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huachuma

Cat deterrent

17 years ago

I've seen too many cat related threads deteriorate into angry rants in the past in the GW forums, so please let's not have that happen here... I'm bringing this up as a possible solution for those of you that may have problems with stray or neighbors' cats using your garden as a litter box.

A little background first... A few years ago we had some irrigation work done in our back yard and the company that tore up the lawn laid some new sod for us in this area. But the sod would not take because every night a troop of raccoons would come thru and neatly roll up the sod to get access to the worms and other bugs that were living beneath.

We tried everything that we could think of including weighing the sod down, using bright spot lights and even trying the ultrasonic Yard Guard repellers. Nothing fazed the raccoons.

Then a contractor friend of ours told us to try laying orange netting (the type used to protect trees, etc. at construction sites) over the newly sodded area. This worked wonders! The raccoons apparently didn't like to get their feet caught up in the holes in the netting and they totally left the sod alone after that.

After this success I decided to try the same trick in my vegetable garden, but this time to ward off cats. The holes in the netting are large enough to allow most plants to grow thru whether they are from seeds (beans, corn) or transplants (lettuce, peppers). And, the cats have stopped using our garden as a toilet.

The netting is a bit unsightly at first, but as the plants grow they cover much of the orange plastic and it doesn't look too bad in my opinion.

I've heard of using chicken wire in the past, but I think this works better for my needs. The openings are larger, the netting rolls up easily at the end of the season and you don't have to worry about being poked by the chicken wire...

Before the seedlings emerge...

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With full grown plants growing thru...

{{gwi:532414}}

Hope this helps those of you with cat problems

Mike

Comments (11)

  • 17 years ago

    That only works for annuals then if you are rolling it up at the end of season. I wouldn't want to look at that in my shrub and perennial beds.
    I had a cat the first week living here thought my patio was it's lounge area. It met the water hose 2 days in a row and haven't seen it since.
    If you eliminate the grubs, the coons won't bother coming around, although they might get mad and chew on your patio furniture like they did mine.

  • 17 years ago

    You're right; I only use it for my annual vegetables. For the the perennial beds I usually use mulch which generally keeps the cats at bay. I only have issues with soil that has been recently tilled. The cats don't often bother the undisturbed clay soil in other areas of the yard...

  • 17 years ago

    I put down wire fencing on top of the raised vegetable beds in the same way. Cats don't like scratching and hitting wire. The neighbors across the street would always let their cat out and it would come and use our raised beds as a litter box until I put the fencing down.

    Then last fall the whole street heard coyote howling and cat screeching one night and in the morning some other neighbors found the cat's head in their swimming pool.

    Now, neighbors are much better about keeping their cats indoors.

  • 17 years ago

    I have coyotes around here also so pets are kept in, but unfortunately the coons around here are like medium size dogs at 20-30lbs.
    The coyotes I think go for bunnies etc which can also cause trouble in a garden.

  • 17 years ago

    I have heard of chicken wire but not the plastic netting. Good to know that it works. The orange is a little too bright on the eyes but I rather not cleanup after other people cats. We have so many cats in my neighborhood. The owners do not keep their cats indoor even through there is a leash law. They pooh on my barks and vegetable beds. I have resorted to putting rose clippings in the vegetable beds. That stopped them. I have also used the gallon jug filled with water. That works at times. Thanks for the tip.

  • 17 years ago

    Would be great if they made that netting in black or dark green. There are several strays around my area and sometimes I think that because I don't like cats, that's why they come visit my garden, LOL! I turn the sprinklers on when I see them in my yard.

  • 17 years ago

    Eloise,
    I have seen netting in black and green. But it's very fine about half inch. I believe it is for trees to keep birds out.

  • 17 years ago

    I'll be the first to admit that's it's ugly...

    I also used it to cover the kids' sand box (before they were old enough to care about such things)and as a deterrent to raccoons preying upon the fish and frogs in our pond (I would roll it up in the morning before going to work)...

    Too bad they don't make it in a less obnoxious color, but it was undoubtably made orange to attract attention...

  • 17 years ago

    huachuma, that is so smart. I wish you had posted this a few months ago when my dad was going nuts trying to outsmart the raccoons who were destroying his new sod.

    I thwart my kitty Sam with rose canes, pongee sticks, and black bird-netting. The bird netting also works to dissuade the squirrels, oppossums, and raccoons from digging up grubs. I can see the benefit of the orange netting, though- it is thick enough so that you can easily roll it up. The bird netting is tough to handle.

    gobluedjm, we have found that a large pet dog works well to keep raccoons from munching on the patio furniture. Or the fish.
    Renee

  • 17 years ago

    Renee, oh no can't have a dog. My yard isn't big enough and that would be cruel. But yeah it would work.
    Neighbor and myself have managed to block the drain so they can't get out thru this one but still allow water to drain out, but there are drains every other house. Their grass was getting torn up all the time and messes on patio.

  • 17 years ago

    This is bound to be controversial but it worked wonders for me. Someone suggested breaking bamboo skewer sticks in half and pushing them into the ground so only about an inch (enough for you to see them) comes through. Cats aren't likely to leap into my flowers hurting their paws--so no more kitty problems for me. And it seems once they are deterred from a place they don't come back. I have since removed the skewers but keep others handy for any new cats in the neighborhood.