Bay Laurel - USDA Organic

1. Planting: When planting your Bay Laurel, find a location that offers full to partial sun (4 to 8 hours of sunlight per day). This tree can adapt to a wide variety of soil type as long as it drains well. When you're ready to plant, dig a hole that's three times the width of the root ball and slightly shallower than the root ball.

Hold the tree straight as you begin to backfill the site tamping down the soil as you go. Back fill the hole, apply water to settle the soil and remove the air pockets.

When selecting a container for your bay laurel, be sure it has plenty of holes in the bottom as drainage is essential. The pot size should be 2 times the size of the one it initially came in.

2. Watering: Stick your finger into the potting soil down to a depth of 2 inches and feel around for any moisture. If the soil is drying out, go ahead and water it until you see it escaping the drainage holes and then stop, or until your ground-planted Bay Laurel's soil is moist. If there is some moisture present, leave it be until the soil dries a bit more.

3. Fertilizing: Considering the Bay Laurel is slow growing, it doesn’t require a great deal of food. However, container plants needs to be fed in spring and maybe again in mid-summer. When fertilizing, a general purpose fertilizer (such as a 10-10-10 formula) is sufficient.

4. Pruning: Bay Laurel should be pruned with a shears in late winter, removing dead and crossing branches and stems, and shaping the tree to the size and form that you desire.