Hi,
I just recently planted lily bulbs but there is a cat or cats in the area that comes and digs up my bulbs. I put some garlic power on the dirt but was wondering if there was some other smell that cats really hate.
Thanks,
Dennis

moth balls?

and orange peels.

Will those work for squirrels too? (My cats, of course, wouldn't dig up my bulbs... :rolleyes: )

I know that cats do not like foil, if you can put some of that around your bulbs it will keep them away. Mom used to use foil to keep the cats from using her houseplants as a litter box.

Also for most bulbs, after you plant them you can cover them with wire fencing, then a layer of soil. Keeps the critters away and the bulbs can grow up through the wire.

Cats will always dig in freshly turned dirt, so until that all settles down with the damp weather, Triss's suggestion is a good one. I have to put chicken wire down in order to keep the critters out of freshly worked garden beds. You can also use discarded refrigerator racks... go to appliance stores & ask if they have refrigerator or stoves that they're going to take to the dump, & ask if you can have the racks out of them. (They usually haul the old appliances away when they deliver new ones.)

I'd never thought about orange peels, Jiffy!

you can use the chicken wire, or rose thorn canes (or any thorny canes) to deter the cats and the squirrels both if you want. just be careful when you go to dig yourself.

I was going to put chicken wire down after I plant my bulbs but does the chicken wire have to stay there every year or just the first year that you plant?

Cheryl, by the time the ground settles back down & isn't a "fresh dig" any longer, the critters will have long-since given up trying to dig there, so the fencing can come up. That's the way it has worked for me with cats, anyway. (The only established plant I've ever had them try to dig up is catnip... but it's more like they waller it to death!)

Squirrels might be a different story though... If they're smarter than they look & DO come back & start digging there again because the wire was removed, I'd put it back!

Another great idea, Jiffy! Rose canes would also provide a darned good reason for not gardening in bare feet!

**Patty,
We can plant pretty much any lily bulb here,
like a day lily, Asiatic lily, Stargazer lily,
Tiger lily, Oriental Lilies and even
Easter Lily bulbs, at this time of year...


***Dennis,
You can also *besides the chicken wire*
take two of those green baskets you get cherry tomatoes or strawberries in, and wire them together, and use those, to "cage~in" the bulbs..

Great suggestions from all that posted though!

For the squirrels you could try planting Fritillaria imperialis. It smell like a skunk and the rodents don't like it.

You know... we had a problem with the cats getting on the cars at my place so we found some stuff (I'm pretty sure at walmart) that you simply sprayed on a napkin and put next to whatever you didn't want the cat around. It worked pretty well and I didn't think it even smelled that bad.. It's definantly a better alternative to a plant that smells like a skunk.

I don't know how effective it would be on squirrels... but it's worth a shot.

-<3 Ginny

I wasn't too clear about that, the bulb smells like a skunk but I don't think the plant does.

I know it's expensive, and I know that squirrels are a royal pain in the arse, but I have been feeding mine and supplying fresh water for years and years.
It's the only way we can all live in peace. They never bother my plants at all.
I look at it this way-it's not their fault that they're squirrels, just as it's not my fault (to them) that I'm a human being.
They are doing what they were created to do-to clean up the earth. Because we crowd them out of their earth (animals were created before humans) they do not know the difference between acceptable foraging and destroying our plants.
I loved you all for your non-violent posts here regarding cats as well as squirrels.
No one mentioned poisoning squirrels or violence against cats and for that and I am proud to know all of you !

Dennis,

The chicken wire is a great idea over the lilies, but the strawberry baskets won't work for lilies, daffodils, tulips or hyacinths because the holes in them aren't big enough for the lily (and other)stems. They work great for crocuses, though, and maybe species tulips? Squirrels love crocuses & tulips! So do other little furry animals, but I was never sure which ones -- moles, voles, woodchucks & chipmunks?

No one likes to eat daffodils - they are poisonous and they probably don't taste good anyhow.

I was going to ask if you used bonemeal...the animals around here really like bone meal and I have had to give it up. (Possibly temporarily, though. I have a line on a combination of Iron, epsom salts, bone meal and sugar to put beneath bulbs that I'm going to try. I think the iron scent might disguise the bone meal scent.)