Bay laurel, Laurus nobilis, is a wonderful and ornamental culinary herb. It grows in full sun to partial shade. They can grow upwards of thirty feet in some areas. I’ve been fortunate to have grown one back in Boston that was just over six feet high. It was in a plastic pot in a west-facing window. Bay is used in both sweet and savory dishes, and was even used as an antiseptic.
Last summer, it was hard to find these at either the garden centers or farmer’s markets. When we did find them, they were $10 for a tiny rooted cutting. With the pandemic, gardening has really taken off, and some of the more traditional plants are in high demand, and the prices reflect that. And, in the supermarkets, too. The cost of a bottle of bay leaves was just over $17!
With spring coming, we decided to give one of the plants a trim, and make rooted cuttings to save ourselves the trouble of having to find the plants. With some of the extras, they will make fun gifts to our garden and witchy friends.
A stem was cut from the bay laurel plant, and diagonally cut at the nods:
The cuttings were washed and allowed to dry:
My propagation setup, below: 2-inch plastic pots with sterilized potting soil, rooting hormone powder in a small bog, a broken bamboo skewer to make holes in the pots for the cuttings, and the cleaned and wet bay laurel cuttings.
The cuttings were each dipped into rooting powder in a plastic bag so not to contaminate the main bottle of rooting powder. I can also save this bag and re-use it over again.
The powdered cuttings were allowed to rest to allow the rooting powder time to bond:
Each of the cuttings was placed in a 2″ plastic pot with potting soil inside a foil-lined beer box lid:
An older bay laurel sibling alongside the incubator:
The tray gets covered with a transparent trash bag to act as a mini-greenhouse. It will rest atop the seed germinator incubator on the middle shelf.
The east-facing windows with the common area walkway and stairs. There is a metal pole suspended on two ceiling hooks that were hung for plants prior to our moving in. The holds the suspended grow light and a few plants here and there. It’s wrapped in some fake garland from the hobby shop. It makes a statement, for sure.
We’ll revisit the bay laurel progress soon. Perhaps 2-3 weeks before any sign of roots is my initial guess.