Heelp - cats squashing my seedlings!

[Alchemilla]

Have sown a seed tray of chili with the kids last week to start on the windowsill. Just because it was February, windy, wet, the place is a soggy mud basin and that was the only gardening we could do... Thought it was okay as I didn't see the cats making any attempts to sit on the tray and I had awkwardly wedged it in the bay window on top of a house plant container... Just discovered every single tray cell now has paw marks in it!!

Does anyone know where I might obtain a reasonably big, unheated plant propagator that is sturdy enough to not collapse when two 4kilo cats are sitting on the lid? The lids of all the ones I have seen looked like flimsy seed tray plastic - just transparent.

[Lisasbolt]

sorry so funny, i have the same problem, damn cats we love them but so annoying
Trying sprinkling a little pepper around or citrus peels sorry i cannot help with the propagator

[bearded bloke]

Specifically no, but have a look (& ask) at your local council recycling centre, try & grab the transparant drawers from any upright freezers, possibly fridges ar well (but they are quite often slightly coloured)

[jackarmy]

My cat chewed the heads off my tasty king cucumber seedlings, i was so tempted to do the same to her ..........

[Lisasbolt]

My cat chewed the heads off my tasty king cucumber seedlings, i was so tempred to do the same to her ..........

She might be a bit tough Jack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BRp7ezUqbI

[veggiechicken]

Could you put them inside a clear plastic storage box (with lid)?

[WendyC]

I got a rigid plastic propagator lid from the garden centre. Think it was about £8.

[21up]

leave em on window sill and put cats outside

[Alchemilla]

leave em on window sill and put cats outside

What? So they can squash my seedlings in the veg beds as well???

Freezer drawer and storage box are great ideas - thank you! Clearly need to think outside the propagator more...

[bearded bloke]

What? So they can squash my seedlings in the veg beds as well???

Chuckles ^^^ My wifes cat discovered she likes to sleep on warm soil, so leaving seed trays &/or trays of pots in the greenhouse is a no, no

[jackarmy]

Brilliant Lisa, soooooo funny
I hated cats when i kept birds but damn their soo cool ( appart drom the scaredy ones)

[Penellype]

I have a Stewart propagator lid which fits over the standard 20x13 inch gravel trays and is pretty strong - I would think it would easily cope with a cat, although I couldn't say whether it would be knocked off by one jumping up. I got mine at a local garden centre years ago, but this looks similar:
Stewart 52cm Essential Non Electric Propagator - Black: Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors

[Nicos]

One of my previous cats used to use the windowsill seed trays as littler trays.*sigh
We tried covering them in cling film hoping the reduced soil smell and inability to scrape the soil might have put him off.
Nope....we would find a puddle of pee in the centre of the cling film.

Whatever you use, do make sure there can be a small amount of airflow to reduce the possibility of rot

[dilettante]

Plastic picnic forks sticking out of the soil all over the place so there's no room and it's too spiky to squat on. That's my plan for my trays this year. Cheap, reuseable, won't disturb the seedlings when I pull them out. My cat (and others I'm sure) ruined so many seedlings the last two years. That or I quit my job and sit guard in the garden with a water pistol.

[Gillykat]

Plastic picnic forks sticking out of the soil all over the place so there's no room and it's too spiky to squat on.

When I lived in Whitley Bay and had a small front garden that's what I used to do when I dug over the soil and planted flower seeds. Neighbours two doors down had two cats that had always used the garden as a toilet so to deter them I used wooden skewers and chicken wire 'cloches' - anything to cover the seeded areas so there would be nowhere for the cats to squat Once the seedlings began to come through and were about an inch or two high I could remove the defences and never had any more problems. In following years I added a lot of herbaceous perennials, bulbs and just planted annuals inbetween so, basically, there was no open soil exposed....problem solved