For anyone interested in growing fresh catnip for their cats, I found the best advice online and wanted to share (sorry I can't remember the exact source, an AI response I believe). It only took 3 days to sprout! 🌱 These seedlings will likely need thinned once they're a little bigger.
Here's the steps I took to grow these in 3 days
Step 1: take the entire packet and throw it in the freezer overnight.
Step 2: pour the seeds in a glass of room temperature water and let them soak for 24 hours. This will soften the outside making it easier to sprout.
Step 3: fill a pot with moist soil. Remove a little soil to use to cover the seeds.
Step 3: place the seeds on top of the soil. Use the soil that was set aside and cover the seeds, making sure to only cover with ~1/8" of soil.
Step 4: place in bright indirect light. Mine are growing under a grow lamp, only about 200-400 foot candles.
Step 5: (optional) place on a heat mat for several hours a day. This step will speed up the growth but isn't necessary.
Step 6: mist them daily and watch them grow!
by NoZookeepergame6298
3 Comments
The process of freezing then soaking seeds is called cold stratification (freezing then soaking) for better germination, plant shallowly in well-drained soil. It does say you can place in direct light. Mine are in indirect light but I’ll probably bump that up slowly. The source was just an AI response when I googled growing catnip from seedlings. I’m excited it worked since catnip has a bad reputation of being a slow grower from seedlings (at least from what I’ve read online). Hope this helps someone. The cats will be happy in the near future 🤗
Thanks good tip! But I won’t be planting any of it after my first bush got pummeled the first day I put it out lol my neighbors cat went so crazy litterly dug it out like they do in litter box and rolled on it until it was in shreds.i guess some cats can’t handle lol !
They are literally weeds you can throw anywhere and they grow with no effort. You are definitely an overchiever! In a good way, lol 😂. I have an entire field of catnip that reseeded themselves everywhere.