5 Tips For Growing Hydroponic Mint At Home
Mint is one of the world’s most popular herbs. It’s a refreshing, intense, and unique aroma that makes your beverages taste better. You can grow hydroponic mint at home, as it requires little effort. However, mint has a limited shelf life, making it better to grow it yourself.
There are dozens of types of mints, including peppermint, spearmint, pennyroyal mint, and lemon mint. Once you taste the fresh mint, you wouldn’t want to buy from the local market. If you love a little spice in your teas, jellies, dessert, cold drinks, and garnishes, it’s time to set up your hydroponic system, ready to plant your mint.
How Do You Grow Hydroponic Mint At Home?
Mint is versatile and great for beginners using hydroponic systems. You can use the Ebb and Flow, Bubble buckets, and Nutrient film methods. Whichever system you use, your mint should grow quickly and easily.
Planting Your Hydroponic Mint
Mint can be planted from seeds, but it’s faster to use cuttings or clones. It takes three to four weeks for your clones to grow to maturity. When picking the cuttings, choose the healthy green plants for stem cutting and immerse them immediately in water.
For rootstock, pull out the mature plants and extract enough root material. Then, insert the roots into water or your new growing media. Mint crowds quickly, so you don’t have to use lots of stems or rootstock to start your hydroponic garden.
Hydroponic mints thrive under pH 6.0-6.8, EC 2.0-2.4, PPM 1400-168, and humidity above 70-75%. The roots generally take 7 to 10 days to grow and support the plant. The best temperatures at night are 50-55F, and the day cycle is 65-70F. Anything above 85F causes stunted growth. Hydroponic mints require 12 to 16 hours of daily light.
Nutrients For Your Hydroponic Mint
Mint hydroponically requires a simple, balanced formula for your herb to reach maturity. Use less nitrogen formula to avoid overwhelming your mints, causing leaves to lose flavor. In addition, different plants require different concentrations and water for nutrient rations.
Hydroponic Mint Nutrition and Health
Mint has a high nutritional value enough to satisfy your dietary requirements. It consists of a gram of fiber, 9% of iron, 12% vitamin A, 8% manganese, and 4% of folate in any fresh mint. So it’s best to care well for your mint, and it will change the flavors of your dishes.
For centuries, mint has been used as traditional medicine. A favorite for killing bacteria causes bad breath. Till today, companies making toothpaste use mint as a key ingredient. The herb also relieves digestive symptoms such as irritable bowel syndrome.
Mint is also associated with improving brain function and memory. In addition, mint is a home remedy for curing cold symptoms and sometimes relieves pain associated with breastfeeding.
How to Harvest Hydroponic Mint
The significant advantage of growing hydroponic mint at home is enjoying it while fresh. Instead of chopping the whole plant, you can harvest little bits when ready to use them. In addition, you can remove the extra sprigs to leave room for healthier plants.
Be careful with the herb when harvesting since it’s soft and fragile. You can simply pinch a few sprigs of mint with your thumb and forefinger and cut the stem. However, avoid ripping away the sprigs since the harshness can introduce diseases to the herb.
You can also use sharp gardening shears or pruners to cut the mint stems. Disinfect the shears with little alcohol to [prevent spreading diseases from one plant to the next. Then, only cut the mint you need now and let the rest continue growing. The remaining herb will regenerate, and you can continually enjoy your hydroponic mints all year round.
Can Mint Be Grown Hydroponically?
Yes, growing hydroponic mint is popular. You can grow it for domestic and commercial use. Mint is used to make essential oils for candles, perfumes, soaps, and toothpaste. In oil, you can use mint to fight infections and relieve inflammations. It’s best for soothing your stomach, calming headaches, and repelling mosquitoes.
In most restaurants, bars, and households, mint is a special ingredient that adds flavor to various recipes. You can use mint when making teas, cocktails, jellies, meat stews, and even desserts. If you don’t have the privilege of cutting in small batches, you can cut the herb and dry it to prolong its shelf life. Although the fresh plant tastes better, it doesn’t last long. So it’s best to dry and store in a cool, dry place.
How To Grow Your Mint In Water
You don’t need to set up an expensive system to grow your hydroponic mints at home. Instead, here is a simple step-by-step method to grow your mint in just water.
- Go to your local store or search online and purchase net cups. Alternatively, you can get plastic containers from your kitchen and drill holes at the bottom.
- Buy some healthy green mint cutting from the store. Remove the leaves near the bottom of the cutting because they rot when submerged in water.
- Make sure you have a node or two remainings and must be below the container or net cup. The nodes are where new branches and leaves develop. The roots also form from the nodes.
- After prepping the mints, fill all the holes with mint plants and remove the excess branches, exposing the nodes.
- Take a larger container, add fresh water, and place the container with your mints. Cover the container and give it a few days until you see roots forming.
Final Thoughts on Hydroponic Mint
Growing mints hydroponically at home provides you with many advantages. First, the herb is simple to grow and care for. Then you can enjoy refreshing beverages and flavorful dishes. In addition, you don’t need to have ample space to grow your mints. Generally, mints are a soil-based plant and sometimes become invasive and take over the garden, but in a hydroponic system, you can easily control the plant.
It’s one of the excellent plants for beginners who are learning about hydroponic systems. You only need to learn how to balance the nutrient solution, and you’re good to go.
