How to Stop Pets From Eating Hosta Plants

Overview

The intended purpose of introducing a hosta plant into your home was not to serve as an all-you-can-eat salad bar for your furry family members. In addition to not wanting your new plant to be destroyed, hosta plants are toxic to cats and dogs so it’s imperative to keep your plant and your pets separated for both of them to thrive. If you opt to have a hosta plant within your home with your pets, you will need to take precautions to protect them both.

Step 1

Keep your hosta plant in a room that your pets do not have access to such as a closed-off bathroom or simply put your hosta plant high up where your pets can’t reach.

Step 2

Coat the leaves with hot sauce or white vinegar by brushing it on lightly with a paper towel. There are also commercial products such as bitter apple that have the same effect. One taste of this unpleasantly seasoned plant and your pets will be more inclined to stay away.

Step 3

Protect outdoor hosta plants by setting up motion-activated sprinklers such as the ScareCrow to keep animals away.

Step 4

Grow cat grass or catnip to give your cats something to chew on instead of the hosta.

Step 5

Reinforce your demands to stay away from the plant with a quick squirt of water from a spray bottle when your pets get too close. Cats especially hate to be surprised, and after awhile they will begin to associate the water bottle with the plant and it will become less appealing.