Pruning mint plant is an enjoyable act, as the plants release a fresh blast of minty fragrance. The flower diminishes the quality plus vigour of the leaves. Nevermore frightened to pinch some sprigs of mint when required, but at some time you want a large amount of mint then, wait till to the pruning time.
However, if you need a low growing bed of mint then, you make it as small as 4 inches. Four inches is the best length towards mint planted in little pots or containers. Unless allowing it to be 8-11 inches high before you going to prune it. So this write-up will be a guide to trim mint plant to promote its growth.
Importance of Pruning Plants
Why is plant pruning necessary? Plants require help plus routine maintenance. Plants should be watered and fertilized. Pruning is not always regarding appearance. Pruning is the best defensive gardening plus lawn care practice, and it is essential to bring it out whether you are working with young or established plants.
You are protecting your environment and curbing the appeal to take care of these pieces of your property, which can cause trouble if we ignore them.
How to Prune Mint Plant – a Step-by-Step Guide?
Step 1 – (When to prune indoor mint plant)
- Wait before pruning until it is fully grown. With the help of scissors, cut around one-third of the length at the tip of every stem. Mint is a quick-growing herb, so don’t be frightened of the pruning, your plant will grow again.
- Pruning stimulates growth. This is not a bad thing for your mint plant. If you don’t want to use scissors or you don’t have any scissors in your house then, you can also prune mint with your fingers. This thing will take a little longer time but is equally useful. With your fingers, pinch it nearly one-third of the length of the mint stem. Use your fingernails to pinch the mint stems to make a complete split.
- If you are keeping a small amount of peppermint at home, it can be simpler to use your fingers to prune the mint. You can also use scissors or a sharp knife.
Step-2 (How to trim mint plant)
- When you go to trim your mint plant, consider what size you want your plant to be. Shape the mint in a way that grew in the circumference of your pot rather than spilling out of the pot.
- Mint grows quick, plus in various directions. So trim your mint plant to a shape that is fit with the pot. Shape the mint plant in such a way that it does not come out of the container and with no too many leaves in it.
Step-3 (Improving mint plant growth)
- Following a harvest, you can store your mint suitably in a container so that it can be used daily as per your requirement. There are different ways to collect mint, the general being drying mint. There are numerous other methods too for drying mint, including baking it on the oven, hanging it in the air, and dehydrating it.
- You can freeze the mint in the refrigerator. Pick your mint leaves and discard any damaged leaves into it. Pat dry the mint leaves with a cloth. Pick the mint leaves plus remove the stems too.
- Place around two tablespoons of leaves in different parts of an ice cube tray, fill it up with water and keep in the freezer. After the cubes freeze completely, place them in an airtight container and leave them in the refrigerator. You can put frozen mint for nearly three months.
- Put the mint in a bag plus label it with the current date. To vacuum seal the bag, use a vacuum sealer, which can be purchased online. Each vacuum sealer works a little separately, so you’ll need to understand the company’s guidance.
Step-4 (When to harvest mint plant)
Mint is normally harvested freshly during the year as required. Do not harvest if the mint plant is not progressing quite well due to cold weather or some other situations.
With five minutes of work and a week’s patience, you too can prune the mint to grow the number of plants for your landscaping requirements.
How to Fertilize Mint Plant?
There are about twenty-five species of Hardy perennial mint, all of which have a bad streak. Listed as creepers, their behaviour more exactly matches a stampede or avalanche.
An individual mint plant can occupy the complete garden plus sweep across the lawn, so it is good to grow it in small and large containers or on a bed with plastic or metal edging. The usually available mints are peppermint and spear. Some fertilizer gives the mint a powerful boost, especially if you cut it in the right way.
- At the start of new growth, feed a balanced all-purpose liquid fertilizer in the spring. Then apply fertilizer every 4-6 weeks and during the growing season too. Repeated watering plants have to wash away soil nutrients.
- At the time of planting, cultivate 2-4 inches of compost well in the head six inches of the garden. An all-purpose one-half teaspoon, slow-release, 16-16-8 granular fertilizer above each one square foot of the bed plus work it into the head 6 inches of soil.
- Feed the returning mint plants thoroughly, slow-release, 16–16–16 granular fertilizer at the beginning of spring when there is a risk of frost, and new growth unfolds. Use around one teaspoon of soil above the root zone of the mint plant.
- Prevent getting compost on the leaves. Water the material well into the soil. Avoid mint plants getting water on their stems and leaves due to rotting of leaves. Do not over-manure to the mint plants. Over-manure produces large, robust plants at the expense of low oil content. This reduces the taste in mint.
When pruning the mint plant you can at-time get a slight crop from the mint through the first year, though, it is usually fine to wait until the second year, before the plant’s bloom. Following the mint blooms, it drops some of its vital oils, leaving the leaves less aromatic plus tasty.
Wait for buds that show when the plant is nearly to bloom. When the buds arrive, you can pinch them with fingers or cut back the mint plants.