Trimming mint and penneyroyal?

[1acrefarm]

I having been keeping my tops trimmed off my mint and pennyroyal with my string trimmer this year. I am doing this to keep it from flowering. I want to keep it from flowering so it can't go to seed and will not attract the bees to an area my granddaughter plays. Will repeatedly taking the tops off all the plants simultaneous damage my mint or pennyroyal?

 

[Tutter]

I take mine down by 1/3 whenever I want mint through the summer, and it not only is fine, but it thrives. I've never used a string trimmer to do it, but that shouldn't be a problem. Most mints are pretty hardy. Is it peppermint, or spearmint?

The pennyroyal I can't say from experience, as mine just grows wild by the creek, but I'd be surprised if it died from being kept trimmed.

Good luck!

 

[patandchickens]

Actually I would expect that repeatedly 'nipping in the bud' would if anything *encourage* the darn things. Certainly it is not going to *hurt* a mint (and pennyroyal is in the mint family too IIRC).

Even global thermonuclear war would not hurt mint. Be brave, be mean to it, it's your only hope of having mint-free regions of the garden <g>

Pat

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

Pat makes a good point, mint can sure take a beating.

We have it planted in a corner that we later found out was an area that the neighborhood kids used to cut through the property. It gets trample, cut, smashed and is still as nice as ever. Takes a day or so to spring back but it seems okay.

We have another area where we actually use a string trimmer to trim the mint. It grows back just fine, over and over again.

 

[Tutter]

That's true. I've had more than one very large dog walk through/rest in the mint, and it didn't deter it at all. I'm not sure you can do permanant damage to them.

The only time I had trouble, was with a flavored mint...maybe chocolate? I also had candy cane at the time, so one of the two, but the problem was, apparently, with the cold. I was shocked to see any kind of mint actually die.

 

[1acrefarm]

I figured it would be ok. Just wanted a little reassurance. Thanks

 

[patandchickens]

True story: I have feral spearmint around one end of the house that is in deep dark shade, bone-dry soil, and gets buzzed down with the lawnmower every couple months.

It is doing fine

Pat

 

[calee]

Just a side note of caution:

Pennyroyal doesn't mix with pregnant women. If anyone in the family is pregnant, they shouldn't work with the plant themselves, and others like yourself or granddaughter who may have touched the plant quite a bit should wash well before getting too close to them.

 

[1acrefarm]

Thats for sure. Pennyroyal is an abortificant. My granddaughter does not play in it. It is just near the front porch. She plays on the porch. I would not let a young child play in it although I doubt it would hurt them.

 

[Mossy Rock]

I use a weed eater on mine and they bounce right back in no time looking as good as ever.