How to Harvest Mint Leaves?

Sat Oct 08, 2011 3:34 am

Hi all! I bought a small peppermint plant from walmart the other day and the leaves are a bit small, but there are so many of them. I want to dry the leaves by hanging them in a dark area (use for teas mostly) but I read online that you have to cut off the entire stem. I'd like to keep harvesting leaves from this plant as long as possible, so will cutting the entire stem prevent it from producing more?

Sat Oct 08, 2011 4:47 am

If the plant is really big you can cut whole stems. But you can also just pick leaves. Depends how big your plant is right now, if it is quite small I would be careful not to over prune it.

Sat Oct 08, 2011 12:24 pm

What Punk said, but especially with a young plant, whether picking leaves or stems, you don't want to take more than 1/3 of the leaves. Then let it grow back for awhile before picking more.

Wed Oct 12, 2011 4:47 am

I grew 7 kinds of mint this year. Rarely do I let them flower as Prune them top down like I do with basil. I prune a lot probably too much however this plant regenerates several time a year out doors. If you like chocolate go get a chocolate mint plant and eat it with some dark chocolate. best tea mint is Grapefruitmint ginger mint, spearmint, banana mint, apple mint. im not a huge fan of pineapple mint but Its ok. I hear candy mint is great taste.

Small plants indoors I use mostly dry wilted leaves I collected. but I like to use fresh mint for tea so the tops are the best.