Mint is the hardiest most invasivest shit ever and like I cannot stress enough how quickly and vigorously it grows. If you ever need mint just like root a cutting and plant it and give it some fertilizer like once a week and you'll have more mint than anybody could ever need for their entire lifetime

I transplanted a basketball sized mint plant into a bigger pot two weeks ago and it's quintupled in size with leaves the size of my hand. I literally do not know what to do with it. I offered like a pound of it to my weed dealer and you know what he said? nah he's trying to kill the shit growing around his house

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[–] Omegamint@hexbear.net 13 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Ok but counterpoint why do my incredibly thriving hanging pots of mints inevitably become a home for massive amounts of aphids, huh?

I'm honestly just annoyed they love my mint specifically, haven't even had an issue on them on tomatoes, or other herbs. Spraying them because this is generally just the stuff I grow on my balcony and I can't be arsed to try and introduce predators when they won't stick around. LEAVE MY MINT ALONE

[–] DogThatWentGorp@hexbear.net 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Deffo keep the mint then if they only go after it. Sounds like it's serving as a pest magnet and keeping the rest of your stuff cleaner if I'm reading right.

[–] Robert_Kennedy_Jr@hexbear.net 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Maybe if it's not actually killing the plant but from my experience plant pests just tend to propagate exponentially.

[–] DogThatWentGorp@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago

Oh I let them kill the diversion plant. If I really want what that thing is growing I just get a second and put it somewhere else usually.

Different story at work where I have to make sure everything lives but at home I have this horrible looking nasturtium that I spray wayyyyyyy less on purpose.

[–] Omegamint@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah I think I would need a ecosystem with natural pests to make diversion plants worth it and I absolutely don't.

[–] Robert_Kennedy_Jr@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I've had insects go absolutely ape shit on certain plants and imagine them waving their friends over, announcing that there's plenty to eat and the breeding orgy is at 5. The first hobby garden I ever tried there were I thinj mites on some bok choy that went down the row eating them to the ground one by one.

[–] WizardOfLoneliness@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

All my plants are fucking mite city right now but they seem to just be chillin in the dirt. There are seriously a lot of them though, the soil writhes

[–] Robert_Kennedy_Jr@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Put dish soap and water in a spray bottle and spray everything you can when the sun isn't on the plants and then hose them off. I forget what the mechanism is but the soap allows the water to drown them and they turn black in a couple hours.

[–] WizardOfLoneliness@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Bugs breathe through their skin and the surfactant qualities of dish soap suffocate them

[–] Robert_Kennedy_Jr@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago

Thanks I'm running on a few hours of sleep and the term was escaping me.

[–] WizardOfLoneliness@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

You could maybe try immersing the plants with water for a few hours so the aphids die or leave and then try to prevent them from coming back with neem oil or pyrethrins if you're not afraid of pesticides (i figure there's so many carcinogens everywhere else why not spray a little poison on the food yea but my mint has basically 0 bugs on it, just all up in the soil)

[–] Omegamint@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago

I have some spinosad but it doesn't really work on aphids, gonna have to get some neem concentrate soon and just spray them off or something regularly for now. I just don't understand why they like the mint so much specifically, enough to get up to my high as hell balcony