I see you're in zone 10. If the pot sits on bricks like this or anyplace in the hot afternoon sun, it is probably too hot for it. Can you move your pot to where your plant only gets morning/early day sun?

Not all geographic areas have the same results or growing requirements. I can plant my mint in full sun but then this summer we only had 2 or 3 days that topped 90 degrees F. You probably have had much different conditions than that! Try only morning sun. See how that works.

FataMorgana

I put it there for a pic, it's on a raised holder with thyme and oregano. If I stayed at home all day I could move it lol. But the back doesn't get any sun really till afternoon or so as we're on the water/inlet with the rear facing west. No where really to put out front either.

Build it a midday and late afternoon shade...if you can't provide a setting that does that.

Was thinking of that but don't really have the room (similar issue with other plants though they seem to be doing better after their transplant shock), since we're on the water. I have one shady area where those rocks are but with the trees all crap falls from them into plants. And plants I've put there would get infested with ants, caterpillars and whatever else you name it, damn iguanas ate one whole pepper plant lol.

I notice you still have it in potting soil.

There is a grower that sells wonderful herbs in potting soil like that, and I find they quickly die on me, because I do not water every day the way the grower apparently does.

Especially in your zone, your mints need soil that is able to hold enough moisture that the soil will almost but not completely dry out between waterings. Both clay and humus would help as added components (you can get clay in the form of most kinds of unadulterated kitty litter).

Additionally, they need shade during the hottest part of the day, which can be provided by larger plants, a statuette, or anything else you can think of.

yeh I've been watering this one daily, all the nurseries I've been seem to use the same potting soil, comes in those white unlabeled bags. So I transplant using that stuff. I take the bottom dish off all the plants so always just water till water starts dripping out since I've been told/read never to use the retaining dishes on any plant. Trying to fig out how I could build some shade thing but not sure where it'd fit with the other plants. That rock area near the trees has space, problem is all the stuff and bugs that drop from the trees cover that area, plants have gotten infested there, and iguanas like to hang out around the dock and that area and they munch on plants.

Is mint better to transplant into humus, and not potting soil?

This post was edited by surf1 on Mon, Sep 8, 14 at 18:22

Mint, in low desert, needs to be out in dirt in morning sun or light all-day shade.

Keeping if alive in pots is difficult.

here's some more pics, and one showing a healthy section of the plant. neighbor had same problem growing mint even in a way way larger draining pot that she had in the ground (she has a dirt area which I don't).

I do have a huge FL room, and plants seem to be stable if in there, but don't really grow much as the light hits at angles from all the windows so if I had the time I'd have to sit there all day long and move each plant like every 30-60 min or so to stay in the sun lol

can see some mroe of the leaves with brown edges or dying (like their mushy and just fall off if you barely touch them or their stem)

healthy section

The detail image with the dried leaves look just that, dried out. If you dry mint after harvesting it looks very similar. Your plants are baking and drying out.

The suggestion about creating shade for them was good. I'm sure there are large plants with lots of foliage that do well in your zone with regards to sun and heat. I can't tell you what they are - I deal with cold issues here not heat! But if you look on neighbors' decks, patios, front steps, etc. you'll see them.

Do a little research on them...make sure none that you choose are toxic. It's never good to put plants you want to ingest next to ones that are poisonous. But get a number of them and create some shade for the plants you want to grow that hail from cooler zones. It can look nice and hopefully provide that cooler patch of shade and green for you.

FataMorgana

can you build a small structure and put shadecloth (or any shade creating medium) It is common for raised bed gardeners in zone9-10 to use PVC pipes to make a hoophouse and put shade cloth over it. Or a simple lean-to with shadecloth on the westerly side should work to help.

surf1 - when you are trying to best care for a plant it is often useful to think about where its wild relations live. The native habitat of Mentha spicata is Europe and parts of Asia. It grows in temperate areas in damp soils. That tells you the kinds of conditions you need to be trying to reproduce for it to feel happy.

You say you have no soil but could you dig a hole under that shrub next to the palm and sink the pot into the ground?

Take cuttings and grow them in water. When those croak clone some more.