Latest Spearmint Seed Prices and Planting Methods

Spearmint, also known as green mint, fragrant flower vegetable, fish fragrant vegetable, etc., is a perennial upright herbaceous plant of the Lamiaceae family, Mentha genus. It is cultivated or has escaped to the wild in Henan, Hebei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and other places in China. The stems and leaves can be distilled to extract spearmint oil, which can be used as medicine and as food. Let us take a look at spearmint seed prices and planting methods below!

How much do spearmint seeds cost?

Spearmint seeds cost about 200 yuan per jin. The tender branches and leaves of spearmint are often used as a seasoning spice and can also be added to condiments to enhance the flavor of dishes, or used individually or mixed with other herbs as a refreshing tea. The plant contains aromatic oil, which is used as a spice in candy and toothpaste, and is also used for medicinal purposes. The leaves, tender branches, or the whole plant are also used as medicine, treating cold and fever, cough, consumptive cough, common cold, headache, sore throat, nervous headache, gastrointestinal bloating, bruises and blood stasis pain, red and stinging eyes, nosebleeds, dark ulcers, general numbness, and children's sores and boils, etc.

Growth Habits of Spearmint

1. Temperature: When the average daily temperature is above 5°C and the soil temperature reaches above 2°C, the roots, stems, scales, and buds of spearmint begin to sprout. The optimum temperature during the growing period is 25-30°C. It can also grow normally when the temperature is above 30-40°C. Planting underground rhizomes around the Start of Winter allows them to overwinter safely.

2. Humidity: Spearmint needs more water in the early and middle stages of growth, but during the budding stage it needs plenty of sunlight and a dry climate to facilitate the growth of oil gland cells, so it is suitable for growing in the subtropical monsoon humid climate zone of China.

3. Light: Spearmint is a light-loving plant. Its leaves are both the organs for photosynthesis and the main site for storing essential oil. If the planting density is too high and ventilation and light penetration between plants are poor, it will lead to high branching nodes and few branches, thereby affecting the yield and quality of the essential oil.

4. Soil: Spearmint has low soil requirements, with sandy and loose-textured soil being preferable, and neutral soil being suitable for pH. However, because the aboveground biomass of spearmint is relatively large, it has a high demand for fertilizer, especially nitrogen fertilizer.

Propagation Methods of Spearmint

1. Seed propagation: Because spearmint shows great variation when propagated from seed, asexual propagation is mostly used in production.

2. Rhizome propagation: In early spring in March, cut fresh spearmint rhizomes into sections and place them in opened planting furrows, cover with soil, compact it, and water thoroughly.

3. Division propagation: In early spring, when new spearmint shoots have grown to about 8 cm, dig them up together with the rhizomes and transplant the divided plants.

4. Cutting propagation: In May to June, select robust aboveground stems and cut them into small sections 6 cm long, insert them into a seedbed as cuttings, and transplant after they take root and survive.

Planting Methods of Spearmint

1. Reasonable density: Spearmint has strong branching ability, with many branches and low nodes. The suitable density for the first crop is about 10,000 plants per mu, with a row spacing of about 0.4 mm and a plant spacing of about 0.17 m. The suitable density for the second crop is 40,000-45,000 plants per mu. If too dense, manual thinning or mechanical thinning must be carried out.

2. Cultivation and weeding: Before the rows close, loosen the soil and weed 1-2 times. When loosening the soil, loosen shallowly near the plants and more deeply between the rows. Loosen the soil in time after rain if the soil becomes compacted. Before harvesting, weeds should also be removed manually once to avoid mixing them in during harvest and affecting the quality of the essential oil.

3. Timely fertilization: Apply topdressing 1-2 times throughout the entire growth period of spearmint. When the plant height is 10 cm, apply 5-8 kg of urea per mu. For the second fertilization, depending on the growth condition, apply 3 kg of phosphate fertilizer and 5 kg of urea per mu in early to mid-June to promote strong stems and increase oil in spearmint and improve yield.  

4. Timely harvesting: Spearmint has the highest oil content in the stems and leaves at the beginning of flowering, which is the best harvest period. It should be harvested on a morning during a continuous period of sunny days. Harvesting in rainy, windy, or weak-sunlight weather has a great impact on yield. After harvesting, spread it on the ground to dry until about 70% dry, then it can be distilled and processed.