My mint keeps dying help me please

[imafan26]

Mint actually is one of the herbs that likes a richer moister soil and it looks better in partial shade. It is dangerous to put it in the ground it gets very invasive.

[Premier00000]

So my mint recently got hit with, what I believe, was mint rust as well as some white dust looking mildew or something. So I cut it back to almost nothing and hopefully it bounces back better and stronger.

[rainbowgardener]

Imafan is in Hawaii where everything grows like crazy. I have mint in the ground. In a dry shade spot and with cold winters, it actually struggles to stay alive. My spearmint is not nearly as invasive as the lemon balm, a different mint family member which handles my conditions much better.

And yes, it is quite possible if you just cut it all down, it will grow back healthy from the roots. It is tough stuff.

[tenderloingardener]

Interesting to read this string. I got a bunch of peppermint to make tabouleh, which I keep in a vase in water like most fresh herbs. Always it's more than I need for a particular recipe-I dried some in my toaster oven then started doing other stuff- next thing I know some of these have put out roots. I stuck a few in with my lavender pot and my chive pot- not expecting much, but 3 survived and started to flourish.

Finally I had to take them out as this plant sometimes doesn't play well with others. I had to be pretty brutal ripping the roots that had become really intermingled with the other plants, and just popped them into another container- likely too small for the amount of mint I have now. Many of the leaves have died and come off, though new leaves are also coming in. My major concern is that some of the new growth coming in at the top of larger plants look a bit yellow- others are on long stems.

I'm hoping that another move into a bigger pot may be the cure. I am also considering removing some of the long, woody branches, even though some new leaves are coming in on them.

On a related matter I grabbed a lemon balm- roots included from a very neglected public planter that is now going to weeds. I checked it closely for bugs and I also put that in with my lavender. It stiffened up and started growing new leaves. During the peppermint extraction I did my best not to disturb it, but suddenly it's not doing so well. Wilty, and browning, as well as some kind of clear exudate- though I have a crazy upstairs neighbor who tosses all manner of stuff out if his window ( maybe even his cookies- ew!) and I'm hoping the little guy will buck up, but it doesn't look good.

I'm wondering if the mint strategy is a good one, and if the lemon balm would benefit from any direct action from me aside from regular watering. It's still in with lavender, but not too tight in the pot.

Thanks if anyone can advise, and thank you for reading this.

If nothing else, I'm showing that peppermint plants seem to root pretty easily in water so getting some shouldn't be too difficult. These were just from a bunch I got from a corner store that sells produce. If I'd moved them earlier I likely wouln't be having this yellowing issue at all.

Peace to us all

[imafan26]

Water roots are not the same as roots in the soil. The peppermint will grow new roots for the soil and the water roots will die off. There are ways to condition water rooted plants by encouraging the soil roots to grow before they are planted.

I don't water root much of anything anymore. Mints and basil are fairly easy to root from fresh cuttings. I cut the end of the cuttings at a 45 degree angle below a node and dip it in rooting powder or you can use dip n' grow then I put it in moist potting mix. It usually roots in about two weeks.

[rainbowgardener]

wilty and browning and some kind of clear exudate sounds like it could have an insect infestation -- aphids, scale insects, and mealybugs give off a clear, slightly sticky substance called "honeydew." Have you checked it carefully, including the undersides of the leaves?

Lemon balm and other mints (lemon balm is in the mint family) don't do well in a pot with lavender, because they have very different water requirements. Lavender likes dry sandy soil and to dry out thoroughly between waterings. Mint likes a lot more water.

[applestar]

Like rainbowgardener said, to keep the lavender happy, the mint would sacrificed, and to keep the mint happy, the lavender would be sacrificed.

In any cases it may not seem like it when the mint is small -- or actually you've seen how they do it -- mint and lemon balm grow rhizomes (thick underground shoots) when they are mature, and they do more of this during the cooler months while lavender is likely dormant. So they will bully and strangle the lavender in a confined container.

Out in the garden, I've followed mint rhizomes that can range 2 FEET in length along a root barrier edging.

Mints in containers should always be planted by ITself -- one variety to each container and divided or uppotted before they become root bound and strangle itself.

[tenderloingardener]

Thanks for all the info.
This is the funny thing- the only reason I moved the peppermint out was my awareness of what must be happening under the soil- the strangulation of my lavender roots. Aside from that rather important detail they were cohabitating nicely.

I grew the lavender from cuttings takien from a fairly large bush (rooted in soil). I suspect the lavender was a strain willing to deal with more mousture than usual. Generally, it's fairly wet here due to fog and humidity if not rain. Possibly I have damp tolerant lavender. It really started growing like crazy this spring. It's not in the least annoyed about the surgery.

Thanks for the heads up about the lemon balm. Are all the plants in the mint family rhizome, uh, creators? That is a structure that fixes nitrogen, right? I've wanted lemon balm for my teapot for a while- somehow it didn't occur to me that it would have the same inability to share root space as peppermint. It was fine. Then, after I pulled out the pepppermint it kind of got pale and wilt-y. There are some dark green leaves coming in at the bottom though, so if it gets a bit healthier I'll move it out sooner rather than later. Thanks.

The exudate isn't mealy bug or scale (soft or hard). I became very familiar with those particular pests one summer delousing the greenhouse at CCSF with 70% isopropyl alcolhol and cotton swabs. Please don't misunderstand- any advice is always welcome and I'm still totally and blissfully ignorant of a wide variety of garden pests, in fact, I don't even yet know of the existence of entire genre and hope I never do!
I suppose, since I cannot find any evidence of pests I'll just have to assume it's another assault from above. That dude is soooo lucky I'm on meds now. I had to move my rose bushes due to damage from falling debris.

I put the yellowing, irked mint into a larger pot today. I swear it was fine until I moved it. I felt that the previous pot was too small and it seemed too damp once I got in there as well. It rained a bit today so I didn't water it. New stuff is coming in as the older leaves drop off-I'll be a bit bummed if it dies just because I ate my tabouleh and kept the mint too, which is a mighty fine yarn in the "sticking it to the man" tradition, but even though the whole thing was unplanned happenstance, I suspect it is something that can happen again. If I was choosing I'd prefer spearmint. .

I'm going to check out the "grower's exchange." I do have a birthday coming up.

Thanks for taking the time with me- as always I appreciate it very much.

[rainbowgardener]

Go for it! People say never to plant mint in the ground, because it is so invasive. But I have a patch of spearmint in a dry shady spot where I pay little attention to it and it just stays alive. If conditions are bad enough it will slow the mint down from spreading too much, but it will still grow where little else will.