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I like to have live catnip plants in the house, as I do not allow the cats outside and I do not want to attract all the outdoor cats in the neighborhood.
In the past, my two older boys, who have since passed, would love for me to pinch off a bit and give it to them by hand. When my youngest came to live with me, I learned he was something of a junkie. He kept knocking over the planter (which was on a high shelf and the other two never jumped up to get to it. The new guy was killing the plants and spreading soil all around. So, I gave him the dried stuff now and then, which he loves, but I really prefer growing it myself.
A few weeks ago, I decided to give it another go. I bought 2 starter plants along with 2 of cat grass. He was ecstatic. But after only a short while, it looks like the catnip is dying. I don't know if I over-watered or what. I'm trying to get some seeds to sprout, but they are a little old and I'm not sure they will work.
Does anyone know if you can clone the catnip? By that, I mean, snip a bit of stem, leave it in water to develop new roots and then plant in a pot.
In the past, my two older boys, who have since passed, would love for me to pinch off a bit and give it to them by hand. When my youngest came to live with me, I learned he was something of a junkie. He kept knocking over the planter (which was on a high shelf and the other two never jumped up to get to it. The new guy was killing the plants and spreading soil all around. So, I gave him the dried stuff now and then, which he loves, but I really prefer growing it myself.
A few weeks ago, I decided to give it another go. I bought 2 starter plants along with 2 of cat grass. He was ecstatic. But after only a short while, it looks like the catnip is dying. I don't know if I over-watered or what. I'm trying to get some seeds to sprout, but they are a little old and I'm not sure they will work.
Does anyone know if you can clone the catnip? By that, I mean, snip a bit of stem, leave it in water to develop new roots and then plant in a pot.
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Re: does anyone grow their own catnip?
Sun, July 5, 2009 - 1:11 PMA lot of herbs can be propagated this way--I've just done lemon balm successfully. Here's a link to rooting instructions and they say it will work with catnip, but suggest using rooting hormone and a sterile medium (not garden soil) instead as it's faster and safer. I've never messed with rooting hormone, but I've read about it, so I know this much: if you're using it, remember to take out the tiny bit you'll need and put it in some other container to dip the cutting stems into, as the wet stem will activate the hormone and you don't want to ruin the whole container of product. After dipping, discard any hormone left over from the batch you dipped your cuttings into. -
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Re: does anyone grow their own catnip?
Sun, July 5, 2009 - 1:12 PM -
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Re: does anyone grow their own catnip?
Tue, July 7, 2009 - 4:50 PMNot sure about cloning, but I have a row or two in the back garden. I let it mature and bolt, then dry it out and we get a ton of seeds from it. Just throw it in a patch of dirt and you should get a ton of catnip. Its grows like a weed. -
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i think i'm seeing green
Wed, July 8, 2009 - 5:25 PMI started one clone and also a trick that I learned from a friend and I think I might be having some success sooon.
The clone in water is starting to show little bright green buds.
I also took the old seeds and put in a ziploc bag with some wet potting soil. I just checked and I see a little bit of green there, too.
Keeping my fingers crossed that I might get some new growth out of one or both.
I don't want to attempt outside. Too many critters in the neighborhood already!
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Re: i think i'm seeing green
Thu, July 9, 2009 - 11:27 AMCritter took out our initial nip plants too. Grab a roll of chicken wire and some concrete netting material. It the stuff the is fairly thick steel wire in about 6" square net pattern. Use a pair of linesman dikes or a small bolt cutter to cut through the middle of the 8th square (3.5'), roll it up, use the ends of the netting by bending the leftover hanging wire around the other end of the cut netting. Voila! Now you have a metal net tube about 1ft in diameter. Now on one end of the tube, cut the end circle of wire- leaving a bunch of 6" long steel wires sticking straight out. These will act as stakes holding the thing in the dirt. Now all you do is wrap the chick wire around this tube and attach with zip ties or whatever. Its fairly cheap and you can buy both things in big rolls. Place over the starter catnip plants and once they peek their heads over the enclosure, remove it. At 3ft high, the catnip plants won't get destroyed by cats. -
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Re: i think i'm seeing green
Thu, July 9, 2009 - 4:40 PMI thought I'd throw in my 2 cents - I cover the seeded area with those metal "pot" frames desgned to be lined with sheets of moss and used as planters. I use plain old garden staples to hold them down. They're just enough to give the young plants time to get large enough to survive mauling. 'Course once you've had a successful crop you'll never have to start seeds again! -
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Re: i think i'm seeing green
Fri, July 10, 2009 - 5:29 AMI've got a black thumb, so I don't have much to say about the actual cloning/rooting process. I don't so much grow catnip, as it grows itself, and I pull all the other weeds around it, in my yard. It was here before I was. Usually I harvest a bunch and dry it to give my cats. But I found a clump growing in the middle of the yard where I actually mow, so I pulled 'em. They came up with roots, so I stuck 'em in a pot. I've got the thing in a sunny spot in one of the rooms we have closed off to the cats, as I don't care to have to clean up after them trying to roll around in it. Every now and then I pick a leaf or two and give it to them.
Catnip, like other mints, really is best for one's garden in a pot of some kind, rather than in the soil. The only things in my yard that spread farther and faster are creeping charlie and motherwort.
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