3. Growth habit-
• Perennial herb,spreading by root stocks.
• Soil & Climate – Medium to fertile deep soil, rich in humus is
ideal for cultivation, water logging should be avoided. Ph range of 6-
7.5 is best.
• The crop can be grown in tropical and sub tropical areas under
irrigation , but it does not tolerate damp winters which cause root rot.
Open sunny situation without excessive rains during the growing
period are congenial for good growth and development of oil .
• In case of peppermint and spearmint the ideal yield is obtained only
in humid and temperate condition like Kashmir and hills of UP & HP
4. Propagation and Planting
• Mint is propagated through creeping stolon or suckers or runners , which
are obtained from previous years planting ,1 ha of well established mint
produces enough planting materials for 10 ha.
• For planting in the well prepared main field , stolon are obtained in the
month of December-January.
• They are cut into small pieces of 7-10cms and planted @400 kg stolons /ha
in shallow furrows distance of 45-60cm and irrigated immediately .
• In the plains , planting is done during winter months,where as in temperate
climate, planting is done autumn or spring from last week of December to
first week of march,late plantig always gives poor yield.
5. Irrigation
• Depending upon the soil and climate condition crop is irrigated 6-9
times before the first monsoon, the again 3 irrigation after monsoon
(Sept,oct,nov) is needed.
• A total of 15 irrigations are required to get maximum yield.
• While in temperate climate 3-4 irrigation during July to October is
need.
• Water require mint of mint is very high.
6. Manures & Fertilizers
• Crop responds very well to heavy application of Nitrogen Fertilizers.
• 125:40:50 kg NPK/ha fertilizer dose is incorporated in soil.
• Weeding- Weed growth cause about 60% reduction in herb and oil
yield, Hence mint require weeding at regular interval in the early
stages of crop growth. The best rotation is mint-rice, Mint-
potatoes,mint – vegetables, mint-peas etc.
7. Harvesting & Yield
• Crop is harvested after 100-120 days of planting when the lower
leaves start turning yellow.
• 2nd harvest is obtained after 80 days of 1st harvest and 3rd after
80days of 2nd harvest.
• Harvesting consists of cutting the green herb by means of sickle 2-3
cm above the ground.
• The 1st crop is ready at the end of June and 2nd is September and
October.
• Yiel- 48000 kg of fresh herb /ha, however the average yield from 3
cuttings is 20k-25k kg which is turn may yield about 50-70kg oil/ha
8. Post harvest handling
• Storage of herb- Mint herb should be shade dried for about a day
before it is distilled,care should be taken so that decomposition of the
herbage doesn’t initiate during the drying process. There would be
some reduction in oil yield if wilted herbage crop is stored for a longer
period of 2-3 days . As such storage of herbage for a longer period is
not recommended.
• Distillation-The recovery of oil from the herb is 0.5-0.8% The oil id
obtained through steam distillation, the oil is of golden yellow colour
containing not less than 75% of methol.
• The duration distillation is 2-2.5hr for complete recovery of oil.
9. • About 80% of the oil is received in the receiver in about one hours
time,oil that received is rich of menthol.
• The fresh or semi dried herbage is placed a tank and treated with
passing stem under pressure, The steam that comes out of the tank is
then pass through a condenser. The condenser receiving the steam,
carrying the oil extracted from the herbage in the tank is kept
constantly cool by circulating cold water over or around it.
• The condensed oil and water mixture is collected n a reciver, since the
water and oil have different densities , oil floats on the surface of the
water in the reciver.
10. Purification of oil
• The oil that is skimmed off must be cleaned of traces of water that it
may carry.
• Treating with anhydrous sodium sulphate and remove any remain
moisture in the oil. The whole process is highly critical .
• Storage & Packing of oil-
• Pvc drums of good quality and galvanized iron drums or aluminum
containers are suitable for short and long term storage respectively &
It should be kept in cool and dark place.
