Post a picture for clarification on container size and suitability.

I have one in the ground and a few in containers. I think many people who grow them in pots may confuse them with other "herbs" and forget that this is a TREE! I USED TO experience slow/no growth in containers until I learned they prefer larger containers. Just make sure your soil drains well and don't use MG brand soils as they are too peaty.

P.S., not sure what you mean by, "...in a pot to grow for transplanting."

I plan on transplanting to my yard, but wanted to grow it a bit first. What soil do you recommend? Soil drains well. Should it be watered daily?

Is that a glazed pot? Does it have a drainage hole? Pot appears WAY too big for the plant that's in it. If water drains as fast as it is added, daily watering during hot dry weather will be no problem. Google "gritty mix".

Glazed on outside. Yes on drainage hole. I was worried pot wasn't big enough. This a tree!

The 'physics' of growing a tree in the ground with unlimited root run are vastly different than growing in a container. The usual practice is to step up pot size in increments until the ultimate pot size is reached. But you said that your tree is going in the ground. Starting it out in an oversized pot to get rapid growth doesn't usually work.

its not a child. why can it not be in mother earth to grow up ...

she is much more forgiving ... than torturing the plant in a pot.. if you dont have experience growing trees in pots ...

you media is probably too peaty for many trees ...

i would plant it.. in the next proper planting season ... that is not july/August for many of us ....

ken

I'm not knowledgeable gable about our planting seasons! I'm in South Louisiana, would you know when that is? Thanks for comments

I appreciate all your help. Thnx

My understanding is that these are trees for dry environments...so watering it every day is too much. Unfortunately, dessert plants tend to grow slowly.

It's good the pot isn't black...keep it away from black asphalt. Pots can heat up.

In Louisiana wet summers and fungal diseases spread by them are the biggest concern.

They are not desert plants, they're Mediterranean..., there is a difference.

I don't know. I have mine planted in the ground in NJ and I find it a robust species..., not that slow actually. I agree though, in a LARGE pot, watering once a day seems excessive. Though I mist mine down every day heavily in the this heat (95-100 F.), as leaves seem be wilting daily now in the afternoon sun. Our summers may not be quite as humid as Louisiana, but it is generally WET (not so much THIS year)..., as long as your soil drains..., I don't think you will have a problem. Mine has to survive hurricane flooding, Winter snowdrifts, and subarctic cold!

mine is over 6m...in 10 years. My neighbour grows a golden leaved bay in a huge terracotta planter which is around 4m tall.

subtropix how big is your NJ tree? I thought someone posted here that the bay tree at the National Arboretum died in one of the cold winters.

If your climate supports outdoors bay growing and you intend to plant yours in the ground anyway, I'd do it immediately. I have grown bay in a pot and it is far more difficult than just sticking it into the earth. They are tough and easy trees if you have winters which are not too cold. I have one growing on the allotment in heavy clay over a filled in brook, ie dense and damp soil, right next to the rhubarb, and it is growing like crazy. I am not convinced that drainage is as crucial as people assume. Just so long as the winter doesn't get too cold and the ground doesn't freeze solid. Here's my little bay in 2012 in its 2nd year from transplanting. (It was a seedling that popped up amongst the raspberries from parks department leaf mulch.) It has to be pruned drastically several times a year to keep it about 10 feet tall now. Growth rate is around 1 - 2 feet per annum. edlincoln - not exactly a desert, or even dry, environment is it? ;-)

Campanula, what do you think of the yellow leaved ones? Personally they just look ill to me.

The neighbour's bay.

You can imagine the smell when the prunings go through the chipper when they have it lopped.

David, I did lose one tree planted in the ground after two bad winters; but another one returned from the roots and is currently about 2-2.5 feet tall. They can be grown as dieback shrubs. I do use the leaves in sauces and I have more than enough from one plant..., even if it suffers some in the Winter (usually there is not total dieback on above ground growth but there were a few bad winters recently. I also have a few containerized. They definitely seem MUCH faster in the ground though.

Well, that's good to know subtropix. I think I already have Feijoa and Myrtus communis serving in my "dieback BLE" category - and possibly others - so maybe I'll skip that one. Someone here posted that a very large one at the national arboretum was either killed outright or killed to the ground by polar vortex I. Already seems so long ago.

Yeah, well mine did go though those winters of multiple polar vortices too. But one did take off again after 100% dieback above ground! I like the Bay for a few reasons;

1.) only takes a few leaves to go a long way in cooking

2.) The freakin' deer ignore 'em, LOL (but did enjoy munching on my CHILI PEPPERS!)

3.) They offer high heat tolerance to next to a western-facing house wall

A lot of people post and wonder why they seem to do nothing in pots. My experience too. Including some I have in containers this year, but the one that made it throughout the multiple arctic vortices, OMG. Next year, I am planting my containerized ones in the GROUND come what may!

P.S., the other plants that you mentioned I know of, but do not grow.

I'm especially impressed it survived the back to back polar vertices. (LOL) For example I had a 20' or so Eucalyptus parvula, 3-4" caliper trunk...it resprouted after Polar Vortex 1 and would have survived another normal winter...I suspect. But two winters like that back to back was just too much.

I have had Eucalyptus (not sure of the species) survive multiple winters too, only to eventually succumb to the elements. I have no more room now in my 'Mediterranean garden' for that one. The Mediterranean-theme garden area is my smallest/hottest gardening area and it is planted with fig, crape myrtles, lavender, rosemary, yuccas and hardy cacti.

we live south of houston, tx mine is planted in a raised bed --it's a little over a year old now and is just beginning to look 'treeish" as in sprouting more limbs and lots of new leaves...

Voodook, try and find out what your hardiness zone is, zone 8-9? I don't know if Louisiana goes down to zone 10. If it's a clay pot maybe it would crack in 20 F, if it is more durable it would be fine. Glazing should help guard against cracking. Just go to a site to find your hardiness zone, put in your zip code and it should show the chart showing your lowest temps possible. Bay Laurel is zones 8-10 +. So it is just a matter of if the pot can handle the lowest temps you will have in La in winter, your plant should be fine if you can plant it in the ground.