Mint is a tough-as-nails plant that gardeners seem to grow very easily. Gardeners often find that they have to control mint aggressively as it can sometimes produce invasively.
Despite your mint growing aggressively, the leaves may be so small that you feel like they are not worth harvesting.
So, how do we get our mint to grow large succulent leaves? In order to get large leaves on your mint, you must provide them with the ideal growing conditions.
Your mint will thrive when you target the pH (between 6 and 7), looseness/moisture/well-drained soil, indirect sunlight, and regular watering!
Additionally, frequent pruning, cutting your mint back severe every year, and giving your mint enough root space to grow large leaves can also help with larger leaves.
Like every plant, large leaves indicate that the plant is robust and healthy and it also indicates that the plant has ideal growing conditions that promote large leaves.
Mint plants that are growing in ideal conditions, with all of their growing parameters almost met, will grow large leaves that are
Why Are Your Mint Leaves Small?
If your mint blossoms with little leaves, that signifies the plant is not satisfied and is perhaps struggling with its growing situation.
There are quite a few reasons why your mint plant has small leaves.
These reasons include the soil pH is not right, not enough water, not enough sunlight, not enough nutrients, or the plant is root bound. The roots being root bound could be a common reason for small leaves for mint plants that are planted in containers or in the ground.
Mint plants have a surprisingly large root system for a plant so small.
Mint itself will propagate by runners, and if you notice new runners that found an opening in the ground you will see full size leaves where they have produced. That’s because they have space for the roots to gather nutrients to grow the larger leaves.
Of course, other conditions like pH, amount of nutrients, water and sun contribute but if the plant is in a good place, and all of the right conditions, that reason would be the root space constraint itself.
How to Grow Bigger Mint Leaves
The most ideal way to grow large leaves on your mint plants is to keep your mint growing environment as optimal as possible and to care for your mint plant accordingly.
Your mint plant will grow larger leaves in optimal soil with the correct pH level with enough nutrients, enough water, enough sunlight, and if the plant is regularly thinned out to allow the roots to spread below ground. Sometimes putting more soil over the plant provides a safe space for the roots.
Mint is one of those plants that gardeners think they can plant and forget and that it will thrive due to its weed properties.
While mint will grow if left growing on its own, if you would like to have the best results from your plant, a little care for the mint plant must be done.
Works Best: Mint does best with soil that has a pH level between 6.0 and 7pH and does best in loose, moist, and well-drained soil. To have moist soil that drains well, soil that is rich in organic material relates to things like compost for mint.
Does Mint Need Full Sun?
Most vegetables and herbs require full sun exposure to reach their potential and have healthy growth.
Mint is one of the few herbs that the opposite is true.
Mint thrives in partial shade as the best growing environment. It will grow in full sun but will wilt quickly as it dries out, and it will not have as good a leaf growth overall. If you grow mint in full sun, you will have to water the plant more frequently to cool the soil.
An ideal amount of full sun is about six hours for your plant to be healthy and grow larger leaves.
Overall, the best scenario would be for your mint plant to get full sun in the morning, and partial or full shade during the hottest part of the day.
Give Your Mint More Root Space For Large Leaf Growth
One of the most common reasons for your mint plants developing smaller leaves is that your mint has become root-bound.
Mint has a very deep, extensive root system. When that root growth space is limited, the health of your mint starts to decline and the leaves start to grow smaller.
At the close of the growing season, your mint plant will die back for the winter. At that time, you can remove some of the roots, which will give the root space in the soil for the remaining roots to expand.
And pour more compost on top of the plant and soil area giving more soil space for the roots, and feeding the plant all at the same time – just make sure the leaves are above the soil surface.
You will be amazed to see the difference in the size of the leaves from your mint plant just by allowing more root space for your mint plants, and your mint will have a bushier appearance overall with larger leaves to harvest.
The roots you pull out of the mint plant, you can replant in another location to generate more mint plants.
Take Note: If your mint plant is in a container, just re-pot the plant into a larger container to allow for more root space for the plant, it will induce larger leaf growth on your potted mint also.
Should You Prune Your Mint?
When you pick the mint for your own use in your home, at some point, you are going to prune your mint.
When you prune like this, many people think that this is enough for their mint, but there are times when this is not enough and they should be more aggressive with their pruning.
Pruning your mint will help you keep your plant producing soft, healthy new growth for you to use in your kitchen.
Pruning will also keep your mint in check so it does not spread out of hand. When the mint dies back, that is when you should prune the mint aggressively down to about 2 or 3-inches above the soil.
By pruning the mint aggressively each year, you will:
- keep the plant producing larger leaves year-on-year
- keep the plant contained
- keep the plant healthy
- and produce bushier growth rather than a sparse, spread-out growth pattern
The Best Way To Grow Mint With Big Leaves
Growing mint in one specific way consistently results in the largest leaves compared to any other growing method out there.
Hydroponic systems produce larger leaves than mint grown in containers or in soil. The combination of optimal conditions created by the hydroponic systems in the form of abundant nutrients, a constant source of water, perfect pH, sunlight, and space for roots, produces an optimal mint-growing environment.
In a hydroponic system utilizing a little bit of 30% shade-cloth over the mint to protect it from direct sunlight, mint can grow leaves the size of the palm of your hand!
Conclusion
Although mint is easy to grow, it can require some care to ensure the leaves grow as large as possible by providing the plant what it needs to thrive and produce bigger leaves.
The most likely reason for small leaves on mint is that the plant is root-bound or more commonly insufficient water.
Fix these two problems first if you want your mint to produce smaller leaves!