2 parts cayenne pepper
3 parts dry mustard
5 parts flour

Simply mix together and sprinkle.

Or plant anything that smells lemony. Good luck.

I just bought some 'scat plants' - also known as scardy cat. It's supposed to work for cats & dogs... I'm getting ready to plant mine & keeping my fingers crossed! The reviews I've read have both that it works - and that cats like it. lol We'll see!

Here is a link that might be useful: scardy cat

I have cats, and in my experience, they will stay out of the veggies if there's somewhere else to go. I simply planted some catnip next to the compost pile, and they seem to get the idea. That way I can deal with all the stinky fertilizer at one time. An organized mess.

Sprinkle some blood meal. It's good fertilizer and will repel all pests.

I've tried many of the "All Natural" sprays and had only limited success, even with repeated applications. I don't know if I want to buy a plant that has a patent number and says "Propigation PROHIBITED"...What exactly does that mean anyway? Does it mean no dividing and giving away or does it mean I cannot gather the seeds and sow them next year?

Kranberri,
What is the plant you are referring to?

My only neighbour in my building has a cat. They claim that it is an outdoor cat so they have to let the cat roaming aroung the neighbourhood.

Unfortunately the damn cat bit off three out of five of my Irises already. I am quite upset but trying to keep my cool with the neighbour. Can anyone suggest the most effective cat repellant for me before I have to look for CAT POISON?

Thank you.

I've never seen a cat go after irises before...

though mine LOVE lounging in the middle of my lemon balm, so that just proves that cats are people, too.

cayanne pepper's the best repellant I've found yet- I have something of a feral colony (an inherited problem- I'm trying to trap them faster than they can breed, but it's not easy) and we have something of a truce going on ;)

Are you SURE the cat and not a squirrel or deer is the problem? Cats are carnivores. Commercial deer sprays have pepper and should work to keep cat's mouth off plants (TreeGuard has something else in it too that makes it stick thru many rains), but nothing will keep cat from prowling around and digging to bury free fertilizer.

I have used a combination of coffee grounds and orange peels and it seems to work, although it is only really practical for small gardens. They do seem to prefer to lounge around where there is catnip so we have several patches around the yard.

My neighbour used to use moth balls and they were horrible. The kids would pick them up thinking they were marbles, and when the sun was really hot you could smell them all the way down the street.

ask chinacat_sunflower to sprinkle a little pot (sorry, hemp flowers) in the bushes. Let the cats nibble on that for a while.

Get some chicken wire and lay it down around your plants if the cat uses the area to dig. Plant some catnip to attract it elsewhere.

Are you SURE it's the cat biting the iris tops off? The only way I would believe that is if I saw it myself. Even my sister's cats don't bite the iris tops off, and they get into EVERYTHING.

Sue

Cat Deterrents for your Garden:

Keep in mind that each cat is different (like people), what works for one may not necessarily work for another. On the plus side, most cats will keep pesty squirrels, moles and other critters out of your garden. They're great for keeping out moles, rabbits, squirrels, and other critters which can do more damage in your garden than a cat ever will. Birds aren't stupid, they watch for cats and stay away. Sometimes natural law comes into play and the quicker animal wins, it's natural law.

If the cats have owners, talk to them without being confrontational. The cat owner who allows his cat to damage other peoples' property is as guilty as the cat hater who kills the cat for trespassing. Remember, cats will be cats, and it is unfair of us to blame them for being what they are and how nature intended them to participate in this world. After-all, we praise them when they catch mice or rats or other creatures we deem to be 'pests'.

* amonia soaked (corncobs, etc)
* aluminum foil
* bamboo skewers
* black pepper
* blood meal fertilizer
* bramble cuttings
* Carefresh - "recycled" wood pulp
* catnip - donated into your neighbor's yards (so they'll stay in their own yards)
* cedar compost
* chicken wire (metal or plastic)
* cinnamon
* citrus peels
* citrus spray
* cocoa bean shells
* coffee grounds -fresh & unbrewed, not just a light sprinkling (highly recommended by MANY Gardenwebbers!)
* dogs
* electric fence for animals
* essence of orange. essence of lemon, lime (citrus essential oils)
* fresh manure(ditto)
* garlic cloves
* gumballs from the Sweet Gum Tree
* gutter covers
* hardware cloth
* heavy bark mulch
* holly leaves
* keep the area damp, they like dry soil
* lavender
* liquid manure (good for your garden too)
* motion sensor sprinkler
* pennyroyal
* pinecones
* pipe tobacco
* plastic forks
* predator urine
* red wine vinegar
* river rocks over the exposed soil
* rocks, crushed
* rose bush clippings
* rue, an herb (Ruta graveolens) (highly recommended in plant form only)
* short twigs throughout the planted area about 6" apart
* six-inch bamboo skewers (pointy side up)
* Spray on your leaves (not the cat): fill a spray bottle with 1/2 t chili powder, 1/2 t cayenne pepper, 1 t dish soap and water
* squirt gun with water
* talk to your neighbors
* tansy
* thorny berry, lilac, hawthorn, rose clippings
* toothpicks
* upside down vinyl carpet
* vinegar sprayed on areas where they roam
* water bottle on "stream"

NOT RECOMMENDED:
*** chili powder, red crushed pepper, cayenne pepper (NOT recommended), it gets on the cat's paws then they wash themselves and they get it in their eyes, beware cats have literally scratched their eyes out because of this. Even if it's one cat out of 500 infected in this way, that's one too many for me.
*** Don't ever use mothballs or flakes. Those little toxic waste pellets destroy cats' kidney function, could seriously harm people who handle them, and yes, contaminate your own garden soil. Their packaging even warns against using them this way.

Give them their own areas:

(To keep them out of where you don't want them)
(If you don't mind them protecting your garden from other critters)

+ pick the cat up and bring it to eye level with the plant to see and smell it up close. She noted that once her cat has seen and sniffed at the plant, she usually doesn't bother with it later.

+ give them their own plants - i.e., pots of grass for her to chew on and a place in a large planted container on her balcony with some miscanthus grass in it (the cat likes to curl up in that for some reason)

+ if the cats are strictly indoors and attracted to your houseplants, grow catgrass for them. If someone forced you to remain inside one enclosed structure all your life, you might be attracted to the plants too.

+ Barley Grass
+ Any type of "catgrass" from the pet store
+ Carex elata 'Bolwes Golden' but put it in some shade
+ Catmint Nepeta mussinicultivars (Simply put, Catmints are Catnips without any culinary or feline use. In any case, they are, however, phenomenal, long flowering, hardy perennials that belong in every fairie or flower garden.)
+ Catnip Nepeta cataria (in your own yard) The oils of which also work as a mosquito repellent that works 10 times better than Deet! Catmint is the common name for all varieties of Nepeta. Catnip is the common name for the specific variety of Nepeta called nepeta cataria, which is the variety that cats are most attracted to.
+ Cat Thyme (Teucrium marum)
+ Flax
+ Oat Grass
+ Jacob's Ladder
+ Lemon Grass
+ Loose soil and mulch like small bark mulch
+ Mints
+ Purple Fountain Grass so the cat lays in the long leaves all day. Maybe put something in that the cats really like and - you know cats won't winky were they like to hang out.
+ Sandy area
+ Silver vine (Actinidia polygama)
+ Striped Ribbon Grass (can be invasive)
+ Sweet grass
+ Trificum aestivum (type of cat grass)
+ Various Varieties of Cat Mints (Catnips)
+ Wheat Grass
+ Wheat Berries
+ Valerian

This list compiled by Violet_Z6, email at violetgw@care2.com for comments and suggestions regarding this list.

How can I keep my cat away from the Iguana tank?
I would like to use only natural ingredients.
I was told to use lemons and pepper.
Does anyone know anything better?