Thanks WE.. that's what I assumed is happening.. but surely a bee can travel from pot to pot of mint in the garden, and the same thing will happen. The 'experts' always say never the same POT for a variety of mints, to put them in different pots.. nothing about self seeding.
I don't buy the root merging theory. More likely is the self-seeding with the seedlings having hybrid vigour that out competes the parent plants. It probably only happens if you have certain varieties next to each other with the right conditions for self seeding. I'm not certain but I'm fairly sure most of mine flower at different times which probably helps reduce cross contamination. That and a lot of mint cultivars are inbred and probably don't produce viable seed anyway. You'd probably need 2 species varieties like spearmint and watermint (which is how we get peppermint apparently) to ensure good seed setting.
I don't buy the root merging theory. More likely is the self-seeding with the seedlings having hybrid vigour that out competes the parent plants.
as I said on the other thread, I have personally 'seen' an existing established mint plant change flavour when another mint was planted nearby. And back again when the newer one was removed. I have absolutely no idea how it happens but I can assure you that it does - no seedlings involved.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
When you say the newer plant was removed do you mean the newer plant and all the plant that tasted funny? If the roots mingled than you'd have to dig out the lot to stop the newer plant coming back surely? It's a shame you didn't know the culivars or it would be interesting to try and replicate the problem. Were both plants flowering before the flavour change? The problem is there are a number of factors that can affect the flavour of mint including weather and soil.
I've got 5 varieties of mint planted in self-watering pots side by side (I got carried away in my search for the perfect mojito) and the flavours always stay true so I'm not convinced it's essential oil contamination either. The oil glands are in the leaves and the plants touch each other and it doesn't seem to rub off onto its neighbours. There's also water mint in the pond.
I've been having a look at a few scientific papers and there seem to be a few processes that could cause the change but it gets into big words and I need someone to explain it to me possibly using crayons Cytomixis looks possible if pollen is tranferred between the 2 plants. I don't quite understand the process though but it seems like genes can be passed from pollen cells from one plant into the other which basically pentrate the whole plant. Does that make sense? because it doesn't to me...
One paper suggests: 'cytomixis provides a physical opportunity for complement fractionation, which, in turn produces transgressive segregation in Mentha'.
It's also suggested that mint growth and oil production is promoted by fungi around the roots so maybe the new plant could be robbing the old plant of its fungi. Given that varieties of mint are given their flavour through a balance of essential oils then it would only take a change in the proportion of one type of oil to knacker the original flavour up.
From wikipedia:
oil from peppermint (Mentha x piperita L.) was analyzed by GC/FID and GC-MS. The main constituents were menthol (40.7%) and menthone (23.4%). Further components were (+/-)-menthyl acetate, 1,8-cineole, limonene, beta-pinene and beta-caryophyllene.[39]
oil of spearmint. The most abundant compound in spearmint oil is R-(–)-carvone, which gives spearmint its distinctive smell. Spearmint oil also contains significant amounts of limonene, dihydrocarvone, and 1,8-cineol.[11] Unlike oil of peppermint, oil of spearmint contains minimal amounts of menthol and menthone.
This was in my mother's garden. I should say she was a bit of a mint sauce-aholic - she did a roast lunch every Sunday and would have mint sauce with it whenever there was mint in the garden. I am a demon mint sauce maker (to her recipe) having been in charge of the mint sauce from when I was old enough to be allowed to hold the knife until I left home. Therefore the variation in flavour noted was quite an informed observation from a fairly continuous sampling.
Her 'normal' mint is 'Bowle's' mint, I'm sure on that one because I have a bit of it in my garden and I've taken a bit of time to identify it. Her plant was established for at least 40 years but there were a few smaller sprouts here and there around the area (as you might imagine - it had escaped it's confinement a long time before). She had a clump in a bottomless bucket by the greenhouse door from which she had been picking the 'Sunday' mint for a decade or so.
At the point when she mentioned the change in taste, she had planted a root of a different mint about a foot away from the bucket, I think about a year before. I don't know when she noticed the change in flavour but that's when she told me about it. I don't know what that one was, but I would speculate it may have been 'Eau de Cologne' mint, because I know she'd been looking for that.
When I suggested it could be mint merge, she dug up the newcomer with all the root she could find and she also dug up her semi-confined clump and thoroughly picked through it's roots before repotting it in the bucket, making sure the rim was protruding enough so she'd see if the new mint tried to get in amongst it again, should it regrow. She then found a piece of the original mint that was growing under a hedge some distance away, and transplanted it into the middle of the repotted old mint. The whole clump reverted to the original flavour during that season, though I can't remember if that was weeks or months.
I think she probably replanted the 'new' mint on the other side of the garden.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Monty said not to plant them in the same pot because the flavours would become less distinct - and yes, wild edges, I can see that happening if you get seedlings from cross-pollination, but if you cut off the fading flowers surely the plants will retain their original flavour... I've certainly never noticed the apple mint starting to taste of eau-de-cologne!
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
I heard the same from Monty.. but never "make sure to deadhead due to cross pollination".. the concern was specifically about having them in the same pot. Bees travel for miles.. and certainly around the garden from mint plant to mint plant. No one ever seems concerned about mint seedling flavors.. but they keep repeating the 'sample pot' myth/warning.. without an explaination. I'm just curious, as I don't understand how root mingle would change a flavor, unless there is something chemical happening in the plant communication world... which would be really interesting.
Posts
https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/999613/mint-in-pots/p1
I've kept mine in separate pots, on a shelf by the back door for handy picking.
Oops, sorry. That pics come out massive 😲.
I have absolutely no idea how it happens but I can assure you that it does - no seedlings involved.
Her 'normal' mint is 'Bowle's' mint, I'm sure on that one because I have a bit of it in my garden and I've taken a bit of time to identify it. Her plant was established for at least 40 years but there were a few smaller sprouts here and there around the area (as you might imagine - it had escaped it's confinement a long time before). She had a clump in a bottomless bucket by the greenhouse door from which she had been picking the 'Sunday' mint for a decade or so.
At the point when she mentioned the change in taste, she had planted a root of a different mint about a foot away from the bucket, I think about a year before. I don't know when she noticed the change in flavour but that's when she told me about it. I don't know what that one was, but I would speculate it may have been 'Eau de Cologne' mint, because I know she'd been looking for that.
When I suggested it could be mint merge, she dug up the newcomer with all the root she could find and she also dug up her semi-confined clump and thoroughly picked through it's roots before repotting it in the bucket, making sure the rim was protruding enough so she'd see if the new mint tried to get in amongst it again, should it regrow. She then found a piece of the original mint that was growing under a hedge some distance away, and transplanted it into the middle of the repotted old mint. The whole clump reverted to the original flavour during that season, though I can't remember if that was weeks or months.
I think she probably replanted the 'new' mint on the other side of the garden.
I heard the same from Monty.. but never "make sure to deadhead due to cross pollination".. the concern was specifically about having them in the same pot. Bees travel for miles.. and certainly around the garden from mint plant to mint plant. No one ever seems concerned about mint seedling flavors.. but they keep repeating the 'sample pot' myth/warning.. without an explaination. I'm just curious, as I don't understand how root mingle would change a flavor, unless there is something chemical happening in the plant communication world... which would be really interesting.