Please help me break my mint curse!

[PingedThroughTheWall]

Every year I buy a beautifully promising mint plant from the garden centre.
It goes into a lovely pot in dappled shade and gets regular (but not too much) water.
Every year the same thing happens - it looks extremely happy for a few weeks, grows quickly, but then the leaves develop small yellow spots. The leaves start to turn full yellow. And eventually it dies.

Googling this year suggests the yellow dots might be spider mites?? I can see nothing alive on the plant though. Anyone else had this? Any suggestions?

I'm so fed up, I really thought this year it wouldn't happen! I'm happy to go full chemical warfare on it if anyone has any recommendations.

Thank you!

Sounds like mint rust

Do you water it from the top?

I have been reading up on mint. And watering from the top and too much water can cause mint rot. And the soil needs to well drained soil, so the top of the soil is not damp for too long.

Its a pain to get rid of. So you need to start again. Only water when it's starting to look a bit sorry for itself.

Spider mite are worse in dry conditions, they’re usually on the underside of the leaf, and are small enough that you need extremely good close eyesight to see them. Agree mint rust. And in my experience mint doesn’t like shade

Thanks so much everyone!
I don't think it's mint rust. My rosemary occasionally gets the same on the lower leaves and my thyme was riddled with something similar last year (went in the bin in the end)
Photo attached. Thoughts?

I've not really paid attention to how I'm watering - I'll start bottom only now, thanks for that. And apologies I said dappled shade, it gets shade in the morning, dappled shade midday and full sun in the afternoon, I've had mint in full sun all day before and it seemed unhappy.

Honestly everyone told me mint was like a weed and indestructible, my dahlias are less trouble!!!

Yeah, that's not mint rust.

I found this regarding insecticidal soap for spider mites

If you use the soap, it is a good idea to rinse the plants before they go back in direct sunlight. The schedule could be to blast off the mites in the morning, allow the plants to dry thru the day, spray insecticidal soap in the late afternoon, and rinse the plants with water the next morning.

Oh FFS. Just been out and noticed it's on my other mint too now (these are in a planter on the other side of the patio from the other mint).
😫
Thanks kate for the tip above.

Can anyone tell me if it's definitely/likely spider mites?

I'm close to giving up on growing my own herbs at this point!!

I don’t think it’s spider mites (look under the leaves for webbing or other evidence) but something is sucking the leaves. I’m sure I’ve had similar in the past when I grew mint, but it didn’t kill the plants.

Nan is right (it's difficult to kill mint!) I'd water with rainwater. Are you feeding it too much.? We've got very happy mint in our garden bed and a different type in a pot on the terrace, I've never fed it.

@PingedThroughTheWall

Oh FFS. Just been out and noticed it's on my other mint too now (these are in a planter on the other side of the patio from the other mint). 😫 Thanks kate for the tip above.

Can anyone tell me if it's definitely/likely spider mites?

I'm close to giving up on growing my own herbs at this point!!

It looks like the photos I saw online for spider mites or thrips.

But couldn't say for certain. It may explain why all your herbs have it

No I'm not feeding, I'm treating it pretty mean (neglect) although possibly overwatered it during the v hot spell last week?
I've had another look and I can see some very fine webbing...I also found a small larva on an upper leaf so the webbing may be related to that and not the yellow spots.
I think I'm just going to get some hardcore pesticide and blitz it for a bit, unless anyone has any better suggestions??

I would just ignore it and see what it looks like when it comes up next spring. I have mint everywhere (I ignored advice and planted it in the borders I find it easy to pull up) and it's one of those native plants that everything eats. It's a food plant to so many insects, moths etc something is always eating or infesting it. But the mint does shrug it off and keep growing back. And you can still eat the new shoot tips. If you are concerned you could cut it right back and then you'll get new shoots, but something will always eat mint, it wouldn't worry me.

What soil have you put the mint in? Please don't use pesticides\herbicides. They affect all the wildlife in your garden (not just the mint) and you won't be able to have mint with your peas!

Maybe spray with hot soapy water. Or just pick the offenders off with their leaves.

Yes you're right Indanthrone We also deliberately planted it in our garden we LOVE it .

Dh makes a delicious tzatziki with it !!! I make raita, for curries, with it!!

I had some mint I grew last year from seed.
It didnt grow very well. Looked like it was going to die. So I just threw it outside- thinking it's up to fate now. If it'll grow or not.

I've left it alone, and its thrived in the bedding- it gets loads of weeds surrounding it but doing well for it self.

Here's a pic

Well the first pic looks like red spider mite but not 100% the second definitely looks like some kind of thrip.

you can buy bio control called Amblyseius for thrip.

you can also get bio control for spider mite, but the most common ones have wings and will fly away unless in a green house.

“ I've had another look and I can see some very fine webbing...I also found a small larva on an upper leaf so the webbing may be related to that and not the yellow spots.”

The larvae of the tortrix moth can be a pest on mint, they are small brown moths with a yellow spot, so that may be what you’ve seen - they spin webs underneath and roll up the leaves.

Oooh thanks everyone!

It's in John Innes all purpose compost, in a pot (same for the second mint).

I would leave it but I did exactly that last year and the leaves turned full yellow and dropped off more quickly than the mint could outgrow it, I ended up with some very sad long mint stalks with new leaves only on the top which then caught whatever it is, and eventually the whole thing died a sad and sorry death (I'm admittedly making an assumption this is the same affliction but it certainly looks the same this year).

@Souther your mint looks lovely!

@NewYearNewTwatName & @NanTheWiser thank you for that!

UPDATE: I've shaken Afflicted Mint 2 onto a piece of white paper and we have all sorts of small creatures!
Definitely a thrip
Definitely lots of miniscule red crawling things (red spider mites?)
As above but almost clear/cream coloured rather than red

Original Afflicted Mint (photo 1) supplied nothing alive from a similar shake so I'm even more puzzled

It's so annoying, just like you I have mint in its own large pot, lovingly tended and it looks sorry for itself, whilst there is mint that has gone bonkers like a carpet all over our bonfire area and around which was started when we chucked the contents of what we thought was a previous dead plant.

Right, I've ordered some amblyseius cucumeris and phytoseiulus.
I mean, I definitely knew what those were half an hour ago...

Thanks so much everyone for the advice!

If anyone's interested I'll repost here with how I get on.

There are a few websites that sell to to the domestic market.

You'd be looking at getting Amblyseius cucumeris for the thrip and Phytoseiulus persimilis for the spider mite.

it not cheap and you may have to keep repeating application. ambly comes loose or in bags, the loose get to work quicker but the bags last longer as they come as babys or eggs, the bags can be clipped around a stem. Phyto is loose and placed on the leaves.

lol cross post. I went to do something then came back and finished my post 🤦‍♀️

thanks @NewYearNewTwatName
At least I've bought the right stuff!!!

We'll see, I'll admit it's become a vendetta now. But if this doesn't work I'll give up & chuck it on the pile of crap behind the shed where no doubt it will flourish beautifully.

probably!

if it doesn't work I'd probably burn them, so you aren't allowing them to keep on spreading.

Since its happening ever year I think you have some plants harbouring them already, it would be worth having a look under the leaves of some of your other plants, although they may not really effect those plants, the bugs can live quietly on them, until you bring a plant in that's like the queens feast to them, then they go nuts!

A lot of herby types of plants don't want to be tended lovingly, if the soil is ok for them they just grow on with lots of sun and little interference. Most of them grow on Southern mountain sides. I'll never forget the smell of mint or oregano and rosemary in the air, they were growing wild by the sea on cliffs in Portugal.