bobsmith2089 :
I have a spearmint plant indoors. It gets no natural light since I’ve sealed off all my windows with insulated curtains. It is however very happy (or seems to be) under a 15 watt grow light.
Does anyone know how to convince this plant to produce flowers. I know the flowers change the taste of the leaves, but I grow the plant for decoration only. I know that different plants have different ways of determining when to flower based on hours of light and or temp but I don’t know what the spearmint uses to set it’s calender.
Let me also ask for any general tips on growing it. It’s hard to find info specific to spearmint. Peppermint is popular so I’ve gone by that for growing tips. Someone said I should put a rusty nail in the pot to give it extra Iron to facilitate it’s spreading. Is that true?
radiology technician
Just for clarification when I said 15 watt I meant a 15 watt fluorescent tube bulb which I think is equivalent to a 60-70 watt.
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days longer than 17 h.
Most plants flower best when they are slightly stressed; it’s a sort of survival mechanism. This sometimes means allowing the plants to become root-bound. I would also suggest giving your plants more light if you want them to flower. You should be aware that spearmint flowers (like other members of the mint family) are quite small and nondescript; however, if you’re hoping for seed, then obviously you will need to induce flowering, and a lot of light is usually required for this. I’d say increase your grow light to 40 watts (this is what I use to get plentiful blossoms on African violets); I’ve had coleus (a relative of mint) nearby, and they will often bolt when exposed to that kind of light.
I don’t have any reason to think that you’d need REALLY long days – I’ve seen mint plants in Texas flower outdoors, and they only get about 15 hours of daylight at most.