Pointers to Grow and Care for Peppermint

[Kamisama420]

Hi MaryMary,

Thank you for your reply. Late is better than never. I left the plant grow until today, when I decided it was more than time to thin it. It was quite bushy in there.
I clipped the smaller plants at their base. I remember Chuck saying not to pull them out but to snip them off, so that's what I did.

I don't know if I snipped enough though. I'm afraid of cutting too many and have something happen to the ones that are left and lose everything.
For most gardening veterans, a mint plant is nothing, but for me, it's my first plant I grew from seeds and I'm proud of how I took care of it, so I might be overly protective of the saplings.
Please tell me what you think, this is what's left.

I also see that the green is a lot deeper than it was three weeks ago, and the leaves are smaller and further apart from one another. Is that normal?

I'll start bottom feeding it from now on, thanks for confirming I should.
Any other advice is always welcome.

Have a nice one!

 

[MaryMary]

The color looks to be much like the mint that grows outside here, so I'd say that's fine. The only thing that concerns me is the yellowing of the leaf at about the 3 o'clock position in your pic. (Yellowing is usually caused by over-watering.) How often do you water it? I've done some googling, and it seems peppermint likes deep, rich, moist soil. Taking that into consideration, I still would not water it more than once a week - unless it is really hot where you are.

Do you have the space to get another pot, and transplant some of it into that? I can totally understand your fear of making a mistake and losing everything, but I'm afraid it needs thinned some more. How many plants are in there? I found a website that says the final spacing of the plants should be 45 to 60 cm apart. If that's true, you shouldn't have more than one in that pot!! Do you still have the seed packet? It should say on it what the final spacing should be.

The reason you want to snip them rather than pull them is because if the seedlings have twined their roots together, then pulling one may damage the other.

Also, if you can, get an oscillating fan and set it up near them. Turn it on a couple hours a day. You don't want to blow them down, just try to simulate a gentle breeze. It will encourage them to grow stronger, thicker stems. *If you have a regular fan, you can use it, just put it on one side for an hour, then move it to the other side for an hour.

 

[Kamisama420]

Hey MaryMary,

Thank you for your reply. It's been almost a week, but I have taken your advice into account. I didn't water it the whole week, and I trimmed most of it out, too. There are four plants total left, and I will see how they do and pick the strongest one out of them by the end of the month, trim the others.

Today is the first "bath". That is to say, I am trying to bottom water them in my sink.
I was wondering, how long is this supposed to take? The pot has been half-soaked in water for over 10 min, and the water doesn't seem anywhere close to reaching the surface...
Do you have experience with bottom watering? If so, how long does it usually take you?
The fact that my pot only has one hole probably doesn't help, but I'd love an estimate if anyone could provide one.

Thank you!