Mint needs room to run.
It really does. Anyone that has ever tried to pull mint plants out of their yard knows it has roots that travel all over the garden.
When you grow mint in a pot you’ve confined those rambling roots. Now the mint has to content itself with circling the container and it will fill the pot very quickly with roots.
At first the plant looks great and is producing lots of leaves. Then it becomes straggly. You clip it hoping to rejuvenate it. You water it and maybe feed it. That helps, but the plant isn’t as full and lush as it once was.
What’s up with this mint plant?
It’s girdling itself.
You can see that this small Orange Mint filled the pot with roots really fast. What should you do?
Option A
Pull it from the pot, yank the roots apart and re-pot some of them.
Option B
Separate the roots a bit and move the whole thing to a bigger pot.
Option C
Wring your hands, and toss the whole plant in the trash.
Hmmm….
Option A allows you to give the rest of the roots to someone else. All it takes is a little bit of root to establish a mint plant…as anyone that has ever not gotten all the roots out of their garden knows.
Option B is easy, providing you have a larger container.
Option C is just silly. Why toss a perfectly good plant that just needs a little TLC?
OK, so now you know what’s up with that mint plant. All you have to do is decide what option to go for!
Source: http gardening101.net