Well, you can water with cool, strong chamomile tea, that's a great anti-fungal... maybe you are watering it TOO much? How much sun is it getting? I have mine outdoors and it gets about 2 hours of sun in Sacramento...and probably isn't as damp as it would like, but it spreads!

i was thinking that i am watering it too much. i've been told that spearmint needs a lot of water... i water it every other day to make sure that the soil is always damp. this morning i decided to hold off on the watering for 3 days or so (and water from the bottom).

would watering too much stunt its growth? do you know how long it takes for spearmint to grow?

as far as sun, it gets about 4 hours of sun in the morning and then under a grow light for another 4 (though it is not centered under the light, so isn't getting as much as, say, the basil). i live in Los Angeles so it is consistently in the 60s or 70s this time of year.. not too cold, not too hot. in my kitchen, it probably is more in the mid-70s range throughout the day.

The soil for mint should be moist, not wet. Depending on how large the pot is, you could probably water it once a week if it's not in the sun or wind. Use the Finger Test. Poke your finger into the soil as far as you can. If the soil feels moist at the tip of your finger, you probably don't need to water.

Herbs grown indoors are great targets for bugs and diseases. Fungi can have a wonderful time because they don't get sunlight to kill them off. True sunlight I mean, not that filtered light that comes through a glass window.

If you can possibly put your plant outside for a few hours each day, that would really, really help! If your weather is relatively cool, mint can take full sun. If the sun is fierce, put the plant in filtered sunlight or partial shade.

Given the right conditions, your spearmint could eventually take over the whole world!

One hint: mint likes iron, so poke a large nail (or two, if the pot is very large) into the soil in the pot. As it rusts, the plant will lap up the iron.

Another hint: Once the plant has fungal growth, you need to repot completely. Toss out the old soil and destroy it. Wash the pot carefully with soapy water and a little bleach. Wash the roots of the plant with soapy water and a teensy dash of bleach, removing as much soil as possible. No need to rinse either the plant or the pot. Then use fresh soil (potting mix) and replant the mint. ONE tiny fungal spore, and you've got a new round of problems.

VERY helpful. thank you daisy.

I just brought my pots in (just before the temperature dipped below freezing). So far everything seems to be okay - except for my spearmint which seems to be turning yellowing, drying and dropping all its leaves - in a variety of locations. I haven't had them in a week yet, and I watered them once, but the soil doesn't seem too dry. The light varies - but I've started suplementing by keeping the lights on in the evenings? (I'm looking into getting some full spectrum compact florescents - but I doubt that I can get them set up close enough to make a huge differnce) Are they doing this because they were already in shut-down mode because it has been fairly cool out recently? Will they revive eventually if I leave them be? (I have them potted with other species, which don't necessarily share their needs)

Cheers,

Jennith

I tried growing spearmint indoors but watered it too much and made it go moldy. I eventually found that indoors, spearmint only needed watering once a week.

It wasn't getting enough light indoors, so I moved it outside, albeit on the shaded side of the house. It started needing more water there, so I water it about twice a week now based on the finger-poke method. (Thanks, daisyduckworth.) So far I have not managed to kill it.

I figure spearmint is like a sponge. If a lot of water comes out, you have to put a lot in. If not, it can get by on fairly little.

Another thing I found that worked really well for spearmint was passive hydroculture. I water-rooted a cutting and planted it in hydroponic expanded clay pellets. The bottom of the pot sits in a bucket filled with half an inch of half-strength hydroculture nutrient solution, which is topped up about once a week. It's very low maintenance and the little mint plant seems really happy, which is more than I can say about my experiments with hydroculture basil. Stupid finicky basil. *squint-and-mutter*

When is it best to put it outside? I have mine in pots indoors during the winter. Just wondering when it is ok to put it out. Thanks!