[johnwoots]

Hi all. I have just been given some bay tree cuttings by my father from his tree, can any one give me advice on the best way to get these rooted? (if that's the correct term!), I understand bays are slow growers, but I'd much prefer to have my own supply for cooking than buying all the time.

All advice appreciated.

Thanks

[solway cropper]

It's the wrong time of year to get them to root. August-October is ideal so you'd be better waiting till the end of summer and trying then with some fresh cuttings.

[AnnieB]

Later in the year may be better but they won't be alive then.
Simple answer is give them a try as any other cutting.
Pot of half sand and compost mix, dip the cutting in a rooting compound, remove the lower leaves to minimise evaporation and insert into the pot of compost mix. Depending on the cutting size governs how many you will get in a pot, and the pot size.

Some say to put the pot+cutting in a plastic bag to lessen drying out, but I find this simply causes the cutting to go mouldy.

I stand mine outside in a reasonable sunny position - do not allow to dry out.
The wait and hope.

When you say slow grower how slow do you mean/expect ?

If this fails miserably then get father to layer a couple of low thin branches in the ground and hopefully one will form roots, then it can be cut off and donated to you. May work better if a little bark is removed from the layer branch.

I assume that you do not mean rooted cutting that have some roots already?

[New shoot]

If you can't get them going, the small pots of bay that look like mini bushes that they sell in the herb sections at garden centres, are usually a pot full of ready rooted cuttings.

I've got several nice bay bushes as hedging and a couple of standards I made out of a pot I bought a few years ago.  Expect to pay around the £3.99 mark these days 

[johnwoots]

Thanks all for your advice. Yeah I think now I have the cuttings I'll give them a try. When I said slow growers I meant in general as are all bay trees slow growers or am I mistaken?
Thanks for the advice re the plastic bag AnnieB. I had read that amongst all the other stuff on the Internet but that did actually occur to me! It's good you ave said it.

Thanks a lot

[davejg]

i did some the other year about now, I put then in a cuttings mix in a large pot with rooting hormone placed in a white carrier sealed and hung in the greenhouse all summer when i looked about half had rooted. resealed and left till the spring when more had rooted. give this a go they will stay alive even if they take ages to root.