Bay laurel
Laurus nobilis · Perennial (evergreen shrub)
Slow-growing and long-lived, effectively a houseplant you can cook with. Tolerates container life better than most woody herbs.
What it needs indoors
- Light
- Bright lightBright light, some direct sun
- Water
- Let it dry outAllow the top to dry between waterings
- Temperature
- 60–70°F
- Growing medium
- Well-draining potting mix
- Native range
- Mediterranean laurel forest
- Difficulty
- Beginner
What usually goes wrong
Sticky leaves, sometimes with a black sooty film, and small brown limpets along the stems and leaf ribs
Scale insects. Bay picks them up more readily than any other herb on this list, and the stickiness is honeydew dropping from the insects above.
Fix: Rub the scales off with a cloth or a thumbnail, covering leaf undersides and the stem joints where they hide. Wipe the sooty film away with soapy water. Check it monthly, because scale comes back from anything you missed.
Leaves yellow and drop through winter
Wet roots in a pot that is too big for the plant. Bay grows slowly. A large volume of mix stays wet far longer than those roots can use it.
Fix: Pot on one size at a time, and only once roots show at the drainage holes. Let the top of the mix dry before watering again and cut right back on watering from November to March.
Almost no new growth in a year
That is bay. It is a slow tree pretending to be a herb, and a foot of growth in a season is a good year in a pot.
Fix: Feed once in spring and leave it at that. Prune to shape in early summer rather than trying to force size. The leaves you take off dry as well as they cook fresh.
