Pruning Neglected Bay trees

tracey driscoll

These bays are about 4ft tall and have been neglected , left in pots with poor soil they have decent growth at the base but have gone very spindley up the center and towards the top.  Anyone have any ideas on how to prune? I will renew the soil with regular garden compost and grit....anyother ideas?

Man of Kent

Hi tracey. Are the trees to stay in pots and if so can you put them into slightly larger ones? If they are to stay in the same pots and have plenty of root then i would be tempted to lighty root prune them aswell. This will encourage new root hair growth which will help the plants to feed themselves. As for the pruning I would leave the strongest new shoots then cut out the weak ones and those that might be crossing or rubbing on each other. Then any larger, but old and tired stems I would reduce down to the lowest best new shoots that are on the plant. It might not be pretty at first but should help them on the road to recovery. Hope that helps. Gd luck.