How to keep cats off my seed starting shelf?

[Hillbilly Homer]

...I have this problem every year cats climbing on and killing seedlings...
...don't want to kill them jest to stay away from the plants...
We have tried netting, chicken wire netting, red pepper, black pepper, cistus oil, dog poo...
...Any ideas...

...I'm considering getting out to old electric fencer!... LOL

[MoonShadows]

Hard for me to say. I wouldn't have cats in the house. The only cat I ever had was an outdoor cat, and he was the only cat I was ever able to tolerate.

[rainbowgardener]

This is indoor? A picture of your set up would help.

It's hard for me to imagine how cats got through netting and/or chicken wire.

I guess you need your set up somewhere where they can't get to it -- elevated, enclosed, in a room you can keep the cats out of, or whatever.

I have one of these for seed starting:


a mini greenhouse enclosed in tough plastic. I doubt your cats could get to anything inside it.

[jal_ut]

The Electric Fencer would be a blast! Go for it!

[xtron]

duct tape. looped sticky side out and placed covering every horizontal surface.
seems cats HATE anything that sticks to their paws. and they learn fast.

[webmaster]

Cats hate lace, too.

[applestar]

I was trying to think why this doesn’t happen with my seedlings.... I think it’s because I start my seedlings indoors and the lights are almost always nearly touching the top of the seedlings, so no room for the cats.

[Gary350]

Cats hate getting their feet wet. I have several kitchen cookie sheets pans setting along the front edge of my work area 3 ft up from the floor. I pour 1/2" of water in all the pans. Cats set on the floor looking up soon they jump up and land in the water. LOL. It only takes 1/2 second for the cat to jump back to the floor. They will jump up 2 or 3 times before they learn not to do it again. In the garden I lay fence wire over small plants to keep the cats out. Once plants get larger cats are no problem.

[imafan26]

Cats are why I haven't had a Christmas tree in the house for years and I don't have house plants. Although, the cats I currently have have not bothered the orchid seedlings I bring home from meetings overnight. The orchids go out the next day. If the plants are in a room, I would just close the door. That is how I keep my cats away from things I don't want them to get into.

[jal_ut]

Far as I am concerned, cats are outside critters. They can come in the garage, but they better not come in the house if they know what's good for them. They can hunt the outbuildings and surrounding acres.

[Hillbilly Homer]

Far as I am concerned, cats are outside critters. They can come in the garage, but they better not come in the house if they know what's good for them. They can hunt the outbuildings and surrounding acres.

...I don't mind cats as long as I don't have to see/feed/in house/smell...
My growing spot is in the old garage that's attached to the house. Unfortunately my maw who is 85 and don't ask for much insists that she Not Have To go out when its -10F to feed her 3 cats.

I do like the barn/feral cats. They see a person They RUN!!!

[applestar]

We adopted our two now 7 yr old? kitties when they were kittens. They were barn kitties in origin and raised by their moms until weaned but handled often by the owner as well as people who stabled their horses there. My DD’s used to play with them until they were ready to be brought home. They had been litter box trained. So they were ready to be turned into “strictly indoor housepets, with outdoor excursions under supervision”.

However, the first time they came out of their crate ride home and released in the bedroom, and we turned on the ceiling fan, they panicked and ran back into the crate. Their actions were familiar to me — I had often seen the basket of kittens being hustled under the tack shed by their moms the moment a hawk or vulture was spotted flying in the sky.....

Unlike my passed at 18.5 y.o. previous cat who had been adopted as a kitten from the humane society shelter, cowering in a cage in a stinky room next to a much larger space dedicated to keeping loudly barking dogs, and who would bring in a mouse caught in the garage only to lose it behind the refrigerator, these two have been efficient mousers.

[Taiji]

Sometimes I think it depends on the individual cat or the age of the cat. When mine was younger she was more destructive and into everything. I have a cuckoo clock and I didn't use it for yrs, just kept the chains draped up over the clock because she would play with the chains. Now she doesn't do much with anything; she doesn't seem to care. The main thing now is sleeping. I thinks she's about 9 or 10. She doesn't bother my seedlings either; I do have the lights almost touching the plants. I provide some scratching things around the house that I sprinkle with catnip.

[jal_ut]

We have three cats hanging out here. They are outside cats and have the run of the outbuildings and yard. They do not come in the house though they can come in the garage. We took them and had them fixed so we would not have a cat outbreak. I am thinking the one is 7 years old and the other two ten or more. They go to the vet once a year for shots. They do a good job of keeping mice and gophers out of the house and garden.

[imafan26]

They probably like the shelf because it is high and warm if you have lights.
I suggest you build a cage around the shelf or
build something on the other side of the garage that is relatively high, higher than the grow shelf with a box on it that is insulated and warm with an opening just large enough for the cat's whisker to fit through and about 2 ft deep. Put some mint leaves in the box.
You have to be consistent and not allow counter surfing. You can put lemon peels on the grow shelf. You will need to change the peels when they start to dry. Cats do not like the smell of lemon. You can try critter ridder in the area near the shelf so they will avoid it.

[jal_ut]

" Unfortunately my maw who is 85 and don't ask for much insists that she Not Have To go out when its -10F to feed her 3 cats."

Ummmm...... perhaps you could feed them for her when its -10F ???

[Hillbilly Homer]

...She insists on doing HER chores!..

[jal_ut]

"My growing spot is in the old garage that's attached to the house."

Hmmmmm, I have a refrigerator in the garage for summer use to hold veggies. I put a cardboard box on top of the fridg with some padding in it for the cats. There is a chest freezer next to the fridg, the cats can jump onto the freezer then up onto the fridg and sleep in the box. Cats do seem to like high places.