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Hey Tomi,

You have drainage for the plant and that is great. When you water, be sure that some water trickles out the drains - and it should not be soaked up again by the plant. Excess water helps the plant get rid of salts that the plant gets rid of, and it flushes them out the drains. So that is good.

The soil should be moist enough that it is not dried out. How often depends on how hot it is (hotter dries out the soil quicker). The good thing again is that with drainage, you cannot over water it. Try every other day. If that seems like too much, go every 3rd day.

If you put a tray to capture the water, it's only purpose is to stop the water from damage to the balcony - you do not want the plant to suck that water back up.

Below is a site that sells Bay Trees, and they claim drip irrigation is best for a Bay Tree. The last site says the plant is drought hardy, and to keep it barley moist. The combined thought would be - less is better for this tree - but don't let it dry out completely.

Bay Tree In Pot

Tom, my bay tree prefers to have dry feet most of the time. It is pot bound and doesn't get as much sun as yours, but I just water it once a week and feed it once a month with miracle-gro during the summer (not at all in winter). It lives outside all year and I forget about it all the time, sometimes the leaves wilt so I know it needs watering, and give it a good drink then.

Make sure you don't have woodlice or earwigs in the pot! If so kill them with insecticide. These will kill your tree otherwise

Get it into the ground. Go to garden centre they will advise you. 5 years ago we put ours in the ground its gone from 2 feet to 14 feet.

needs potting on, then water weekly, a tray or saucer under will help, give it a liquid feed every couple of weeks.