How to Prune an Overgrown Bay Plant

Scrape a 1/4-inch-long strip of the bark with your fingernail from a questionable branch of the bay plant to determine whether the branch is dead or alive. If you see green just under the bark, the branch is alive, but if it is brown, the branch is dead and should be removed.

Trim away any dead or dying limbs from the bay laurel shrub to the point where the dead branch meets living tissue. Some branches may require removal to the ground if the entire branch is dead.

Remove any horizontally growing suckers from the base of the main trunks.

Choose old branches on the outside of the plant growing at an angle for removal first. Cut one-third of the remaining old-growth main branches to the ground each year in the early spring before the plant flowers. Continue this practice for four to five years or until the plant has been trained to the desired size.

Maintain the plant by trimming any drooping branches you find during the annual pruning. Thin out new growth to allow light to reach the interior of the shrub. This trains the shrub for upward growth and improves the growth of the plant.

Prune any branches that grow higher than the desired height for the bay plant. Keep the top of the plant cut at this level to maintain its height. For ease of care, don't let the shrub grow taller than five to seven feet high.