Why does mint need its own channels in a shared system?

Because it spreads by runners and will colonise neighbouring channels if the layout allows it. In a shared nutrient-film system the design contains it from the outset — dedicated channels, and where the water system allows it a separate return line — rather than relying on management to hold it back.

How is mint harvested in a greenhouse?

By repeated cutting. The crop is perennial and regrows strongly after each cut, so it is grown as a cut-and-regrow crop rather than to a finished plant, and the channel it occupies is held long-term.

What role does mint play in a mixed herb programme?

A steady base load beneath the faster short crops. Demand peaks in the warm months and never disappears, and the layout lets the rest of the programme be cleared and replanted around a crop that stays put.

Mint — DutchGreenhouses

Mint is a perennial herb sold fresh into drinks, cuisine and retail packs, with demand that peaks in warm months but never disappears. In a greenhouse it is grown for repeated cutting rather than as a finished plant, and spearmint is the type most commonly grown for the fresh trade.

What the plant does

The plant is vigorous and spreads by runners, which is an asset in a channel dedicated to it and a problem everywhere else. In a shared nutrient-film system it will colonise neighbouring channels if the layout allows it, so the system design has to contain it from the outset rather than manage it later. It regrows strongly after cutting, which is what makes the cut-and-regrow rhythm work.

Part of a herb programme

Mint sits inside a wider herb programme as a steady base load beneath the faster short crops. What it asks of the house is separation: its own channels, and a layout that lets the rest of the programme be cleared and replanted around a crop that stays put.

DutchGreenhouses® designs the structure, climate and irrigation around the herb programme, including how a vigorous perennial is kept separate from the crops beside it. Get in touch to discuss a herb project.

Mint

The varieties

Spearmint

Perennial, vigorous, and best given its own channel.

The oil in the leaf is the product

Mint is grown for what is inside the leaf. The essential oil that gives the crop its scent and its cooling taste is the reason it is bought, and it is volatile by definition. It leaves the leaf into the air, faster once the stem is cut and faster again when the leaf is warm.

Everything else about a bunch of mint survives a journey. The colour holds and the structure holds. The scent does not, and a bunch that has crossed a continent gives up most of it on the way. None of that can be judged through the pack, which is why the distance behind a bunch of mint decides more than the label on it.

Because the crop is perennial and cut repeatedly, a house near its market can cut against demand rather than against a departure. The plants stay in place and the harvest follows the order, so what leaves the greenhouse was standing in the channel that morning.