I learned about another way to use catnip!

[TexasTowelie]

Mosquitoes are naturally repelled by catnip, which is also known as Nepeta cataria. The plant can be grown in your garden to ward off common insect.

[csziggy]

1. How do you use it? Just grow it? Or do you apply it somehow? n/t

[TexasTowelie]

2. I'll take pot-pourri for 420!

(check the time of my post)

Combustion, vaporization or ingestion are all suitable methods.

I also read a couple of articles about burning aromatic oils and brewing teas also. To top things off, my kitteh enjoys it when I rub the edge of a vial containing it on her cheek bones behind the whiskers.

[csziggy]

3. LOL! I was hoping I could plant it near the screened porch as a barrier

Though because of my fragrance allergies, I have an antipathy to potpourri - far too many include lavender and/or roses (as well as other sweet scented things) that trigger my reactions. It's been thirty years since I made my own - I stopped after we shut down our herb & paraphernalia shop.

Next year when I replant the beds around the screened porch I may put mint and catnip there as ground cover. Most of what I have in those beds are various bulb type plants - iris, paper whites, gladiola, daylilies - so they need something to fill in the spaces and compete against the weeds. Mint or catnip might be aggressive enough and look good!

[TexasTowelie]

4. Actually, if you plant the catnip it will act as a repellent for mosquitos.

Good luck with those allergies and I hope that you aren't allergic to catnip either because it is a flowering plant (either white or lavender colored flowers).

[csziggy]

5. Does catnip have a sweet odor?

I'm mostly allergic to sweet fragrances - roses, for instance. When I pick flowering varieties for around the house, I have to make sure they don't have an odor that will set me off.

Fortunately with chemical help (Zyrtec), I am able to alleviate most of my allergies, but there is no reason for me to push it with scents that can bother me.

I guess I will have to see if the local nursery that carries herbs has any flowering catnip or mint before I plan to buy any!

[TexasTowelie]

6. The dried stuff my kitteh uses has more of a musty overtone to it.

The dried stuff I use is "sweet" to me!

[kentauros]

7. Catnip oil

Catnip Repels Mosquitoes More Effectively Than DEET

[csziggy]

8. Cool! Wish I still had my essential oil extractor

I could grow catnip and make my own oil.

[handmade34]

12. used this info

to make my own repellent... it WORKS! base of coconut oil and beeswax with added oils... catnip, geranium, lemon eucalyptus and neem

I wear it in the woods and it is awesome!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. Catnip is a member of the mint family; like other mint plants,

once it gets established it's all over the place. Not a bad thing, necessarily. I have a huge catnip crop this year, and I harvest it regularly for my indoor kitties. It also attracts the neighborhood cats, who roll in it, but the plants are now large and sturdy enough to withstand that kind of abuse. I didn't know it repels mosquitoes, and I'd certainly rather have cats around than mosquitoes.

[pinboy3niner]

10. MFM says, "NOW you tell me!"

And he reports that catnip suppositories are shitty at keeping mosquitos away...

[TexasTowelie]

11. !

The report came back from the hospital and the diagnosis is that MFM has dung fever.