You Grow Girl™

Posted: 17-02-04 9:23

Does anyone have an opinion on the flavor of mints grown from seed vs. those bought as plants or started from cuttings?
I keep reading that most mints do not come from true seed & that the flavor of plants started from seed is disapointing.
I'm just wondering if any of you have noticed a difference.

Old Growth Joined: 28 Jan 2004 Posts: 329

I've been under the same impression, so I've always stuck with buying my plantlets at a local nursery. The good news is that so many interesting varieties of mint seem to be readily available� I�ve also had good luck buying seedling of flavors like chocolate mint from farmer�s markets when they only had conventional varieties elsewhere.

Why not try both? If you have the room, buy a few seedlings and simultaneously plant your own. Worse case scenario, you're giving away baby mints to your friends, right?

Posted: 17-02-04 18:19

I've never tried mint from seed... is the flavor weaker or just different?
Briana is right on with buying little ones from the nursey. Mint grows so fast anyways all you need to do is divide it three or four times each summer.
is that all that plants from the nursery are? Divided plants? maybe they are from super-seeds.... the plant's gotta come from somewhere!

Posted: 18-02-04 0:11

I'm not sure whether the flavor weaker or just different. I'm starting some spearmint & curly from seed already & I will probably just let it grow & compare it to nursery plants later. I just wanted to know if anyone had started mint from seed & found it to be not worth while. If it truly isn't worth it, I'll chuck it & use the valuable grow light space for something else Smile

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Posted: 18-05-04 18:02

I thought I'd revive this post a bit with a new question.

have some spearmint and peppermint in a sunny window and they'll most likely stay there all summer. I want to make it grow and big and busy and as quickly as possible.... and something I'm unsure of is how much water it needs. I've heard mixed reviews on how much mint in containers need. They are both in plastic pots.

I'm planning on dividing them and repotting as soon as possible. I had good luck last doing that last summer.

Any thoughts on keeping it happy?

Posted: 18-05-04 18:52

I have spearmint in a hanging plastic pot in our front yard- when it looks a little droopy, I water it, I have maybe a teaspoon of water granule saver thingies in it, and it's growing like gangbusters... I just chopped off some today to fill in a bouquet!

Posted: 18-05-04 20:26

Whoa! Mint in a bouquet! Hot! Thats a cool way to do a bouquet. Cool

Now I want my little guys to grow! Hehe. (tragedy struck though...which is why from now on I am only using some kind of shear in the future to take off dead leaves...I snapped the top off of a pepper seedling when trying to take off a dead and sunburned leaf Crying or Very sad

) Ack, we'll see what happens..

But anyways, really cool to use for a bouquet!
(Obviously I'm taken with the idea!)
-JoT

Posted: 19-05-04 10:49

The first summer I lived here, before I started gardening really, I brought a huge bunch of mint in from the yard. Ever smell good! Now I do it whenever the mint gets out of control.

Seedling Joined: 03 Apr 2005 Posts: 11 Location: Kansas

Honestly, I don't like the flavor of mint from seed... It also doesn't spread as quickly as a baby plant from a nursery. My mother planted chocolate mint around her front porch a few years ago and it's doing well enough that we decided it would be neat to let it spread into the yard... It's wonderful when she mows. Plus, cutting mint back helps it send off more runners.