How to stop cats pooing in my vegetable patch

Steve

So, I've got some spuds and other veg growing in pots and ready to transplant onto the garden.
Problem is the patch in the garden I've prepared has somehow been deemed by the neighborhood cats as a perfect place to have their daily crap.

Any suggestions?

I've tried pepper dust - no help.

I really don't want to have to eat cat sh1t flavoured veg...

KKkitty

Steve wrote: »

So, I've got some spuds and other veg growing in pots and ready to transplant onto the garden.
Problem is the patch in the garden I've prepared has somehow been deemed by the neighborhood cats as a perfect place to have their daily crap.

Any suggestions?

I've tried pepper dust - no help.

I really don't want to have to eat cat sh1t flavoured veg...

I have heard of tea leaves being used as the cats supposedly don't like the feel of the tea leaves on their paws. Rip open a few tea bags and scatter the tea leaves around the veg patch.

The_Pretender

Cat's don't like plants like lavander, you could try planting some of that.

Alternatively you could buy one of those motion activated sprayers, something like this .

Addle

Bottles of water/mirrors? Cats don't like to see other cats apparently.
There are products available. I can't vouch for them.
http://www.johnstowngardencentre.ie/advsearch/index?keywords=cat#1

Steve

KKkitty wrote: »

I have heard of tea leaves being used as the cats supposedly don't like the feel of the tea leaves on their paws. Rip open a few tea bags and scatter the tea leaves around the veg patch.

I'm skeptical about that but worth a try - will report back if the 6 teabags had any effect

The_Pretender wrote: »

Cat's don't like plants like lavander, you could try planting some of that.

Alternatively you could buy one of those motion activated sprayers, something like this .

Thanks, but for some reason lavender refuses to grow in my garden - wrong ph I guess.

KKkitty

Steve wrote: »

I'm skeptical about that but worth a try - will report back if the 6 teabags had any effect

Thanks, but for some reason lavender refuses to grow in my garden - wrong ph I guess.

Good luck with whatever you try

Baybay

Cats generally don't like citrus. Scatter some orange or lemon peel around your plants. I believe it can be quite successful.

Steve

Baybay wrote: »

Cats generally don't like citrus. Scatter some orange or lemon peel around your plants. I believe it can be quite successful.

Thanks, I'll try that as well.

Man of Aran

Heard that Tabasco, chilli powder or curry splashed on soil works. If cats squat over that,they'll feel the " burning ring of fire" sensation perhaps.

kylith

Citrus and plastic bottles don't work, and citrus peels will attract slugs.

Best thing to do is get some thorny twigs and lay them over the area.

ABajaninCork

Baybay wrote: »

Cats generally don't like citrus. Scatter some orange or lemon peel around your plants. I believe it can be quite successful.

Not true!! Mine LOVED the smell of oranges and lemons. So did the bloody neighbourhood cats who did their business in my coriander tray. Had to throw it out...

j@utis

I have this problem with neighbors cats too. What I've noticed that they really don't like and don't come over to relief themselves on my raised bed when the soil is wet. There's no problem when it's raining and during the dryer spells I water the raised bed lightly, just to get the very top of the soil moist and cats stay away. It's been working so far, try it!

brianon

I really feel for the OP and don't want to thread steal here but I'm having very similar issues. Neighbours on both right and left of me have 2 cats apiece. Last year I dug a circular two foot wide patch round our tree in the middle of the front lawn. We put bark down and it looks good. Cats unfortunately seem to love the bark and are constantly using it as a toilet.
To cover their mess they end end leaving mounds of poo covered in bark and it looks awful. I'm sick of cleaning it up. Another dog in the estate is let out to do his business and pees on a bush in the corner of our garden then rubs his paws after which has now left a bare patch in the grass from constant peeing and cleaning of paws.

I've tried tee leaves soaked in vinegar, vinegar watered down, the green gel stuff I got at the garden center. Nothing really seems to work. The rain washes away the vinegar and it's annoying to have to do all this anyway. No cat/dog mess on the grass. It's just the bark. Getting to the point now where I am losing the battle and thinking of regrowing grass.

Mind boggling how people can just leave there pets free to do as they like.

Anyone got any 'proven' methods to deter this animal behaviour. Next I catch the dog poo in the garden I'll be posting it to the owner.

kylith

You can report the dog's owner to the warden and they can issue a warning. Nothing you can do about the cats unfortunately, you could try talking to the owners but they're unlikely to keep the cats out of your garden. Some people say that they have had success with motion activated sprinklers.

Grudaire

kylith wrote: »

Citrus and plastic bottles don't work, and citrus peels will attract slugs.

Plastic bottles wroth water worked for me... But I think it may have just made no space for the cats to walk comfortably

zagmund

For cats I find that spiky branches work the best. Normally I cut the branches off the Christmas tree in January and leave them down as a weed suppressant in the early part of the year. By this time of year they are just bare branches and are perfect for keeping cats off stuff. Cats are quite the animals of habit and precision and they don't like having to stick one leg here and another leg there and another one out at an angle over there when they go to the loo. Spiky branches upset their routine and they don't adversely impact the plants.

z

paulbok

I have cats coming onto my balcony and coming in the windows if they are left open. I've tried using citrus peel but they don'mind it, even going as far as licking it. They also nibble on my lavendar plant so thats no good either.

burtslimpslon

Or you could adopt a rescue dog, that would help the dog and yourself :-)

Ambersky

I recently did a lot of work in both my front and back gardens which attracted the attention of local cats. I have an indoor only cat myself which I have lead trained and at times Ive been a bit apologetic when telling people that because most people seem to say "Aw why dont you let the poor fella out? Thats cruel".
If it was my neighbors dogs that were sh***ing in my garden I could complain but not about my neighbors cats because "its only natural for cats". Im feeling upset about this lately having watched another neighbours cat out in the garden my bedroom overlooks, bite the lovely blackbird that use to sing in my tree, only to release it again bat it around a bit as it struggled and bite it a bit more before continuing on having its fun for an extended torturous length of time. I was too late when eventually I was able to get into the garden and I cried holding its bloody body in my hands. Im still trying to get the image out of my mind and Im worried about a nest somewhere with starving chicks.
Im not going to feel embarrassed about having an indoor cat any more. I think cats are just going the way dogs did. I knew loads of people who use to think it cruel not to let Rover out for a "run" every day while they were at work and would have said they had to let him out because it was only natural for dogs to roam and join one another to play with. They too use to say that it would be cruel to lock their dog up but peoples attitudes changed around dogs and there is a big emphasis on responsible ownership and having your dog in your control at all times. I think that will happen with cats too.

For now however while cat roaming is a problem for people
I found the motion activated sprinkler to be very very effective and it didnt hurt the cats in any way but they stayed away after being caught once, max twice in the sprinkler. Interestingly they also stayed away after I disconnected the hose they were so reluctant to even come near that scary sprinkler. None of the other methods like the bottles or two different motion activated sonic scarer ( useless) worked.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Contech-ScareCrow-Motion-Activated-Deterrent/dp/B005MW9VOM
The activation scarer only works for me in my back garden as it would be set off by anyone coming to my door in the front.
I second thorny twigs to keep cats off soft ground they like to use as litter.
I also found that cutting up chicken wire into suitable size pieces and putting it under the decorative bark or just under the soil also kept them off. They dont like the feel of the wire on their soft paws especially as chicken wire has sharp edges and cant dig under it

endacl

Look on the bright side, OP. If none of those solutions work, your veg will come pretreated with a tasty dressing! You won't even notice the poop.

Block (8

I have a neighour's cat that cr@ps all over the back lawn with no particular preference just all over the place and it's a big enough backyard.
Drives me bad but recently I put down iron sulphate to kill moss and the cat seem to be avoiding the places where I sprinkled the sulphate and doing it at around the trees.
The iron sulphate works I think but not sure for how long after when it has been fully dissolved. Luckily the cat only cr@ps in the back lawn and not the front as well.

Steve

Fresh deposit this morning so the tea didn't work

I looked at some generic vertibrate deterrents in woodies but none were suitable for areas used for growing veg for human comsumption - so - bought some planters and compost bales instead, hoping they'll stay out of them.

Really tempted to try the Bear Grylls approach and pee around the area they've been using, there's some good evidence to support this...

homer911

The green gel worked great for me, but cats are creatures of habit and you need to reeducate them to go somewhere else - repeated application is a must until a new habit has been developed.

It was quite funny seeing them encounter the gel for the first time.

dardevle

I have never tried this method but read it in an old book, that advises to lay out long lengths of bicycle inner tube - apparently it triggers an inherent fear of snakes in the cat, and they will avoid the area where the "snakes" are.....could be worth a try:p




.

evolving_doors

Steve wrote: »

Fresh deposit this morning so the tea didn't work

I looked at some generic vertibrate deterrents in woodies but none were suitable for areas used for growing veg for human comsumption - so - bought some planters and compost bales instead, hoping they'll stay out of them.

Really tempted to try the Bear Grylls approach and pee around the area they've been using, there's some good evidence to support this...

Think it's the testosterone in the urine thats the deterrent so you have to be male op! For foxes people on boards also swear by bunches of cut hair from a barbers in tights!

I think the habit thing is the key OP so no matter what you use, you just have to annoy them for x days until they find the next 'perfect spot'. Water pistol combined with whatever irritant you like.

Actually this is the only time I can ever suggest this (the phrase is banned on After Hours).... But you could try 'blasting them with pi55' ...

Well it is the gardening forum so everything 'natural' is allowed...

dashcamdanny

Got one of these two years ago.

No cat poo since.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/STV-International-STV610-Mega-Sonic-Repeller/dp/B000NR8Q1U

Steve

Bear Grylls approach seems to have been successful...

Who'd have thought.

pwurple

Steve wrote: »

Bear Grylls approach seems to have been successful...

Who'd have thought.

Oh jaysus, tell me you pee'd around the perimeter, and not directly on the veg.

Steve

pwurple wrote: »

Oh jaysus, tell me you pee'd around the perimeter, and not directly on the veg.

I gave up on putting the veg in the ground and used large planters instead

I peed on the patch I was originally going to use - now full of cat poo so not the best for transplanting the veg - a few days ago and haven't had any new deposits since.

Mind you, it could be all the rain recently either that's stopping them..

redser7

Humanure is an excellent fertiliser. Needs to be used pretty fresh and diluted 1:10. Not that I've tried it
Or else it is an excellent compost activator, really speeds up the bin and gets it going.

Steve

redser7 wrote: »

Humanure is an excellent fertiliser. Needs to be used pretty fresh and diluted 1:10. Not that I've tried it
Or else it is an excellent compost activator, really speeds up the bin and gets it going.

Presumably the liquid kind, not the solid??

Garotta has never failed me in the bin.

Flippyfloppy

I had the same problem a couple of years ago, tried all of the techniques & sprays. I ended up with net fence type stuff and they just kept getting through! Persistent! Then I planted wild flowers, the came up quick and suddenly the area became a play area! It still is to this day, with a lovely lavender plant right beside it that doesn't bother them!

Could you use a sun tunnel in the area until they move off?

redser7

Steve wrote: »

Presumably the liquid kind, not the solid??

Garotta has never failed me in the bin.

Aye, the liquid gold. Garotta?

Steve

redser7 wrote: »

Garotta?

Most DIY/garden shops have it.