What's eating my ginger mint?

Ginger Mint (Mentha × gracilis) shares the standard mint pest complex: mint aphids on shoot tips, mint rust on stems and leaves, and slugs on young growth in spring. Spider mites can develop in hot, dry conditions. Mint rust spreads rapidly in wet summers and can devastate a clump if not cut back promptly and disposed of well away from other mints.

Clusters of small pale-green aphids on growing tips; leaves curl and yellow; sticky honeydew below attracts sooty mould and ants. Spray with insecticidal soap or neem oil; prune and discard infested tips; avoid over-feeding with nitrogen fertiliser.

Orange pustules on leaf undersides and stems turning brown; distorted growth; rapid spread in cool, wet conditions. Cut all affected growth to ground level immediately and bin (not compost); treat remaining stems with a copper-based fungicide.

Holes in young leaves and gnawed stems at ground level; silvery slime trails on soil; worst in spring and after rain. Hand-pick after dark; set beer traps; apply iron-phosphate slug pellets; remove debris that provides daytime shelter.