How big do Bay trees grow?

Shirkeira · Post: # 2423Post **Shirkeira** » Sun May 01, 2005 3:18 pm

Can anybody tell me how big Bay trees grow, I have a small tree in a pot and wondered wether to plant it in the garden, but I don't know how tall they get! can any one tell me please?

shiney · Post: # 2425Post **shiney** » Sun May 01, 2005 3:47 pm

Hi,

I do know that they can grow to be quite large.

A friend of mine has one in his garden and it's about the size of an elder flower tree ~ about 10 feet or so. I go there and pinch a branch or two to dry in my shed, for my bolognaise sauce and stews.

Andy Hamilton · Sun May 01, 2005 11:12 pm

Hello Shirkeira

have a look at http://www.selfsufficientish.com/bay.htm for a bit more info about bay. It can grow up to 60 ft tall. But if you keep it in a pot and keep it well 'trained' you should be ok and it will stay managable.

Wombat · Post: # 2477Post **Wombat** » Mon May 02, 2005 10:17 am

G'DAy Shirkeira,

They grow VERY slowly, mine is about 10 years old (maybe more) and is only 2 metres tall.

Nev

Lyds · Post: # 2485Post **Lyds** » Mon May 02, 2005 10:44 am

Hi! I started my bay tree 25 years ago from a cutting. It got too big for a pot so I had to plant it in the garden where it grew and grew. My husband and son trimmed it last year while I was out and reduced it to a tree trunk with twigs on! Boy was I cross? Anyway, its growing back nicely and this time I am going to keep it trimmed to a nice shape and everyone else has jolly well got to keep off....It is so handy to be able to pick fresh bay for cooking, or any other fresh herbs for that matter, far better than dried

Millymollymandy · Fri May 13, 2005 5:24 am

My bay tree is about 12 yrs old and has always lived in a pot because I've moved house (and country) so many times. I've had to hack it back many times because it just grows and grows, and it is totally rootbound and because it is so big and heavy it's practically impossible to repot.

However this autumn it is getting planted out into the ground. Let's hope I stay at this house! It didn't get planted out at my last house because the climate was too cold and it lived in the greenhouse in winter, where it developed scale insect and sooty mould. It's overcome so much that it deserves to be "set free" now!

Guest · Post: # 3540Post **Guest** » Tue May 31, 2005 11:48 pm

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here...

We have a bay tree that is 25 ft tall - no idea how old it is but we have been here 20 years and it has only grown about 5 ft in that time.

Lucy
x

Andy Hamilton · Wed Jun 01, 2005 12:50 pm

Anonymous wrote:Hi everyone,

This is my first post here...

We have a bay tree that is 25 ft tall - no idea how old it is but we have been here 20 years and it has only grown about 5 ft in that time.

Lucy
x

Hi Lucy, cheers for posting and if you decide to stay,welcome to the forum.

25ft tall, wow. What country are you from? I have never seen one over 5ft tall here in the UK.

greenbean · Post: # 3552Post **greenbean** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:19 pm

I've only been at this house a year. I am the lucky owner of a bay tree that my neighbour tells me has been in the garden for at least 30 years, it is only about 4 foot high. It gets very cold here but the tree has survived many winters and is flourishing.
Hi Lucy, your tree is enormous it must be very old.

whitelegg1 · Post: # 3553Post **whitelegg1** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:32 pm

We've only been at our current house for 2 1/2 years, however there is a bay tree in the garden that must be at least 30 foot toll!. Which kinda dwarfs our 3 foot bay bush!

greenbean · Post: # 3554Post **greenbean** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:40 pm

I'm beginning to feel a bit dissappointed in my wee tree now!

Millymollymandy · Thu Jun 02, 2005 6:14 am

Wierd - if I didn't chop mine back every year I dread to think how tall it would be - it's been about 4 foot wide by 4 foot high at times but is now about 3 x 3 foot. Must be the being pot bound that makes it grow so much.

wulf · Post: # 3581Post **wulf** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:20 am

Is there just one type of bay tree or does that name cover a number of varieties? In light of the anecdotal evidence, I suspect the latter is the case!

Wulf

Andy Hamilton · Thu Jun 02, 2005 2:43 pm

I think it is more to do with the conditions that the tree has been grown in, it does much better in hotter cliamtes.

wulf · Post: # 3590Post **wulf** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 3:16 pm

I've just had a look at the plant selector on the RHS website. They identify bay as Laurus nobilis and suggest it has an ultimate height and spread of about 12m, over 20-50 years. There's also Laurus nobilis 'Aurea', the yellow leaved bay, which is smaller (up to 8m high / 4m spread over 20-50 years).

Unfortunately, it doesn't give any more details than that. Ah, well... I tried

Wulf