0:19 [Music]
0:21 well hello everyone welcome to another
0:23 very exciting episode right here on the
0:26 Mi Garder Channel I know all of you are
0:28 going to like this one because today
0:29 we're going to be talking about how to grow
0:30 grow
0:33 bay leaves now this is the bay laurel
0:35 tree and for those of you that don't
0:36 know the bay laurel tree is what
0:39 produces all the bay leaves that you use
0:41 in your cooking so one of the nice
0:43 things about this tree is it's very
0:45 beneficial another nice thing about this
0:48 tree is that it can save you a ton of
0:50 money another nice thing about this tree
0:52 is that it's very easy to grow in fact
0:54 it's in the top probably two or three
0:57 easiest uh trees to grow here in our
0:59 tropical collection and so it's going to
1:01 be an easy one for you to grow as well
1:03 and another really nice thing about this
1:05 tree is that it is one of the most
1:08 beautiful beautiful foliage plants
1:10 personally I think this is probably my
1:13 top one or two again top favorite
1:16 foliage plants because it is just so
1:20 incredible the leaves get super dark
1:23 they are just uh they're just there's
1:24 something about them I don't know I
1:26 don't know what it is but when this is
1:28 starts really producing and really
1:30 starts filling out it just has this
1:34 shrub like look that is it's incredible
1:35 it's really incredible so it's a very
1:37 beautiful foliage plant as well and uh
1:39 and like I said it's very easy to grow
1:41 so without further Ado let's get into
1:43 how to grow it cuz I know you all are
1:44 going to want to try it so the first
1:46 thing you need to know about the bay
1:48 laurel tree is that is actually grown in
1:51 arid climates so it's much treat it's
1:54 treated much like your avocados and
1:56 cacti and uh your Mediterranean herbs
1:58 things like that so if you have any of
2:00 those and you've ever grown those you
2:01 know that the first thing we need to
2:04 talk about is soil now when it comes to
2:06 soil uh when you're growing the bay
2:08 laurel tree you want to make sure that
2:11 you add a very good well- draining mix
2:13 now I would not recommend using just
2:15 your standard potting mix for other
2:17 plants that might be fine however when
2:20 it comes to your Aid climate crops we
2:22 always recommend at least a at very
2:27 minimum a one to1 ratio of sand to
2:29 potting mix and that sand is what's
2:31 going to add that really well draining
2:33 nature to your to your growing medium
2:35 personally we add a little bit more than
2:39 50% so um you know add minimum 1 to one
2:43 but we typically add like 60 to 75% sand
2:44 and then the remainder being our potting
2:46 mix because we really want to increase
2:48 that drainage to where there's no water
2:50 that's going to be standing that's not
2:53 being absorbed into the uh organic
2:55 matter here so we have uh we use promix
2:57 for our potting mix and that has a good
3:00 ratio of coconut husk fiber and spum
3:02 Pete Moss as well as perlite and
3:04 vermiculite and I really love that
3:07 because it holds on to some moisture but
3:10 it drains really quickly in fact if you
3:12 overw waterer pretty much the the water
3:14 will go right through the pot which is
3:16 what you're looking for and then all
3:17 that's remaining is just a little bit of
3:20 dampness from that spum Pete Moss and
3:22 coconut husk fiber that hold on to that
3:24 moisture but not too much because these
3:27 will suffer from root rot very quickly
3:28 in fact they're uh they're very prone to
3:31 ro root rot I say that 10 times fast
3:34 they're very prone to root rot because
3:35 they do not grow in areas that get a lot
3:37 of rainfall like I said these are grown
3:40 in very arid climates uh Southern
3:43 California and uh and areas like the bay
3:47 regions of of California grow this and
3:50 because it is such a uh is such a easy
3:53 and and very hands-off crop to grow they
3:55 pretty much line the streets with these
3:56 in fact there's whole streets where
3:59 these can literally be seen growing and
4:01 uh I wonder if anyone even buys bay
4:04 leaves in that part of California
4:06 because it's uh they they literally grow
4:08 everywhere another nice thing about
4:11 these trees when it comes to uh to their
4:13 their ease is obviously the watering
4:15 because they don't like a whole lot of
4:17 water anyways and so when it comes to
4:19 other plants you might be freaking out
4:20 if you have to leave on vacation these
4:22 ones will probably do better if you're
4:25 on vacation because the you know to a
4:27 certain extent the less water you give
4:29 them the better they do they really
4:31 don't like that much water and so we'll
4:33 only water these Bay trees when they
4:35 really need it and when you you'll
4:37 notice when they need it because the
4:39 leaves are really stiff they're very
4:41 very stiff right now but when they need
4:43 it they'll give a little bit of a a
4:46 droop and they'll become a little bit
4:48 limp and that's really all you need to
4:51 know to water them um another thing too
4:53 is if we don't see that sign we'll
4:55 typically give them just a little bit of
4:57 water about once a month and that's
5:00 really how rarely we water these so
5:02 don't need you know you can pretty much
5:04 get the soil pretty easily and the
5:07 watering is very easy as well so so far
5:09 very easy plant to grow now I want to
5:10 talk about fertilizing because
5:12 fertilizing is the next thing that
5:14 people often get hung up on and
5:15 fertilizing these are really not that
5:17 difficult you just need a very good
5:19 all-purpose fertilizer it's a lot like
5:23 if you saw the uh the curry tree episode
5:25 we talked about how trees that are not
5:28 really cultivated uh for their fruits
5:29 and and things like that they really
5:31 don't need that much uh nutrients or
5:34 fertilizer because they're grown as just
5:36 a tree like we have trees here like
5:39 Maples and you know walnut trees and
5:41 things like that they're not cultivated
5:43 specifically for a need so these are
5:46 really just like wild trees that grow
5:47 and therefore they they grow in a wide
5:50 variety of climates soil conditions and
5:52 are are subject to a lot of different
5:54 varying nutrient contents in their soil
5:56 so they really don't need that much but
5:57 they will benefit from having a good
5:59 all-purpose fertilizer so just something
6:01 that's that's uh well balanced in all
6:03 your macronutrients as well as trace
6:05 minerals and you should be more than
6:08 fine we personally give them Trifecta
6:10 plus here Trifecta plus is our go-to
6:11 fertilizer it's our allpurpose
6:13 fertilizer of choice for all of our
6:15 plants including our vegetable garden
6:17 and that's just what we use and it grows
6:19 the plants really well in fact when we
6:22 got this seedling it was only about this
6:24 tall it was really small in fact it was
6:26 just a cutting it was a rooted cutting
6:30 in a uh 1 in by 1 in cell and that has
6:34 grown into this now these obviously will
6:36 get very tall uh that requires some
6:37 pruning because they'll just keep
6:39 growing and they'll keep growing out as
6:41 well but the nice thing the really nice
6:43 thing about these is they don't mind
6:45 being pruned so you can prune them back
6:48 you can hack them back and uh in fact I
6:50 accidentally U I accidentally cut the
6:53 main growing tip as you can see I cut
6:56 the main growing tip right there and
6:57 then it just put out a whole new shoot
6:59 and it was totally fine so uh actually
7:01 sent out another side shoe down here too
7:04 so it's growing really quickly and um
7:05 and it's something that we actually
7:08 harvested leav from even at this age
7:10 we've harvested a few leaves from uh
7:11 from this plant for our cooking which is
7:13 nice the next thing I want to talk about
7:16 is sunlight cuz sunlight is rather
7:18 important when it comes to growing trees
7:19 you do not want to give them any less
7:21 than 5 hours of Sun make sure you throw
7:23 them in a really good south facing
7:24 window or in our case we put them
7:27 underneath these lights 16 hours on uh 8
7:29 hours off and they do great but the
7:32 other thing too is that these will do
7:34 better uh the more sunlight you give
7:36 them they grow in arid climates and arid
7:38 climates are known for having very
7:40 strong sun and a lot of it so there's
7:42 not a whole lot of shade cover when it
7:43 comes to these so don't be afraid to
7:45 give it more sunlight just make sure it
7:47 gets at least over five the next thing I
7:49 want talk about is sun or uh is
7:52 temperature and humidity so with
7:53 temperature kind of I just talked about
7:55 the sun is very direct and there's a lot
7:57 of it that means it's usually pretty hot
8:00 um these grow in very climates that get
8:02 temperature swings of anywhere from 60 to
8:04 to
8:07 110° maybe in a given day so I like to
8:09 say that temperature is not necessarily
8:11 the most important thing as long as it
8:16 is above 60° and uh maybe below about a
8:18 105 so I'm sure it would probably
8:21 appreciate something in the 80 to 85
8:22 Degree range because that's about the
8:24 average uh that's about the average
8:27 temperature of a really Aid climate so
8:28 um something that uh you don't really
8:30 need to worry about that much as long as
8:32 you don't leave it outside and uh and
8:35 also too um I guess that brings with
8:38 humidity so humidity is something that
8:40 is important when it comes to these
8:42 because these can be very prone to
8:44 powdery mildew if you have them in a in
8:46 a human environment their leaves are
8:48 very coarse and that leaves a lot of
8:51 surface area for uh fungus and Milo to
8:54 land on so one thing you want to focus
8:56 on is having them in actually a dry
8:58 location um we have ours in a room that
9:00 has a humidifier turn up turn up to
9:03 about 50% and that's not really ideal
9:05 but because we have such strong lights
9:07 I'm kind of taking the good with the bad
9:09 and um they they should not get in 50%
9:11 humidity they should not get powdery
9:13 mildew but the Le what I'm trying to say
9:15 is the less humidity you have the better
9:17 you're going to be because in Aid
9:20 climates their humidity can be 10 to 30%
9:22 and usually not a whole lot more than
9:24 that so it's very dry it's a it's a very
9:28 very dry uh dry air and so that is kind
9:29 of what you want to look for for growing
9:31 these because obviously the better you
9:33 can reproduce the natural growing
9:36 environment the better it's going to do
9:37 um but all in all it's a very easy plant
9:40 to grow and uh and something that you
9:41 really don't need to worry that much
9:42 about when it comes to growing
9:44 conditions the final thing I did want to
9:47 mention is I always recommend taking a
9:49 pH test of your soil because a lot of
9:52 your Aid growing crops grow in a rather
9:56 High PH soil or rather high acidity soil
9:58 or low PH sorry um sorry if they
10:01 confusing there but uh the nice thing
10:03 about growing these in in your average
10:06 potting mix is that usually if you get a
10:08 good quality one like promix is what we
10:11 use um that usually is pH balance to be
10:13 slightly acidic due to the spum Pete
10:15 Moss but always check because if you
10:17 need to add a little bit of powdered
10:20 sulfur or Rock sulfur you can do so and
10:22 the plant will definitely do better in a
10:25 lower pH because that extra acidity is
10:26 what it's normally used to and that
10:29 helps to uptake nutrients it helps to
10:31 reduce stress and it also helps with
10:33 root development and leaf production so
10:37 having pH uh having proper pH at least
10:39 is very very important to have uh with
10:41 success with your plants so um that's
10:43 all there is to Growing bay laurel
10:45 plants I really hope you enjoyed I
10:48 really hope you'll try this again I got
10:49 these I'll post a link to where I got
10:50 these I'm not sure if they're still
10:52 selling them or not but I got these on
10:54 Amazon and they were just selling a tiny
10:56 little cutting and um like I said it's
10:58 growing really well for me so I'm sure
11:00 if there still selling them they'll grow
11:02 really well for you uh as long as you
11:03 keep these things in mind for this
11:05 growing guy you should be fine so I'll
11:07 catch you all later on the next episode
11:09 if you like this video make sure to
11:11 smash that like button and also make
11:12 sure to subscribe if you're not yet
11:14 already because we got a ton more stuff
11:15 coming out we have a ton coming out with
11:17 the sprouts and more tropical growing
11:19 guides and a whole lot of stuff so
11:21 you're not going to want to miss it and
11:22 so as always this is Luke from the my
11:24 Gardner Channel reminding you to grow
11:26 big or go home we'll catch you all later
