Duner

I guess this is a popular theme now-a-days, I 'Googled' it and got flooded with vacation stories of catnip use... Anyway I'm in it for the repellant qualities, although there is an apparent lack of information available, Catnip has proven up to 10 times more effective than Deet for repelling mosquitos. I also happened to take in the fact that hedgehogs will chew up, and in a sense spit out catnip all over themselves to repel irratations like fleas, ticks, and mites.

So I would greatly like to know how to extract the catnip oil in such a way that I could store it, and use it when I pleased...like when I know other people are wearing Deet

Edit...To make this clearer (is that a word?), um more clear I don't want a tiny, but potent extract. I want more of a liquidified version of the plant...how do I do that?

__________________

analog

I don't know how to do it but I believe the word to Google for is "tincture". Let us know .

Or, investigate Alleycat's canna-oil method in a recent post of his .

__________________

Duner

Google leads me to vodka and rum based 'tinctures' They are drinks, I want to use it as a insect repellent Tinctures are interesting stuff though, I'd never heard of them before

__________________

freedom 35

Alright, so i found this intriguing, and i sometimes get extra lucky with google. I found this kinda quick though, so maybe you found it already.

"Nepetalactone is the active ingredient in catnip.* Today we are going to isolate nepetalactone in its pure form through a steam distillation. The distilled liquid will be extracted with an organic solvent (toluene), refined, then evaporated to give the final product."

It seems complicated, and i think they create a dry product in the end, but i would assume you could disolve it in some solution for the oil. Anyways, go to www. instructables . com and type in catnip extract, it shows up at the top of the list. Its step by step, and has pictures!

__________________
Julian: Ricky, I'm telling you, you gotta stop growing pot.
Ricky: Come on, man, you can't tell me to do that.
Julian: I'm serious Ricky.
Ricky: You can't tell me to do that. It's like telling the NWA to stop being black

buzzmobile

Here you go, Duner. How to make essential oils.

Duner

I did find something today including distillation and toluene but it ended up with the dry-ish lump of green stuff like Freedom 35 mentioned. Buzz's link seems to be the same process without the toluene, and leaving the oils liquified...I think.

Here's a question...could I place a container inside a pot with boiling catnip water and use the lid, upside down to drip the condensation into the container? Would that have the same result?

__________________

GreenDragon2k

no, then you'd wind up with purified water

I think a tincture is your easiest bet if you wanna make it... Combine 200-300 g of ground catnip per liter of alcohol, (vodka, everclear (dilute with water) or use olive oil for non-alcoholic tincture) put in a jar, let sit for 2-12 weeks, strain... and your set (you could also just buy a catnip tincture from your local health food store or herb shop but its much cheaper to make it yourself)


on the subject of natural insect repellants, I use Tea tree oil. Mosquitos hate it. Pretty commonly found at most health food stores. Peppermint, lavender oil, castor oil, eucalyptus and lemon grass oils also work and if you want to mix up a little bug repellent from any of them. Very effective.. I've not heard of catnip but maybe i'll give it a shot.

Also smoke lots of joints, the bugs stop biting when they're high

/edit
Heres a source for catnip essential oil to just purchase it MeadowSweet Naturals You could dilute that with olive oil (or castor oil) and maybe throw in some lavender oil / peppermint and some tea tree oil and make it last years

__________________
"Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction. " ~ Bob Marley

Chai_Guy

You can perform decent quality extractions using good ol' EVERCLEAR from the liquor store. It's 95% ethyl alcohol, by volume. Nice at pulling out the more bioactive polar constituents.

Dry the catnip and chop it up / crush it up as much as you can.

Soak it in the EVERCLEAR (methyl or isopropyl alcohol can be substituted) for at least 2 weeks (after that you've pulled most of the cool stuff out of the tissue). To finish off the extraction, just open up the container and stick it in front of a fan, to let the ethanol evaporate off. What's left should be a decently pure extraction of the oil.

As the above poster says, you can use a variety of 'industrial' solvents available from hardware stores...You can find things like toluene, formaldehyde, and turpentine pretty easily...and when performing extractions demanding more purity these solvents become more preferable (usually on the basis of polarity relative to desired extract, and ease of evaporation)...but EVERCLEAR is 95% ethanol by volume and probably aroudn 93-95% by atom. It's not incredibly polar, so it will pull out some of the interesting esters, and heavily reduced aromatics all which contribute to the oil's properties...but it's polar enough to pull out the oxidized and other significantly polar molecules that likely carry the main active fractions.

IknowCatnip

Hey guys almost everything you read about catnip oil extraction is incomplete or sends you the wrong direction.

The simple answer: distillation

All the people who make/sell essential oils already know.

MySpace.com - mili - 22 - Female - WEST PALM BEACH, Florida - www.myspace.com/tefl_thailand

Reason for adding citronella, people did not like the over sweet smell without it.

Expect 3 to 4 ml of oil per kilo.
MySpace
photo of lable