Last updated on September 23rd, 2022 at 01:53 pm
Catmint plants are highly resistant to diseases, so it often calls for alarm when they start dying continuously. The causes of death in catmint plants are varied.
However, with the proper knowledge of how to grow your catmint and the causes of its death, you can be able to avoid unnecessary plant deaths. Well then, let’s gain that knowledge!
Why is my catmint dying?
Many factors cause the death of your catmint. Some of them include; attack of root rot, overwatering, bad soil texture, pest and fungi attacks, and failure of the pant to produce and transfer chlorophyll to all parts.
What Causes a Catmint to Die?
The primary cause of dying catmint is excessive water in your plant stems which causes them to decay over time.
Therefore, how much or how you water your catmint cannot be overly emphasized. You have to employ caution that you’re leaving your catmint moist to encourage healthy growth.
There are also several other factors responsible for the gradual death of your catmint, and we will be addressing them in subsequent paragraphs.
After your plant is affected by any of the causes that I will address, it will likely die one to three months after planting.
Now, other plausible causes for the death of your catmint are examined below.
1. Insects Invasion
Insects, without any doubt, have been a significant challenge for catmints. Some of the insects that attack the catmint are thrips, spider mites, and sometimes fleas.
Thrips are micro insects with mouths that make it very easy to cut through the plant cell walls and suck out the sap in the plant.
You can spot them under the plant leaves.
Furthermore, you can discourage thrip infestation on your catmint by bathing your plant with water frequently to wash them off the plant.
Spider mites are plant-eating mites that look like tiny spiders. They are categorized under the Acari family tree.
Their natural habitat is the undersides of leaves of plants, and they spin protective silk-like webs.
They cause damage by puncturing the plant cells which they eat. Yellow spots on the leaves of your plants are glaring evidence of spider mite infestation, and once this spreads to all parts of the leaf, it dies and falls off.
You can control spider mites effectively through alcohol and water solution.
After mixing alcohol and water, pour the solution into a spray can, spray thoroughly on the leaves, and wipe with a towel.
2. Lack of adequate water on the plant
Like humans, plants need water to grow healthy. If there’s not enough water for your catmint, it cannot appropriately channel the nutrients it needs through the rest of the plant.
A plant cannot grow without healthy roots, so the proper water balance is key to growing healthy catmint.
3. Failure to and transfer chlorophyll to all parts of the plant
Chlorophyll’s job in a plant is to absorb light, usually sunlight. It is essential to photosynthesis, which accounts for the oxygen let out of the plant into the air.
Chlorophyll sees that the plant is not short of green color because it does not absorb the green wavelengths of white light.
This occurrence implies that chlorophyll on sabbatical ushers in low or no food production at all.
4. Fungus infection
There are a few types of fungus that affect your catmint.
This makes the leaves yellow and transcends to another stage that reports a darker shade on the leaf, and then they eventually fall off.
Some of the types of fungus are Cercospora and septoria, among others.
5. Bacterial leaf spot disease
A damp environment primarily fosters this. You must apply caution when working around the plants, especially when watering. You want to avoid soiling your catmint as this makes room for bacteria.
Suppose you are not tactical about the solutions you apply to correct the errors that might have led to bacterial leaf spot disease.
In that case, you will be required to dispose of the plant immediately before it becomes too tedious to control.
The reason is that no treatment for this has been discovered. Nonetheless, control measures can be put in place to avoid occurrences.
In addition to those mentioned above, one of the many reasons to explain why your catmint is dying is cats.
Yes, cats cannot resist fine and healthy catmint, but unfortunately, they don’t see the need to preserve the plants by themselves.
How Do You Revive Catmint?
You must be worried that your catmint is dying and fast. The good news is, you can always have your catmint back to the healthy blooming plant that it was by following the outlined steps carefully.
You can trim your catmint as low as to sprouting level. In this case, it is called pruning and requires the use of a shear tool.
If it is not severely affected, you can also trim affected areas at the beginning when new flowers have not opened, and then you ensure adequate watering.
It is recommended that you trim your catmint to two-third of the initial size to discourage diseases and aid the plant blossom at the right time.
One of the perks of catmint is that season does not determine when you can engage pruning on your catmint.
We continue to bolster on the issue of watering. Disengage from overwatering and inadequate watering of your catmint.
Also, ensure your catmint receives the right amount of sunlight. Too much sunlight might cause damage to the plant. Even though catmint is drought tolerant, you do not want to go over the board.
Applying the mulching technique to your catmint can assist in keeping your catmint moist and discourage root rot.
Conclusion
The Catmint isn’t always very easy to cultivate.
Therefore, you must have had challenges tackling the many problems associated with growing your catmint.
Fortunately, with the right and precise application of the knowledge you have just acquired, these problems can watch out for what’s coming.
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