on Steemit! :D
yeah we get that a lot in here. Asians love rice so we put stuff in it. lemongrass is a fav.
That i will have to try, saves me from buying a pot who'll wither away after its' leaves have been all plucked for those adobo meals :)
Hehe, one of the finest uses for them!!
Of course! Do you know adobo??
Yes indeed, I make a chicken in adobo! I use scotch bonnet chillis in it too so it tastes a little different from standard!!
I used the Nando's garlic sauce to garnish it :)
Smashing stuff!!
Why do you even know about adobo mate??
I am mad for the cooking! I love trying out all sorts of dishes from different countries. The first one I tried was because it was spicy. Then I was hooked!
Awesome! You're going to have a bay forest in no time... problem is, it's going to have to be an indoor forest!
Lol, its only gonna have to be indoors for like another three months or so, then we can get out and about for a week or two hehehe!
Poor little bay tree! Next time I see you, you can have a couple of my aloe plants. They're indoor only, all the time :)
I had one of them, I loved it but it started to become a little unruly!
They do at that!
Yeah, it was like an octopus. I was scared it would eat the cat!
This is so cool! I like how this plant looks and if you said that is also good in the kitchen, that's even better! Great post @meesterboo!
Cheers man, I love my bay trees!!
great work! nice lookin' tree house /fort house back there too!
Thank ya!! I love that thing, I built it for my daughter. It took a whole day!
My vote was in on time, but my internet was being ghastly so I didn't get to comment. But I remembered, haha!
I'm guessing NY in January would not be an ideal time to try and grow a bay leaf tree? We did just buy an acre of land and in the spring I will be planting lots of trees, so this is a great tip. Especially since my goal is to mostly plant trees that offer food.
This also gave me a great idea for a blog at some point. We trim and process grapevines, then sell them to nurseries who root them and sell them back to the public. Naturally we've tried our hand at growing our own grapes, and getting them started is not all that dissimilar to the simple method you've shown here :)
You could do it indoors as long as the place indoors gets plenty of light and is warm. Fools the little blighters into thinking it's spring!
That does sound like a similar thing! I am a huge believer in only planting stuff that you can use or East so I think you should go for it in your acre of land. A whole acre, that's flipping awesome!
I know!! I'm excited :)
No wonder, such possibilities!! I'm excited for you!!
It appears we are in story paragraph competition, passing the stick around sonofsatire's campfire, too fun!
Magic. I wish you the very best of luck!!!
Thank you kindly, and I you ;)