Hey gardeners...... I love the fragrance of Patchouli. I've been buying the oil for years and I wear it like cologne, use it on cuts, etc. I also buy Patchouli incense sticks to burn in my house...I just love the wonderful Earth smell of it. I have often drooled over the plants on seed supplier websites but never have purchased any....Well, my girlfriend lives about an hour away in a large city and she bought me 2 plants. I want to make infused Patchouli oil and I may even invest in a small essential oil steam distiller. I will be growing them inside as houseplants in a south facing window, I'm in Zone 7b. Are any of you here familiar with growing Patchouli indoors? What fertilizer do you use? (organic only) The season(s) to fertilize? Propagate by cuttings or start from seed? Any tips, links to informative patchouli articles, etc... would be greatly appreciated.
The Patchouli plants were root bound, pretty bad. Put them in some larger pots with some 2 year old compost that I made here.
I have grown them out in the garden but not in pots but not in a few years. I have three on order that I will put in a bed that will get morning/early afternoon sun then shade through the sweltering rest of the day. A 10-10-10 fertilizer in monthly through the growing season, which if in the ground is shorter than if it's in a pot and can be taken inside for winter. Start new plants from seed or cuttings in water, cuttings are easier since the seeds are very tiny and very delicate...can be crushed easily. https://articles.mercola.com/herbal-oils/patchouli-oil.aspx easy instructions on how to make your own essential oil extraction....that does not require a steam distiller. I have one of those that my husband built me a few years ago so I am going to try both ways to see which I like best for soaps and creams.
Hi . I have been growing Patchouli for about 2 years in pots, in Brisbane Australia so it is usually humid and described as sub tropical. Patchouli doesn’t like the cold or dry, and I would suspect you will need to grow a LOT of plants to try to extract oil. After it flowers (spindle like white flowers) I cut it back to try to keep it compact or it becomes too leggy. Good luck,
DeepWoods, Did you say you repotted the plants in homemade compost? Compost is excellent for outdoor plants, but for indoor plants it needs to be sterilized. Otherwise you are introducing all kinds of pathogens to an indoor emvironment where they can go hogwild.
