Red Robin Bay Trees

OldHouseNewHouse

I have got 2 Bay trees and they are still in the pots.

I have just set the pots in my square containers would the bay trees be OK to keep like this or will I have to replant them in square containers?

bcpathome

I would plant them onto pots .They will need room for their roots. Make sure that the containers are fairly large for that reason .

bcpathome

That wasn’t very clear was it , what I mean is …..take them out of the pots and put them into your containers but be sure that the containers are fairly large for root room.

OldHouseNewHouse

The pots they are contained in from garden centre are fairly large.

How often do you water red robin bay trees?

Lyn

Have you got Red Robin or Bay trees? 

OldHouseNewHouse

Lyn said:

Have you got Red Robin or Bay trees? 

Red Robin trees

Posy

I don't understand. What do you mean by Bay if they are Red Robin?

Pianoplayer

Hi - my experience is that plants are often pot/root bound when you buy them, and so need potting into something bigger. If you take one of them out of the pot, you will be able to see. How big the pots need to be depends on the size of the trees, so you might want to post a picture. I assume that the square planters have drainage holes in the bottom?

So my advice is a) repot into your square containers using a loam-based medium such as John Innes no 3, mixed with a bit of multipurpose compost b) give them 5-10l of water every other day, or even every day during a heatwave.

amancalledgeorge

Always worth remembering that the pots larger specimens are in when being sold, is the smallest size possible to make them easy to move, not the size they'll be happy in the long-term. It's a very basic misapprehension that kills far too many plants.
In a nursery environment they'll be irrigated to keep moist at all times and fed. At home you can't replicate the same maintenance conditions particularly if the rootball has no space to expand. 

Anyway, a few large pots are useful to have even if the original outlay seems steep. 

BenCotto

There are bay trees and there are Photinia x fraserii Red Robin trees. They’re not exactly chalk and cheese, more Red Leicester and Stilton. What you don’t have is Red Stilton, and hence the confusion.

Whatever. Follow @Pianoplayer ‘s advice whether you have a Photinia or a Bay.

Dovefromabove

Possibly the confusion is caused because they're trained as Lollipops, as is traditional with Bay trees (Laurus nobilus).

The trees often called Red Robins are Photinia fraseri ... totally different species but sometimes trained in a Lollipop style