My bay tree isn't feeling the love. What's up?

[Miljah]

Couple of photos. In a corner facing west, protected, Hants.

But it has too many yellow leaves, given it's JUNE!

Any ideas?

I water it but am sparing on the fertiliser.

Is the pot too small?

Having said that mine does this every couple of years so when it does I prune it hard (i grow mine multi-stemmed in a big pot) and it always grows back beautifully.

I'd repot it in a bigger pot and feed with seaweed rather than chemical fertiliser, and see if it recovers.

Thanks. When can you prune a bay?

They're pretty tough so I would be tempted to re-pot and give it a good prune now. Maybe just take the branches back by about a half to two thirds for now so you still have some leaf cover.

That wouldn't worry me. The difference between evergreen and deciduous trees is that evergreens lose their leaves all the year round so they don't have a season with no leaves. I think it's looking pretty healthy.

If it was lack of fertiliser, all the leaves would be affected, you would have all those healthy dark green leaves on it.

Pruning isn't necessary for health, but do it if you want to for aesthetic reasons. Repotting every 2-3 years is worth doing, even if you simply replace some of the soil and put it back into the same pot.

They are probably leaves that are several years old, evergreens shed old leaves from time to time when they have enough new ones.

Thanks, everyone!