My adorable new kitten keeps uprooting the spider plant babies I just planted. I’m keeping them in another room until they can take root, but does anyone have an effective means of keeping cats out of plants? I thought about sprinkling crushed red pepper into the dirt, but I don’t know how the plant would take it. Help!
In the long run, you might be better off training the cat to leave all houseplants alone. Get a spritzer bottle or a water pistol and give the kitten a squirt every time s/he looks at a houseplant.
Elvis, el gato del twickster, leaves all sorts of plants strictly alone, and has for the last 15 years.
The water pistol works well when we’re around, but we can’t be in all rooms at all times, and we both work. How did you handle this when you weren’t around?
You know, come to think of it, I was completing a brief period of unemployment when Elvis was a baby. Perhaps keeping the really fragile plants in another room or somewhere up high while s/he is learning this lesson would be a good idea.
Pepper and lavender are both reputed to repel cats. One of my cats doesn’t believe this, but the rest do.
Two words… hanging plants
Some of my cats have responded really well to the spritzer bottle. However, other times I’ve had very determined cats who refused to abandon his/her quest to eat, dig, pee/poop in the dirt, etc. When that’s happened the only thing I’ve discovered that worked was hanging plants.
If you discover anything that works, I’d like to hear about it… just in case I buy a floor standing plant again and discover I have a determined feline.
Mmmm…lavender. Dual purpose! And I always have pepper. I’ll try this tonight!
Try setting the pots on a Scat Mat. This is how we broke ours of jumping on the dining room table.
For some reason Spider plants are irresistable to cats. I agree with cadolphin, hang them if you can. I realize with rooting plants it is hard, but unless you physically place the plants where the cats can’t get them, the plants are toast. Squirting the cats with water works to a point, but my cats quickly realized that if I’m not around, they won’t get squirted.
My way of getting around this is to only buy plants I can hang, or buy plants with thick, tough leaves they don’t like to chew as much (Jade, Yucca and Sanseveria are some good ones, my cats leave those alone).
Is kitty eating the plants or just messing with them? If leaf chewing is involved, kitty is attempting to adjust internal chemistry. Good pet supply stores will have bags of kitty greens or a similar product which you’ll plant and grow in a shallow pot. When the shoots are young and tender, put the pot next to kitty’s food bowl and it will be their personal munching ground. Keep it replenished, and they will have no need to bother your plants.
Dances, she’s just fucking around. My cats usually don’t eat plants. But this one is just fascinated with the dirt and the little spider babies.
Boscibo, you said "I agree with cadolphin, hang them if you can. " We will assume you meant the plants and not the kitties!! 
That ScatMat looks like a pretty cool thing. I’m not big on the idea of shocking the little softies, but it just might work. I’ll have to see how much it hurts.
If it is the dirt she is after just cover up the dirt.
I buy red lava rocks from the local home improvement store. They come in big bags and are pretty cheap. When I pot a plant I leave a couple of inches between the dirt and the top of the pot and then I fill that space up with rocks. Trust me, if the dirt is fully covered by a layer or two of rocks the cat won’t ever get to the dirt.