Why Mint Gets Leggy — And How To Easily Fix It

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Growing mint (Mentha spp.) is one of the best ways to learn how to garden. Not only do mint plants smell amazing, but they're easy to grow, tough as nails, and can handle almost any soil conditions. They can become aggressive spreaders, though, which is why most people grow mint in containers. But what if your problem isn't that your plant is spreading too far and wide, but getting leggy instead? Typically, when mints get that stretched, leggy look, they aren't getting enough light.

Gardeners use the term "leggy" to describe stems that have grown much taller than than the rest of the plant. The stems may have only a few leaves at the top. Your mint plant is seeking more light, so it is stretching up to capture as much as it can. Moving your plant or adding supplemental light will help, but you will also need to give it a good trim. Here's what to do to fix that leggy look and encourage healthy growth.

Plants in the Mentha genus typically do best with around six hours of bright light per day, but they can tolerate as little as three hours of direct sunlight. Anything less than that and they can get leggy. If you're growing mint outdoors, keep it in a pot to prevent it from invading the entire garden, and plant it somewhere that gets full to partial sun (four to six hours of direct light per day). To grow mint indoors, place the plants in a south-facing window for optimal light. 

What if you don't have a south-facing window or that still doesn't seem to be enough light? You may need to add supplemental light, particularly in the winter, if you see your mint getting that spindly, leggy look. One light we like is Barrina's T5 Grow Lights. These provide the full light spectrum and can be linked together to illuminate tall plants or really dark spaces. We also set them up on a Govee Smart Plug so we can automate how long they're on right from a smart home setup, but even a simple GE 24‑Hour Plug-in Mechanical Timer Outlet works perfectly.

To encourage healthy growth, give your mint a good trim so it stops diverting energy upward. Adjust its placement so that it has brighter light, then give it a few weeks to grow. If things look pretty uniform and your mint is bushy, then you've solved the problem. And as an added bonus, you can always harvest mint leaves from the pruned stems to use in some awesome mocktails.