Corn plants disturbed by cat

daisy0606 4/12/2013, 12:39 pm

So an outdoor cat used my bed as a litter box. Corn plants are about 1 1/2 weeks past germination. The cat trampled them, pooed, dug up dirt. Some of the plants are gone. The ones that are left in ground I stood up and reburied what was uncover.

Do you think the plants will make it?

I cleaned out the poo, but will the cat waste have a negative effect on the plants? I assume they peed in it too.

Anyone else ever have this problem? What do ya'll use to keep cats out?

Also, if I planted more corn plants in the spaces with missing corn will the newer plants and older plants help each other with pollination?

I don't enjoy cleaning my indoor cats' litter boxes it sucks to have to clean up after someone else's cat! :p

Thanks!

Gunny 4/13/2013, 12:09 pm

The obvious answer that comes to my mind is critter cages until the plants are big enough and then the cats cannot have enough room to do their thing because of the spacing.
Another method is the following from a Jerry Baker book:
1 clove garlic crushed
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp non-antibacterial dish soap
1 qt warm water
Puree the heck out of it and spread around the perimeter of the area you want to protect and lightly over the soil. Will also chase some bugs off too.
Hope this helps a bit.

Gunny 4/13/2013, 12:13 pm

Just found another fix but do not get it in your soil. Use a pine cleaner on the outside of your box. It acts as a cat chaser. Use only on hard surfaces or where plants don't grow, because it can poison plant roots.

CapeCoddess 4/13/2013, 1:44 pm

Gunny wrote:Just found another fix but do not get it in your soil. Use a pine cleaner on the outside of your box. It acts as a cat chaser. Use only on hard surfaces or where plants don't grow, because it can poison plant roots.

That's interesting...and easy enuff. Do you have to reapply after rain?

CC

Gunny 4/13/2013, 2:36 pm

Ahh yep. Anything that is soluble like that needs to reapplied after getting wet.

daisy0606 4/15/2013, 12:43 pm

Thank you for tips. So far my DH built a cage thing out of chicken wire.

Also the corn seems to be holding up. Most of the corn plants left look fine now.

Gunny 4/15/2013, 2:52 pm

Glad to have been of service. Thank you and have fun.

H_TX_2 4/15/2013, 4:18 pm

You can also lay some rose stems/vines down on the soil. They will not want to walk on them. I use the rose stems and sprinkle some cayenne pepper over the garden.

Triciasgarden 4/15/2013, 6:49 pm

Last year I finally had to use cat traps and have animal control come out and take them in. Nine ferrel cats were caught and there are still more. I was spending so much time cleaning out my beds, trying to save what was planted, seeds were moved and dug up and pooped on, plants the same. I also had an infestation of earwigs. I spent so much time on those things that the rest of my yard suffered. I hope those things help you.

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Corn plants disturbed by cat

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