I've grown Bay Laurel for several years--have 2 plants that I overwinter indoors. Earlier this year, one of my Master Gardener colleagues was discussing doing propagation of bay by cuttings. So, we consulted with our propagation expert, and tonight we met to take bay laurel cuttings. I know they can take a while to germinate, so it will be a while til we know if we were successful. It was interesting to learn the difference between soft, semi-soft, and hardwood cuttings and the different techniques.

Has anyone here propagated bay laurel by either cuttings or seed?

My tree 20 ft tall is outside. Frost down to 18 F.dosent bother it. Never planted seed. They plant themselfs and come up as they please !
I leaned a small branch over and burried it half way into a small hole and covered it. Just for kicks.to see if it would root. And ! It sure did 😎.
So if you cant do that.i would say. air layer it.if you wanted faster results. Planting the seeds.and doing cuttings sounds fun though. Have fun.Enjoy.and Experiment. I like to experiment 😎🙊🙉🙈

I've had luck air layering bay laurel. But it takes a long time for the roots to develop.

My current bay laurel tree (more of a bush really) was air layered from a bushy tree in a friend's yard a few miles away. Mine is in a large planter that is marginally mobile, and I bring it in the basement during the winter. I'm thinking about layering off a few more, maybe next year. To successfully air-layer bay laurel, you do need to cut/scar the bark in a couple of places. Wrap the cut spots on the branch bark with rooting/growing medium and wrap it with cheese cloth or an "ace bandage" to hold the moist rooting medium in place.

When I did mine, I used "rooting powder" on the cuts in the bark, and it still took 4 to 6 months for enough roots to develop that we felt good about cutting it off the mother plant. The roots develop very slowly on bay laurel, and I'm told that 4 months is not at all unusual for rooting time. I'm not sure if cuttings would survive long enough to develop roots.

Bending a low branch down and burying it in the ground, as suggested above, is another propagation method, very similar to air layering. Again, "rooting powder" helps, and patience is needed.

It's not a real fast growing tree, either. Patience is required for any attempts at growing bay laurel and "growing your own bay leaves."

@commoncents : Eric 😕 bay grows slow😕? Maybe because im one zone warmer than you or climate hear. Mine grew really fast. I though 😕!
Does it get to cold where your at to put it inside for winter ???
😎😎😎

@Philipwonel,

Mine is definitely a slow grower. Mine is in a large container (24" x 24" square terra cotta planter). My source has his in the ground in his yard. Or I should say, he had his in the ground in his yard.

I have my planter set up on bricks, and I can slide a furniture dolly under it and roll it into the basement. Some winters, I probably will be able to leave it out. Other times, I bring it in.

If (when) the forecast is for an extended time (3 days or more) with daytime high temperatures below freezing, I bring it in, and I keep it in until a couple weeks before "average last frost" date. So far, with this plant, I've brought it in every year because since I've been back in Georgia, we've had at least one extended deep freeze period every winter. Before I moved to Florida for a few years, when I was living in Georgia before, I had one in a similar planter, and a few mild winters, I was able to leave it out all winter.

My source for this tree died off completely last winter. That's whey I definitely need to layer off at least one more plant to return to my source. I also lost my outdoor, in the ground sage, rosemary and even my thyme and some of my oregano last winter.

@commoncents.
Thanks ! I didt know N. Georgia. One zone lower than me had such wicked winters. Hear the lowest in my lifetime was 18 f. So knowing one zone makes that much difference . will help me out when i give someone in diferent zone advice. So 4 u (bay to bed ! 😄😄😄Lol.)
😎😎😎

So--I had success with my cutting. I have two little new leaves sprouting on my cutting. One of my colleagues that took cuttings at the same time lost hers a couple of weeks ago to unknown causes. Haven't heard how our 3rd attempt went.

I'm so excited!!!!!

The leaves on my potted bay, about 3.5 feet high with a loose lollipop top, have become a yellowy green colour - what could have happened?

I don't know this plant and have seeds sown now.

No sprouts from seeds, and it has been warm here.
Maybe not as warm as it gets down south.

Caroline--they can be very slow to germinate--can sometimes take several months. I'd give them some more time.

Still waiting on seeds , but obtained plant from Richters.

Keep us posted on your seeds......I don't think I'm patient enough to try them. I'll stick to cuttings for now.

Tell us about your cutting procedure ?

I worked with the MG person who runs our propagation class She recommended taking cuttings when new growth was going on late summer (end of August/early September). We made sure we cut so we had a couple of nodes, stripped the bottom leaves off, then put them into a loose soil mix and covered with a plastic bag to keep moist (I should mention that we had the bottoms of the cutting containers in a shallow dish with just a bit of water in the bottom and the plastic bag covered the entire container).

It took quite a while for the cuttings to root, and I left the plastic bag on the entire time. Once I was sure it was rooted, I kept the plastic bag on for a while longer then started giving a little more air gradually.

It is definitely an exercise in patience, but I was so excited when it finally worked.

Can you tell us your cutting techniques.

Thank you for sharing your experience.