Cats! Scraping up my seedlings. Help!

Bit of net (not too fine) until they are established I use (not fine weave ) net from the charity shop but you can buy pea netting in pound shops

Holly cuttings?

Sprinkle liberally with white pepper. It makes cats sneeze and also burns their bum. You can get large quantities from supermarkets. I have a large pot in my garden shed just for this eventuality.

To stop squirrels digging up my new little tomato plants last year (also in pots) I made a sort of palisade all round the outside, with the bamboo skewers they sell for barbecues. etc., very close together. They are very cheap!

Once the plants were quite a lot bigger, I removed the ‘palisades’.

It worked - there are masses of squirrels around here and they’d definitely have dug them up otherwise. I dare say it’d work for cats, too.

As BlueBelle says, net them. I have the same problem with my own cats, who regard all outdoor pots without plant cover as handy dirt boxes. I use the small mesh net sold for protecting soft fruit.

My other suggestion would be a gravel mulch. Carefully tucked round your precious seedlings, of course. ?

Yep same here my cats think freshly made up pots are "Potty's".
I keep old chicken wire I have had for years to cover the tops until things grew through.

Blinko

Sprinkle liberally with white pepper. It makes cats sneeze and also burns their bum. You can get large quantities from supermarkets. I have a large pot in my garden shed just for this eventuality.

Great idea! Will try it "subito"! Very original. The mesh idea would be difficult to fix well but thank you.

I've got some wire hanging baskets which I tucked into pots upside down to deter the squirrel from eating the sprouting tulips.

Be careful because the cats may have scratched up the soil to cover their poo!

Oh, sorry, I see you said that! But more politely than me ?

The only thing we found worked was the electronic animal repellent boxes, that emit light/sound, bought on Amazon. We also had to cover everything with wire or net mesh. The boxes don't harm the animals. If you see cats in your garden, just shoo them. They need the message they cannot settle or else they just keep coming back. Cat poo is dangerous, just like dogs, so wear gloves, keep a separate trowel for getting rid of it and wash hands thoroughly.

I agree with the mesh covering. In the flower beds I use about 250 gms of spent coffee grounds mixed with a teaspoon of cheap Vick style vapour rub, sprinkle on the soil. Sometimes Paprika. Then I put the thin wood BBQ skewers ( the sort that come in 100s) around anything delicate, so the cats can’t negotiate the route. The skewers can hardly be seen, are invisible when the plant grows and eventually rot down.
Once when a cat was extremely ill near our seating area the smell lingered for some time. I resorted to sprinkling the contents of a drawer fragrance sachet on the soil. The scent was quite lovely ( not as good as real flowers) and the cats didn’t come back.

pepper I bought one of those electronic devises from Amazon a week later I sent it back with a photo of THE cat pooing right beside it it’s bum was almost touching it …I got my money back
I must have tough neighbourhood cats as none of the smelly things pepper, garlic, curry powder etc I ve tried them all with no Avail I ve also tried the hollythe tip toe through it whilst I prick myself I bought a set of three of the pretend cats with staring eyes I ll enclose a picture
Fine net easily fits over any pot long round big or small until the plants are established

And you can see what the real cat left behind the pretend cat

I have this problem .

My neighbour is a lovely kind friend and she has four naughty pussy cats .
When I'm working in the garden -they come to see me and say hurry up so we can have our new cat lavatory !

I cut up orange and lemon peel finely and place it around seeds seedings and plants -they don't like smell.
I do this daily .
I could liquidise it to make it go further .

I surround anything that I don't want dug up with crossed kebab sticks .

This week I've had to replant some bearded iris ,which had been dug up as my kebab sticks were dislodged by foxes .

I have used holly in the past .I no longer have access to a holly bush .

Good luck .

Thank you all for some very interesting suggestions. I loved the pretend cats, BlueBelle!!

Cover the pot with chicken wire.

Sorry J52 didn't read your method with kebab sticks.
Works for
or me !

Blinko

Sprinkle liberally with white pepper. It makes cats sneeze and also burns their bum. You can get large quantities from supermarkets. I have a large pot in my garden shed just for this eventuality.

Your tip re white pepper to discourage cats: do you think it might work too for snails? They crawl all over my verbena and cannot plant tagete because of them. Salt, obviously is bad for the plants.

Have you ever tried?

giulia I’d certainly give it a go. Can’t do any harm, can it?