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better image

My plant looks like this. Is it alive or dead ? I have not tried to do anything yet as I'm not sure I will be doing the right thing.

J. Chomel
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Sally
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    I would say dead and completely dried out... but image is not very accurate. Are these green patches in the pot small leaves? Then might not be dead. Please post better picture. – J. Chomel Apr 03 '17 at 08:55
  • Where in the world are you, is this a photo of your plant and has it been outside or inside? Has the pot dried out, or have you just lost all top growth? Please [edit] your question, thanks! – Stephie Apr 03 '17 at 11:09
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    Location is important - mint are herbaceous and so will die back in the winter before re-emerging in Spring. I'm in the UK and mine haven't emerged yet. – George of all trades Apr 03 '17 at 13:39
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    Hey, was there another picture here half an hour ago? Or am I truly going nuts? – stormy Apr 03 '17 at 17:54
  • How did the plant come to be like this? – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Apr 04 '17 at 06:21
  • @stormy Check the edit history. Click on 'edited 1 hour ago' or whatever it says above the name of the user who edited last. You'll find your answer. But, for those who can't, it looks like you're sane. – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Apr 04 '17 at 07:48

3 Answers3

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Pull or cut off all the dead material, soak the pot so it's wet through, let it drain down, wait a week or two, see if it grows. If it does, you would probably need to turn it out of its pot, cut it in half and repot one of the halves, but you need to establish whether it's live or not first.

UPDATE

Looking at your new close up photo, it looks like there is some growth happening, but it's not yet clear whether its mint or some invader in the pot, though I suspect it is mint. Either way, it's totally overcrowded, so soak it, turn it out of its pot, cut it in half and repot the halves separately if you want to keep both. Remove all the top dead growth.

Bamboo
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  • Might be best to snap off dead, brittle stems before soaking. Let them get soggy, and you might think they're still alive. Looks early, so I wouldn't get too aggressive. Sometimes mint stems that look dead will leaf out several inches up. *Overcrowded* is an excellent description here. – Wayfaring Stranger Apr 04 '17 at 03:05
  • Looks like mint that's emerging – George of all trades Apr 06 '17 at 14:04
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I agree with Bamboo, but I'll add some explanations:

Mint have adventitious roots, so they could be lively and produce new stems (possibly there is already some, but very tiny). Additionally mints produce a lot of seeds. If you dare to wait, I think the mint will grow again.

Did you think you find a method to kill mint? Killing mint it is not a easy task.

Giacomo Catenazzi
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Mint is a cold-hardy perennial with rhizomes, and it's quite the survivor in the ground, normally. Containers may be trickier. Nevertheless, there are at least a few things that could be in the process of killing it. Here are some of them:

  • The pot could be too small. Mint can die if it's in the same pot too long. By the size of the plant, and the fact that it didn't die before it got to be its present size, this is a decent guess. Mint fills up pots fast. I would personally recommend that you upgrade the size often, or take out some of the roots to make room and put new soil in.
  • Lack of water can kill mint in containers. If this is the problem, and watering doesn't revive it, then it's probably dead. You should probably water it fairly often, unless it doesn't get dry fast (but overwatering may contribute to root rot).
  • Freezing cold temperatures can kill the plant above ground, but it can grow back when it warms up.
  • Lack of essential nutrients or overbundance of nutrients
  • Disease (including root rot, mint rust, etc.; the leaves on the soil look like they may have mint rust; that fungus can kill mint)
  • Pests

As I don't know what led up to the plant being in this condition, and what symptoms it had as it was dying, it's quite difficult to say with certainty if it can be saved, or what is or was wrong with it.

Check out the roots first and see if it's root bound, or if the roots are rotting or shriveled up. If they're rotting, I'm not sure whether it'll survive, but you should be able to save it if it's just rootbound and the roots are alive.

If it had the symptoms of mint rust, you might want to throw away the plant and soil, sterilize the container, and start over, but I've read that you can light a small fire with straw over the soil when it's dormant to kill some pathogens (I'm not sure how well that works).

Mint suffers a lot when it runs out of nutrients, in my experience. So, if you never fertilized it that may be an issue (which may go hand in hand with the plant being root bound).

Brōtsyorfuzthrāx
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