By Greasepot
United Kingdom 
Sick bay tree, what's causing its leaves on 4 of 5 stems to curl and dry. 'er in doors says she saw small spider on it. Not sure its age as it was bought for us.
I always thought bay tree looked like a tree with one stem/ trunk like the ones in nurseries. Never seen multiple stemed ones like this, then I am fairly new to gardening.
6 May, 2011
Answers
It looks like mine after the winter, except yours still has some green on it so there's hope! Take Louise's advice and cut off the dead bit if it doesn't recover over the summer.
6 May, 2011
Reckon its the pot that's the problem - how long has it been in the same pot? If more than 2 years, either give it a larger pot with fresh compost, or plant out in the ground if you don't mind a 15 foot, dense tree. Cut back all damaged growth.
6 May, 2011
The one-stem is the way it's pruned, any tree can be pruned into being multi-stemmed.
The plant is too dry and really wants to be out in the open ground, i'd get it planted out asap.
If you want to keep it as a specimen plant in a pot you need to repot it asap, the size pot needs to be reasonably large - about 2' high by the same wide - these are large plants and have large roots, if you restrict its roots the plant will suffer.
6 May, 2011