I've just bought a pair of Bay trees. The trees arrived with some roots sticking up out of the soil. Is the normal or should I replant them into larger containers? or is it possible to bend them back down into the container? Sorry if this is a silly question but I'm quite new to gardening.
Bay tree roots sticking up out of the soil in it's container
- Thread starter Lil_Dee
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Not normal. It sounds like whoever potted this up left the roots long and when it was potted, that root was left sticking up. Putting it into a pot the next size up wouldn't hurt.
OK, so there's a decision tree here going on. Bear in mind I don't know much about bay trees. But I can help you understand this and what to do. I agree with Anniekays' assessment also! Good job.
So... some trees and plants reproduce new plants through suckers coming up from the roots. If this is the case then those will become tiny sucker trees. And what you can do with plants that do make suckers coming out of the roots is basically very gently and carefully trim them away WITH attached roots to make additional new tiny new trees.
You might try to confirm if this is the case with Bay trees. But I suspect this could work?
But if its supposed to be buried then roots shouldn't be exposed. You can try to cover roots poking out because then if you don't the plant gets heat stressed. Roots don't generally like to be exposed and if they are it harms the plant, UNLESS they are suckers trying to form new plants. (Do bay trees do this?)
We get suckers constantly from plum trees. Many orchard trees in the spring you can see suckers coming up. And often they get destroyed because we only have so much space for stuff. But actually if you wanted every year many plants you could take care of the suckers and reproduce the suckers into new trees and move them to other areas.
So... some trees and plants reproduce new plants through suckers coming up from the roots. If this is the case then those will become tiny sucker trees. And what you can do with plants that do make suckers coming out of the roots is basically very gently and carefully trim them away WITH attached roots to make additional new tiny new trees.
You might try to confirm if this is the case with Bay trees. But I suspect this could work?
But if its supposed to be buried then roots shouldn't be exposed. You can try to cover roots poking out because then if you don't the plant gets heat stressed. Roots don't generally like to be exposed and if they are it harms the plant, UNLESS they are suckers trying to form new plants. (Do bay trees do this?)
We get suckers constantly from plum trees. Many orchard trees in the spring you can see suckers coming up. And often they get destroyed because we only have so much space for stuff. But actually if you wanted every year many plants you could take care of the suckers and reproduce the suckers into new trees and move them to other areas.
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They are not roots, they are suckers from the stems. If you want to stop them you will have to remove he soil all the way to where they start and cut them as close as you possibly can to the main stems. Expect to have to do this repeatedly.
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That is what they look like, and yes bay trees do do this, best way to propagate them, they usually take when normal cuttings won't.
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I wouldn't call my Bay Laurel a tree, it's more of a shrub. 15 or so years back I brought some wild garlic (ramps) in to an Italian guy at work who had never tried them before. He was very impressed and asked my if I would like some Bay rooted stems in return and I said sure. So he brought me in two stems with a good bunch of roots on them wrapped in wet paper towel. Apparently his grandparents had brought the original Bay Laurel rooted shoots from Italy when they immigrated to Canada and over the years all members of the family had been given shoots from those original plantings. So I planted them in a 8" pot and over the years the plants spread from new shoots/suckers that came up out of the soil around the outside of those original plantings. It's now in a much larger pot that spends summers outside and winters in the house along with two rosemary plants in front of my large south facing windows. Every year I see new "suckers" emerging around the outside of the plant and are now pretty well at the outside edge of the pot so by next spring it will be time to split it into two or three pots. Needless to say I have never had to buy bay leaves since and they do get used fairly regularly in my kitchen for stocks, soups, stews and pickling. It's kind of cool knowing the heritage of this plant coming directly from Italy.
Totally normal and bays always do this suckering, took mine out of the pot and put in the garden around 6 years ago its now clipped back hard once a year, to keep the size I need it and used for cooking stews etc... they can be topiary shaped and look lovely no matter how hard you cut back they bounce back well... they are also susceptible to leaf weevils when they become pot stressed.
