Catnip growing and harvesting.

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Not all cats enjoy catnip, but if you have one that does, growing and drying your own nip can save you a lot of money! Of my four indoor kitties, only two really enjoy the nip. Kipper and Banksy will eat it fresh or dehydrated and then roll around in bliss afterward. The Muffin and Jackson will stroll over to the nip and roll around on it for a minute, but that’s about it. Of the outdoor cats, I know that Buster and Pollock enjoy fresh nip because I see them munching on one of the plants. I will try giving the outdoor kitties dried nip this winter and see what they do.

Catnip seeds are readily available at garden centers in the spring, and the plant grows like a weed in just about any soil. Since I have been growing it for YEARS in this yard, I have random plants growing everywhere. Once you start growing it, you probably won’t have to buy seeds ever again. Just make sure that it gets some water every now and then!

I have a patch of catnip growing up against the south side of my house, so it gets full sun and warms up quickly in the spring. When the plants reach about two inches in height,

I pinch off the center leaves to cause the plant to bush out. I bring what I have removed in the house so the cats can enjoy the fresh nip!

After that, I let it grow for a while, only removing a few leaves here and there until it reaches about six inches tall. At this point, I start pinching off the top two sections of leaves to bring inside for the cats. I will bring in a few every few days.

Once the plant has grown about 10-12 inches tall, you can start pinching off larger pieces, always leaving at least the bottom two sets of leaves per stem. If the nip is dirty, rinse it in the sink and lay it out to dry on a towel. Make sure that it is not in piles, or it won’t dry. I have stopped rinsing it at all. I harvest it after a rain or hose it off while it is still growing. Then, let it dry in the sun, and THEN pick it.  

 There are two ways to dry catnip, and I have done both.  

 Method 1: Air dry

Gather the nip in bundles of four or five stems and tie the stems together with a piece of string at the stem end, leaving the leaves free. Air must be able to flow between the leaves, or the nip can mold. Don’t be tempted to make large bundles. I used a piece of string about two feet long so that after I tied the bundles together, I could use the string to hang them from something. I hung them from a curtain rod in a north-facing window. It takes about six weeks to fully dry in cool or damp climates, so the nip must be out of the way. You can hang them pretty much anywhere, not where it is humid or sunny. The leaves are done drying when they get crunchy.

Method 2: Dehydrator

I bought this Nesco Dehydrator, and I love it! I use it to dry herbs for me to cook with and the cats’ nip. It dries nip in a fraction of the time of air drying, and the room the dehydrator is in will smell like whatever you are dehydrating! The cats prefer nip days! I used to arrange the leaves neatly on the trays, but now I pull them off and toss them on the tray. As long as they are in one layer, it works just fine. I don’t even pull all the leaves off the stem sometimes. I check them after 24 hours of dehydrating to see if they are crunchy. If they aren’t, I leave them in for another six hours and check again. Usually, they are done at this point. 

After the nip is dry, I like to store it in glass jars for the winter. I have used Ziplock bags, depending on my jar situation and how much nip I dehydrate. The more, the better! A nippy cat is usually a happy, drooly cat!

As an added bonus, you can enjoy catnip tea for relaxation! I sometimes brew some of my dried nip, then cool some and let the cats drink it! You can read more about catnip uses in humans, by checking out this Web MD article.

If you have questions about growing, harvesting, and drying nip, leave a note in the comments!