Mint Advice Please

Discussion in 'NEW Gardeners !' started by luciusmaximus, Jun 30, 2016.

  1. luciusmaximus

    luciusmaximus Total Gardener

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    I have a large tub of Mint that is not looking too good. The bottom leaves have become brown and shrivelled. The top leaves are OK but are much paler green than when planted last tear. I water it and feed it and have not changed its position,, so any ideas what might be going on please?. The tugb its in is half a water butt.
     
    luciusmaximus, Jun 30, 2016
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  2. JWK

    JWK Gardener Staff Member

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    Assuming the tub has good drainage then it sounds like it needs repotting with fresh compost. Cut out the mass of old roots and choose a few younger healthy roots with growing points. It will bounce back quickly at this time of year.
     
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      JWK, Jun 30, 2016
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    • luciusmaximus

      luciusmaximus Total Gardener

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      Thanks, I will try that. It's a large tub but I didn't realise the roots could grow so big.
       
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    • pete

      pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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      Mint very quickly exhausts nutrients because it grows so fast.
      Left to its own devices it spreads to new soil every year, which is why its so invasive.

      You could try, for the rest of this season feeding heavily with nitrogen, then sort it out early next spring, with new compost.
       
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      • ARMANDII

        ARMANDII Low Flying Administrator Staff Member

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        JWK and pete are spot on, as usual,.:love30::snork: One last thought, if you're going to repot the Mint then it might be a good idea to check the roots to see if you got any pesky grubs in there doing damage.:dunno::snork:
         
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        • luciusmaximus

          luciusmaximus Total Gardener

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          Thanks for the advice:). Will have a go at breaking it into a smaller plant and then reporting. I've been feeding with organic liquid seaweed. I use this for everything:snorky:. Should I buy something different perhaps?
           
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          • ARMANDII

            ARMANDII Low Flying Administrator Staff Member

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            That's a pretty good feed, Lucius, as it contains nitrogen, potassium, phosphate and magnesium but you could change to a general purpose fertliser as Mint isn't that "picky".
            I've got several varieties of Mint in large pots and, to be honest, I rarely feed them and they're doing fine.:dunno::coffee::snorky:
             
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