the great tomato slaughter of 2007

[kateland3]

so i was pretty proud of myself for bringing in my tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings before the frost, and putting them in my laundry room. somehow (probably husband, but my boy kitty can open doors too) the door got opened, and the cats ate ALL the leaves!! i DID have about 8 pepper plants that were in a different location, and they have survived. this has been a rough year for my tomatoes! looks like i'll have to drive out to raleigh and buy some from craig!

i was worried about the "poisonous" tomato leaves, and the effects they might have on the kitties, but have observed none so far!

did anyone else lose an entire batch from doing something stupid??

[garnetmoth]

oh no! you poor thing! we had one cat who ate leaves, but the rest know better. tomato foliage is so funky smelling tho, youd think theyd leave them alone.

well, good luck with the peppers!

[Rena]

Sorry to hear that!! Twice I have had Seedling accidents where my then toddler son thought he would help me and pulled out all my tags, then again it happened another toddler boy of a friend of mine did that same thing. Last year I had a pesticide drift from our yard kill and stunt all my plants @ 367 plants. It was very sad. It took me a week to even talk about it.
Its good you have a place to purchase plants!

[bizzarbazzar]

I have had many of cat accidents with my plants. For some reason they like laying on the plug trays. I have seen 2 of my cats eat them as well. So far no ill effects. Its depressing, but it does happen around here. I am not certain, but I think they go for the ones I dont have additional seeds of

One of my cats, shortly after I yelled at him for eating a tomato seedling, grabbed a hold of a cactus I had transplanted from one of those cactus gardens people give as gifts, and was running around the house with it. I managed to save the cactus but nary a cut on the cat.

[sirtanon]

I came to the conclusion long ago that cats + seedlings = disaster.

That is to say, when it comes to cats, there are no accidents.. more like CATastrophes. Cats know what they're doing. They're devious, calculating things. I made sure to keep all my seedlings well out of her way.. she still managed to gravitate towards them and knocked a few over despite my efforts.

Now, I LOVE my cat. She's adorable and fun, but nevertheless, a little devil.

Case in point:


A while back, once our backyard was starting to look livable, she started taking a fancy to laying ON the plants.. Our Lavender especially. And of course, her litterbox took second to my raised veggie beds. Took me a while to get her to stop that.

Eventually, I just decided to plant some catnip in a couple of spots that I didn't mind her trashing. Seems to work well.

Her latest trick? She's found a new toy that she ESPECIALLY likes to play with at 4 in the morning:

[Zana]

I used to have twin cats that found a similiar set of toys for amusement....or rather should I say, their amusement....and being nocturnal, that usually occured sometime in the wee hours of the morning. This would in turn wake the labrador and set her to howling or barking. At which point the terrier next door with pipe in with a higher pitched barking...and with that, the four legged jam session was on! I finally sprinkled cayenne on the instruments of torture....ooops objects of amusement...which curtailed the night time jam sessions. Sounds like your cat, Sir T, must've been related to mine. LOL.

The same two cats loved to dig up my herb and tomato seedlings. I did plant catnip and lavender at the other end of the beds and that did seem to distract them from the replacements....for awhile. But usually by that time, they were fully established and could survive a nibble or squishing or two.

However, I never did figure out how to deter the Lab from digging a nice deep "hole" in the newly worked/planted soil. Even if I left her a "space of her own"...she'd dig one closer to where I was then working...always wanting to be within easy reach and sight of me...which usually meant the two cats were snuggled up on the plants surrounding the Lab, unless distracted by catnip.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh yes, pets....I used to have more problems dealing with their damage than I ever did with insects or viruses. Go figure.

[velikipop]

Each year a small percentage of my seedlings fall victim to either a cat or a dog. A few days ago, "Malibu", gave one of my overwintering peppers a nice pruning. Took a couple of branches off. It's funny because the other cats are not interested in the peppers at all.

Alex

[oldgaredneck]

Thank God we have NO pets!!!!

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by oldgaredneck

Thank God we have NO pets!!!!

Thank God we have NO pets = lot's of squirrels

dcarch

[kateland3]

well, i'm glad to hear that my evil little kitties aren't the only ones out there with a passion for gardening! they're indoor only, so they have to do all their gardening inside. i AM lucky with them not being nocturnal though, they both pass out with me and don't get up til morning!

[LoreD]

Cinnamon, my calico, ate 15 of my eggplant seedlings. I was not happy, fortunately I had plenty left.

LoreD

[piegirl]

I feel your pain! Last year I caught Kitty Girl with mouth open
and really to chomp down on my seedlings. I yelled, and since
this a rather quiet household, she was startled and hit her head
on the back door trying to get outside - she doesn't spend alot of
time inside. Unfortunately, I am the one who killed all my seedlings
last year by leaving them on the screened porch one cool evening.
Last fall as my beautiful seed collection dried, she jumped on the
table and everything went all over. She's still my beloved
Kitty Girl however, there are moments! I did bring back catnip about
a week ago, gave her some, and when I went looking for the plant, couldn't
find it - she had pulled all the plants out of the plastic bag
and tossed them about the yard. PaulF was kind enough to share
with me last year. Her rabbit, squirrel, and mousing more than make
up for her misteps. Piegirl

[gardengalrn]

One of the only things I take comfort in this spring as all of you are planning gardens and planting seeds (and I cannot) is the fact that I know I would be furious with our newest addition. We got her around Thanksgiving and she totally destroyed my Christmas tree. She is better now but went through a phase where any potted plant in the house needed a bit of tilling. I KNOW I would have had issues with her and my "grow operation" as I like to call it. I love the little thing but how mad could I have been???

[WildLife]

If it was not for a opposom eating my seedlings,
I would have left them out over night.
Can you say pain in the bottom

[felpec]

We plant a "trap crop"