Easy steps on how to grow Catnip plant

The Catnip plant is really an easy to grow hardy perennial plant. The Catnip plant is one of the top mosquito repellant plants that actually belong to the mint family.
If you grow this herb in your garden a lot of Cats will find its scent addictive, so you will be expecting many cats in your neighborhood to stay play around this plant. Cats get highly excited and attracted by its pungent fragrance.
Furthermore, not only attracting Cats to your garden, the leaves and other parts of this plant can be use for a variety of purposes.
This particular herb can grow up to three to four feet with downy and light green foliage. This herbs (Catnip) produces small lavender flowers on spikes up to 5” long.

The steps on how to grow and care for Catnip plant

If the Catnip plant is grown properly it will produce more flowers. If you want to plant Catnip make sure you till the soil to a depth of three to four inches, and add one inch of compost. You need to work the compost into the top soil.  This particular plant really does well in many soils but prefer a moderately rich loam and well-drained soil.
Make sure you plant the Catnip seeds fifteen to eighteen inches apart with the seeds slightly covered. You need to water the seeds lightly after planting, make sure you keep the soil moist during the growing season.
Catnip plant actually grows in a soil pH range of 6 (mildly acidic) to 7.5 (mildly alkaline). The Catnip plant seeds germinate in seven to ten days but can sprout in as few as five or six in propagation media such as oasis root cubes.

The reasons why Cats Love Catnip?

Cats really love this plant because of the active ingredient called nepetalactone. Any time Cats smell this substance from the Catnip leaves or stems, it usually stimulates their receptors that detect pheromones, and because of this the Cat will experience an overwhelming amount of happiness. Some of these Cats will just roll around while licking the Catnip plant leaves, while some others will just sniff it.
This herb works as a mild feline hallucinogen. Although it does not pose any danger to the cats. This herb really contains the same properties as the male Cat urine.
There are some pet owners who use Catnip plant to keep their cats indoors. These pet owners dry the Catnip leaves by hanging. After that they sprinkle the dry Catnip leaves to a pillow, cushion or an old sock making it a homemade Catnip toy.

The watering of the Catnip plant

You need to water the young plants twice a week for the first 2 weeks, you can reduce watering to every other week after the plants become well established. Catnip plant is drought tolerant and they can resist heat as it grows older. You can increase watering to once a week or even more during the dry Catnip season and high temperatures.

How to fertilize the Catnip Plant

You need to feed the Catnip plants with a water-soluble fertilizer every 2 weeks. You can start by fertilizing the soil 2 weeks after planting and continue until the first week of the summer season. You can suspend fertilizing during fall and winter as the plants will not use the nutrients. Make sure you follow the instructions on the label for proper application.

Mulching the plant

You need to apply a one to two inch layer of mulch around the base of the plant during late fall before the first frost. Mulching really helps plants to survive the cold temperatures. Make sure you remove the layer of mulch in early spring as soon as the new growth emerges. You can use hay, bark or leaf mold, this really works well for mulching Catnip plants.

How to prune the Catnip plant

You need to remove spent flowers by pinching them off to prevent self-seeding. Immediately after flowering, the Catnip plant will become scraggly and it will need cutting back.
You can prune after the first bloom in other to encourage a second flowering before the winter season. You need to cut the Catnip plants down to three or four inches after the first frost. This will really help to encourage new healthy growth during the spring.

The propagation of Catnip plant

The Catnip plant can be propagated from seed. Although apart from seeds, this plant can be propagated from cuttings by applying the following steps;

1. Make sure you use three to four inch long cuttings of stems.
2. Make sure you remove all the leaves except the top 2 or 4.
3. In other to encourage branching, you can pinch the cutting at the tip.
4. Make sure you dip the end in a rooting powder hormone and place it in a rooting medium.
5. Make sure you keep the soil and the cuttings moist. Always monitor them for a week or two.
6. In most case cuttings take around five days to begin to show roots in the soil.

Disease and pest control

This plant is susceptible to whitefly and spider mite. Catnip plant comes from the mint family the plant is prone to diseases such as anthracnose, mint rust and verticillium wilt.