What are the care methods for potted mint?

  Mint, also known as rendan cao, is a perennial herbaceous plant. Its plants grow 30-60 cm tall, with opposite leaves that are lanceolate or elliptical, and both sides have hairs and oil dots. After the stems and leaves are rubbed and crushed by hand, they have a strong fresh fragrance and a pungent cooling sensation, and they are the main medicinal part. In courtyards it can be planted in the ground or in pots, used as material for flower border arrangements, and can also be used as ground cover.

  In the scorching summer, mosquitoes are rampant, especially in houses with dense vegetation by the windows. There is a good natural and environmentally friendly method, which is to plant mint by the window or in the room. It not only has a mosquito-repellent effect, but also brings the unexpected benefit of preventing heatstroke and cooling down. So, after potting mint well on the balcony, how should it be cared for and managed?

  1. In the first year, water the mint frequently. Use your fingers to test how dry the soil is. Keep the soil moist, but do not soak the soil with water. If the mint gets direct sunlight, then you need to water it more frequently.

  2. Prune the top of the mint. Doing this can prevent the mint from growing too tall and encourage the mint to grow more leaves around the sides. At the same time, this can also create a harvest. When you check whether the mint needs watering, also take a look at whether the mint has grown too tall.

  3. Cut off the mint's flower buds to make it look more compact. Mint usually blooms between June and September. Before the mint blooms fully, you should cut off its flower buds so that it will not grow wildly (out of control). Pinching them off when the buds appear can also extend the harvest period.

  4. Divide the mint every two or three years. After a few years, the mint will grow as large as the container, which then causes the roots to become crowded. Break open the flower pot, then carefully divide the mint, separating it into several new mint plants. Divide the mint once every 2-3 years or 3-4 years, and transplant the separated new plants into other flower pots. This can keep the mint's flavor pure and strong.

  5. If you want the mint to fill the pot, the mint grows very fast and very luxuriantly. There is a little trick, which is to repot it once every year, in spring or autumn. Change to a larger pot and make the soil more fertile, and it can grow faster, because like spider plant, its root system may even develop faster than that of spider plant, and it can quickly occupy the entire flower pot.

  6. If the mint is infected with rust disease, then you need to spray fungicide to treat it. Rust disease, that is, a kind of fungus, will make the plant's leaves grow orange-brown spots. This is also one of the common diseases of mint.

  7. Beware of pests and diseases. All you need to do is give the mint a good drainage system so that it can grow healthily. If you find insects on the mint, then you can wash them away with a garden hose. You can also wash the mint leaves with insecticidal soap. At the same time, be sure to watch for pests under the mint leaves. Pests love to hide in these places.

  Keeping mint as a household potted plant is extremely easy. Mint is a lazy person's herb, and it is one of the easiest plants to grow, but it should be watered when dry and not kept too damp, because mint originally grew in Northern Europe, and there are many kinds of mint, and different mints have different habits, depending on which mint you are growing.

  Of course, mint likes sunlight. Only with sun exposure will it become more and more fragrant, and it will also bloom and set seed!