Allotments 4 All
Produce => Pests & Diseases => Topic started by: Nigella on March 29, 2005, 10:00:54
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Hmmm as I left the house this morning next doors tom cat was scratching in my borders, where at the weekend I had sown my poppies and larkspur. :(
Any tips on what to use to stop him ? :-\
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Go and cut lots of holly and put the holly branches over your seed bed, they don't like the prickles.
I have used that cat deterrent powder with some success, but you have to keep applying it regularly.
Last year I finally got so irate with neighbours cats that I bought one of those cat scarers off Ebay, haven't seen a cat in the garden since apart from the occasional one that runs through as though there's "something" after it! Great success ;D
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I thickly scatter woody prunings over bare/recently sown soil. You can also poke them into the soil so they stand up, but remember cats can shrink themselves. Non-prickly ones seem to work well, but a few bits of rose pruning certainly help.
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air riffle
or a BIG DOG
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Oh Waggi, a girl after my own heart.
Sharp twigs is a good one, I also use that cat deterrant gel stuff as they are currently using a patch next to my deck to poop >:(.......not now however :). Chicken wire just above soil level is another good one. I have heard people leaving a length of hose laying on the ground to put cats off, or half filled pop bottles, but I don't know if that works. An Uncle on Ava's side bought a couple of those black cat with marbles for eyes to try and keep the moggies off the garden....they poo'ed ON it!!!!!! hehehehehe.
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i like my cat visitor :)
granted, he poo'ed on my seedbed (but before i had anything sown on there) - i told him off next time he came round while i was working there. i covered the seedbed with the cloche, hence preventing him to use his usual toilet.
he hasn't done any mess in my garden since.
a really lovable cat, actually.
now that i have dug over the corner of my plot behind the rhubarb, he can go in there if he likes ;)
i think i will cover the beds when i sow/plant little things for a little while so there is no temptation for him.
bless him, hubby and me were on the lottie on saturday, and he came to visit and took a few dust baths on the path :D awwwwwww
svea
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Aww, what a lovely tale, Svea. I love cats too and I think, like you, that it's all about managing to live together in relative harmony.
G xx
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I have three cats and my main problem is stopping one from pooing in my big dragon tree in the house, little b*g*er. I've just covered it with sharp shingle though so lets hope that helps.
I have an appealing patch in my garden to try and encourage them to go there but they still choose the dragon plant in the house or my big pot of bulbs in the garden, you'd have thought a flat soily space under the laurels would have been more comfey than all those spikey tulip leaves, but apparently not. So now my tulips aren't growing. Ho hum.
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Personally, I like seeing cats around--keeps the mice and rats down, for a start.
I've never tried this and so I don't know if it actually works but I have read of people planting catnip or catmint in a patch that they don't mind cats using--supposedly it attracts the cats away from other parts of the plot. Perhaps there's a 'fallow' allotment on your site that you could sow catnip on?
Best,
Melanie
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Not sure about that Melanie, it could attract more cats if they love catnip like Merlin does. He rolls around in it and looks positively stoned, haha. I have to place a wire hanging backet upside down over the plant or they would be no plant left.
To protect seeded areas I have used chicken wire in the past.
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Oooops that should read a wire hanging basket
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They really do love the old cat nip, don't they? I grow mine in large pots and cover them in pea netting over sticks. I leave one for them to nibble/lie in whilst the others gain strength and alternate them. Seems to work well.
As for keeping the little darlings off my seed beds I've found pyrocantha cuttings patricularly effective but I leave some bare soil areas for them to do their business. So far, so good.
G xx
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Yes Georgie I've put catmint in pots in the past but didn't think of protecting it. Didn't amount to anything very much as Merlin thought it was a very good place to sleep in the top of the pot!
Thought I would try to add a photo so here goes
[img][MyCatmint.jpg
/img]
Here he is guarding HIS catmint.
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oh that didn't work did it. what am I doing wrong.
(http://MyCatmint.jpg
)
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Help what am I doing wrong, I can't seem to get a picture. I have loaded my pics in photobucket but it still isn't working????????????????
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Strange. You are copying the image bit, aren't you? This place can't cope with URL
G xx
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Hi Merlins Mum, ;) try Image shack, it does all the tricky bits for you here's the link, easy peasy ;) ;D
http://imageshack.us/
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This is one of my cats, Fletcher, sleeping in a pot of cat nip by way of a test.
G xx
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/georgie_girl15/Fletcherspot.jpg)
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Hi Merlins Mum, ;) try Image shack, it does all the tricky bits for you here's the link, easy peasy ;) ;D
http://imageshack.us/
I was directed to photobucket when I first came here and even I can use it it! Block image, copy, come here and paste. You telling me there's summat even simper? ;)
G xx
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oh Georgie he/she's gorgeous. I'm going to give it another go!!!!!!!!!!
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y98/merlinsmum19/Stoned-14.jpg)[/img]
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ahha I think I've cracked it, thanks a million for your help Georgie
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Hi Merlins Mum, ;) try Image shack, it does all the tricky bits for you here's the link, easy peasy ;) ;D
http://imageshack.us/
I was directed to photobucket when I first came here and even I can use it it! Block image, copy, come here and paste. You telling me there's summat even simper? ;)
G xx
Nah, I never got a chance to use Photobucket, cuz every time I tried they were out to lunch >:( ;D or was that HP Photo? ??? Can't remember now :-[ ;D
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..and Merlin's Mum, if you ever tire of Merlin, just send him my way. ;D
Fletcher is a boy, btw. :)
G xx
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Yes he is gorgeous, (I know, I'm bias), but he is the most affectionate cat I have ever had and of course I love him to bits. But I will let him know that if he ever wants to home I know someone who would take him in, hahahaha.
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Well, it's just that with one black cat and one black 'n' white I think a grey and white would make the set. Mind, I also have a British spotted tabby and I'm using him as an excuse for now needing a ginger cat etc.
G xx
[Mad cat woman]
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Ahha so you are a crazy cat lover too. I just love them one and all. I've been limited to just the one, and I think there are times when Greg thinks that is one too many. I would like the fully tabby set. I've had a couple of brown tabbies in the past and also a ginger and now a grey tabby although his tabby bits don't always show up.
As I type this Merlin is washing my foot!!!!!!!! now that is love surely ::)
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Awwww that's so sweet. How old is Merlin? He looks about 18 months to me.
G xx
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We think he's about 6 or so. He's a rescue cat, and when I got him the vet thought he was no more than 2 years. But after a year he filled out and became a lot more adult, if you know what I mean and I realised he was probably not much more than a year when he came to live with us.
How about yours, how old are they.
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Fletcher and Shelley are bro and sis - got 'em at 8 weeks and they're nearly 17 now.
Tiger decided to live with us last September - he was a stray and clearly maltreated. :( We took him to the vet - he wasn't chipped surprise surpise - and got him sorted. He's about 2 and just about calm enough now to enjoy a late kittenhood. ;D
G xx
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Goodness, Feltcher doesn't look 17, he looks like a young cat. Obviously it's all the tlc he gets.
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Goodness, Feltcher doesn't look 17, he looks like a young cat. Obviously it's all the tlc he gets.
Yeah, I know. And he gives a good impression of being a kitten now and then too! Must be all that tuna and fresh chicken?
G xx
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Loved the pictures! Sweet.
I might grow catnip or catmint at home in a pot for my purrball (katje--means little cat in Dutch). Do you guys find your cats get a low after the high? My element of doubt is because Katje gets really grumpy and nippy as she comes down--and usually takes it out on me, for some reason.
Katje's web page: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/melanie_l_marshall/katje/
Anyway, since otherwise this will get really off topic, what's actually the difference between catnip and catmint? Are they different words for the same herb? Or are they different herbs with similar effects?
Melanie
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Hi Melanie, yes Georgie and I realised we were rather getting off the subject but you know how it is when you love cats.
In answer to your question, I don't think there is a difference. I always call the plant catmint but say a toy mouse or whatever is filled with catnip. Surely catnip is the dried leaves of catmint.
If anyone out there knows differently would be very interested to hear.
MM
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Do you guys find your cats get a low after the high?
they get high on that stuff? :o
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they get high on that stuff? :o
Well, they certainly behave that way. (My cat even gets the munchies afterwards--once she's done munching on me.)
Merlin's Mum: thanks for catmint/nip clarification. And I do know how it is--I'm potty about cats myself. (And my partner is worse--he loves cats and they love him. Come to think of it, perhaps that's my leverage to get him to join me on the allotment. 'Come and see all the gorgeous cats that visit'....)
Best,
Melanie
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Hi Melanie. Katje is so sweet!
I haven't noticed a down side to my cats eating catmint/catnip (I agree with Merlin's Mum that they are the same thing).
I've got plenty of seed collected from last year if you want some. Just PM me your address.
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That photo of Merlin is so cute - we have a small furball too - Myszka - means little mouse in Polish (cos she squeaked as a kitten!)
Her piccy is my avatar. She's looking all serious there but there's a whole page of piccies here
http://www.moonrose.demon.co.uk/myszka/myszka2/myszka2.html
She's a daft brush - 11 now, but the vet yesterday did a Senior Checkup and said it was lovely to find an older cat so healthy. She thinks she's still a kitten. And like Merlin, she also has white feet like she's been dipped in cream!
moonbells
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Awww, your Myszka is lovely, just like a bigger version of my Shelley. :D
I must get some pics of Tiger and Shelley put in photobucket so I can post them here. Mebbe we should move to the Pets thread?
G xx
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That sounds like a good idea, who's going first??????
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Hi MM. Don't think it really matters, just the next person with something nice to say about our feline friends?
G xx
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I've started a new thread 'Gardeners and their cats' on the pets board.
G xx
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Cat scat is good. It's like a spiky plastic matting which you can cut to size and shape. I've got a bit on my pear tree where my nesting box is as next door's cat sits on a sawn off branch just waiting for the birds so he can eat them! On reflection putting the bird box near the sawn off flat bit of branch was a bad idea but I didn't think about it until I saw the flipping cat sitting there waiting to pounce. In my borders I use thorny clippings from pyracantha or berberis etc which I place over any seeds I've sown. Next door's cat loves to crap in my new compost which I'd turned out from my bin and planted spuds in >:(
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Tell me about it wardy, I was just in my tiny veg patch in the garden, scrunching up small clods of earth with my fingers.........and yup you guessed it :o BLOODY cats! (excuse me leaving, but I think I need to be sick, and then disinfect my left hand! :-\ )
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On my flower borders at home l use moth balls to keep cats away. I put one about every 2 foot, last year it did keep the BL###Y things away
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I have an electronic cat scarer that does the biz 8) but not when you forget to check the batteries... Bl**dy cats >:(
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How do cat owners train their cats to 'go' in someone elses garden? :-[All my four only use my garden, all having their own patch. One, a rescue, will only use the litter tray inside. She waits outside all day and then comes in to perform >:(I rake out under the hedge on my lottie so they go there and not on the beds. I cover seeds with chicken wire.
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In the 6 years of owning my dog (see avitar),i havent found a single bit of cat poo in my garden-he absolutely hates cats and they know he will attack them if they dare enter his garden.
I wouldnt recomend buying a dog for this purpose alone though.
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hi in my wellies
cat owners do not train their cats to go in other peoples gardens. Mine goes in ours mostly but I expect he also sneaks into neighbours gardens too at times. It's more where the conditions are right. It's much easier to dig a hole in newly dug soil.
MM
PS - and I agree Steven, it's not a good idea to get a dog just to chase cats out of your garden. We have a dog who gets on fine with our cat but he ain't so keen to see other cats on his patch.
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Hi Merlins Mum, my four cats have me well trained ;D ;D I regularly prepare nice patches of soft soil for them! Oh, and because the garden and lottie at the end is big I don't think they can be bothered to climb over into nextdoor. :-[
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haha, that sound more like it. I think I have a paw print on the top of my head too. I guess you either love 'em or hate 'em and I love 'em
MM
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Hi All,
Just joined and have enjoyed all the info. I've just put 6" screws ontop of my fence posts. The used some ungalvanised wire between them. Then connected a square torch battery - 6v................Should keep them off. If not at least their bleeding eyes will light up at night so I can see the buggers!
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great pictures love cats!!
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hey - it's not just cats that cause problems, at least they attempt to bury their mess most of the time. I've lost count of the number of times I've gone out my back gate, walked across the road and trodden in some dog mess left on the road/path by a responsible owner(s) too lazy to pick it up. None of my neighbours own a dog so whoever walks the dog(s) must know what it has done.
Soft dug garden or quiet lane? there's not any difference.
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Just a thought ;D Why is it OK for horses to do do do's in the street and why aren't their owners made responsible to clear it up after them ??? as it makes a hell of a mess on the tyres of my Rolls ;D ;D ;D
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Roy, when we lived in foriegn parts, (ahhh those were the days!) they had horse drawn carriages for the tourists, the horses had to wear nappies by law! ;D
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Cats dont like chicken manure pellets .It is cheaper than the gel stuff and will do the garden good if you scatter em..It works for me on my seed beds..
Cheers Jim..
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Roy, when we lived in foriegn parts, (ahhh those were the days!) they had horse drawn carriages for the tourists, the horses had to wear nappies by law! ;D
;D Tee hee ;D Spose it was a bit like a splash guard :o ;D ;D ;D
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a plant called scardeycat oka coleus thompson and morgan sell them something to do with the smell.
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i do hope that was a joke pompeyblue! :o
yesmm,toby would chase a strange cat-but our shop cat will chase(and catch)any strange doggie-shes a regular terror on our street!
our home cats were all trained to use the tray when we lived in the city-they'd play outs ide and rush in to use their loo.......
kitty
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I like cats - haven't one of my own - but I admire their independence, except when they poo in my raised beds. The holly might work if my garden wasn't so windy - I have to fish it out of everywhere else but where the holly trimmings were intended.
Once seeds are sown or plants planted a really effective deterrent is the web - position short canes around your bed and cross twine back and forth to make an area that the cats can't walk under, climb over or stop and poo in. It hasn't failed yet.
Art
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The chicken poo pellets seem to work for me as well... I put them in some beds and no more cat poo - YEAH ;D
Tried all sorts of other smelly cat repellants - which seem to work for a few days - but them he is back again >:(
Chicken is the way forward.... good for the garden as well ;)
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White pepper (thats what the expensive reppellant 'dust' is made of) or coleus canina (scaredy cat plant, exclusive to t&m), have both worked very well for me.
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Ultrasonics worked for us until it was stolen >:(
Thanks for the chicken poo trick - we'll try that. We've tried the gel and also the prickly plant but they didn't work - the gel for a bit but then it washed away... The latest failure has been some plastic sticks impregnated with the same active as the gel. They were supposed to protect a as square meter for 10 weeks but three weeks in there's a pile of poo not 30cms from the stick.
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I've planted some cat repellent rods (£4.95 for 4 from www.ferndale-lodge.co.uk ) on Monday evening and so far (touch wood) no poo!
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Just a thought ;D Why is it OK for horses to do do do's in the street and why aren't their owners made responsible to clear it up after them ???
i reckon it's because horses are vegetarians and as such their poo does not pose a health risk.
pleased to report 'my' cat is ever so well behaved :)
try having a chat - worked for me ;)
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The beat repelent for cats is OLD holl leaves or pyracantha twigs. They hate scratching or stooping down om spikes.
PS I own a cat. I am the arcutiple birdwatcher which I am that owns a cac. I am the gardener that loves slugs and snails which I do. (As of May 1si its a slug inialation in the greenhouse! Pellets I am afraid!! orry Slugs n snails :'()