Peppermint plants are quite robust. They even cope well with a larger pest infestation. However, you certainly want to enjoy your tea or salad without meat. Therefore, you should regularly check your peppermint for pests.

The most common pests

  • mint leaf beetle
  • aphids
  • black spotted planthoppers
  • Green Shield Beetle
  • flea beetles

mint leaf beetle

The beetles are not so easy to spot because they are almost as green as the peppermint leaves. They cause damage by eating holes in the leaves. A mint leaf beetle infestation is not that bad, because the pretty beetles do not cause that much damage - if there are not too many.

Since you certainly don't want to find the bugs in the tea, just collect them with your hand. Thoroughly clean the crop before processing. If the infestation is very severe, cut off all affected shoots.

aphids

As with almost all plants, aphids are also common on peppermint.

If the infestation is mild, remove the lice by hand or rinse them off the leaves with a strong jet of water. In the case of a stubborn infestation, nettle manure, tobacco stock or soapy water will help.

black spotted planthoppers

You can recognize an infestation by the fact that the leaves become thin and seem to wilt, because the cicadas suck out the leaf juice.

Collecting usually doesn't help much. Cut off affected shoots. In the fall, you should remove the whole plant and plant new peppermints in a different location.

Green Shield Beetle

It lays its eggs in peppermint leaves. Larvae and beetles eat large holes in the leaves. It is best to collect the beetles in the morning. Then they are still clammy and not so flexible.

flea beetles

The beetles stay mostly on the ground under the plants. You can identify the infestation because the peppermint leaves have small holes. Hoe the soil regularly. That drives away the bugs.

tips and tricks

If you can't get the pest infestation under control, consider uprooting the peppermint and growing new plants. In any case, this makes more sense than using chemical agents to combat pests.

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Category:

Vegetable garden