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Vegetables Peppermint cultivation

Alfred Opiyo

Alfred Opiyo

Certified Expert
waithakajob said:
Kindly educate me on how to propagate peppermint.
Click to expand...
Growing of peppermint:
  • Mints are vigorous perennials that thrive in light soil with good drainage.
  • Ideally, they prefer a moist but well-drained site, something like their native habitat along stream banks.
  • Most will require shaded environment I.e some protection from direct sun.
  • For growing outdoors, plant new seedlings or cuttings about 2 feet apart in moist soil. One or two plants will easily cover the ground. Mint should grow to be 1 or 2 feet tall.
  • For the best growth in confined areas such as containers, topdress plants with a thin layer of compost or organic fertilizer every few months. Aboveground pots will need winter protection in cold climates.
  • Mints can also be planted near cabbage and tomatoes—in pots, if possible, in order to prevent it from spreading and stealing nutrients from your crops! with benefit of repelling away most pest that would attack your tomatoes or cabbages
Propagating Mint
The best way to propagate mints is by taking cuttings from those that you like best. It’s easy—take 6-inch cuttings of rooted stems and plant them horizontally in the soil. Mint stems will also root in a glass of water. Start with a small cutting from an established plant.

Care and maintenance
  • Minimal care is needed for mint. For outdoor plants, use a light mulch. This will help keep the soil moist and keep the leaves clean.
  • For indoor plants, be sure to water them regularly to keep the soil evenly moist.
  • At first, mints develop into well-behaved–looking, bushy, upright clumps, but they soon set out to conquer new territory with horizontal runners and underground rhizomes. Unless you block them, peppermint plant can turn into a sprawling 4-foot giant in just 1 year. You can manage them by picking and pruning. They are shallow-rooted and easy to pull out, so there’s no reason to worry, you can as well provide physical barriers such as walls, walkways, or containers.
Pests/Diseases:
Harvest/Storage:
  • Frequent harvesting is the key to keeping mint plants at their best. Young leaves have more flavor than old ones, and mint can be harvested as soon as it comes up in spring. Although fresh is best and sprigs keep for a few days in water, mint leaves can be frozen or air-dried in bunches.
  • Right before flowering, cut the stems 1 inch from the ground. You can harvest one mint plant two or three times in one growing season.
  • You can also just pick the leaves as you need them.
  • You can grow the plants indoors for fresh leaves throughout the winter. If you want to dry them, it’s best to cut the leaves right before flowering. Store the dried leaves in an airtight container.
Thank you and welcome
Alfred
 
Alfred Opiyo

Alfred Opiyo

Certified Expert
fgachary said:
Hello, how do I unblock a clogged drip line?
Click to expand...
Hello, before look at how to unblock clogged lines it's important to be aware of what causes this clogging? Is it type of fertilizers your probably using for fertigation or silts from water source?

Possible solutions:
-Use high quality filters to ensure silts and dust do not find there way to your drip tapes, filters are also periodically cleaned.
-Use perfectly soluble fertilizers when doing fertigation to avoid clogging of tapes
- Already blocked/clogged tapes can cleaned by opening the end caps/knots of drip lines and run water freely (Flushing) for slits and soils but if it's chemical clogging resulting from undisolved fertilizers then it become a challenge for they don't easily come out.
 
F

fgachary

New member
Alfred Opiyo said:
Hello, before look at how to unblock clogged lines it's important to be aware of what causes this clogging? Is it type of fertilizers your probably using for fertigation or silts from water source?

Possible solutions:
-Use high quality filters to ensure silts and dust do not find there way to your drip tapes, filters are also periodically cleaned.
-Use perfectly soluble fertilizers when doing fertigation to avoid clogging of tapes
- Already blocked/clogged tapes can cleaned by opening the end caps/knots of drip lines and run water freely (Flushing) for slits and soils but if it's chemical clogging resulting from undisolved fertilizers then it become a challenge for they don't easily come out.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the information
 
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