Cat demolished tomato plants...need help!

[kaileebee93]

I had some starter tomato plants sitting in the window and my cat decided to knock them down to get at the dirt and demolished my plants while she was at it. I tried saving them, but obviously that didn't work. I don't really have a window that my cat can't get to that gets enough sun, so do you think it's a good idea to just go ahead and start them outside? I made one of those 5 gallon bucket hanging planters, so I'm almost certain if I were just to start a seed in that it would fail since the sun wouldn't be getting it like it would if it were a more mature plant. Should I just start them over in a little container outside and move to the hanging planter when more mature? I'm a first year gardener so I need some advice please!

 

[Beth_B]

Where do you live? And welcome, btw. Maybe you posted your location elsewhere.

Well here in Michigan my starter tomato plants started going out for "hardening off" a couple of weeks ago and they were pretty tiny then. And they went in the ground on Sunday after spending about a week outside 24/7.

So you should be fine. Start them off in dappled light, avoid direct hot sun and windy days for the first two-three and bring them in at night if it gets too chilly.

 

[IcyBC]

So sorry to hear that! Seeing that you live in Missouri, I think it is safe to start planting outside. Here, in Michigan, we had hail and snow on the 15, but I still have my containers outside already. I had no experience with training a cat to leave things alone, so I will save that for the expert

Good to have you on board!

 

[kaileebee93]

It was the best spot for sun in my house and there wasn't anything for my cat to get onto until I decided to set my plants up on a little stand, so I guess she took it as thanks for the food and good sunspot (I had some parsley and oregano and such sitting next to my tomatoes). It hurt me a little bit because this is the first year I've tried and I was actually doing so good with them and not killing anything that lives! LOL.

I live in Missouri, though. It still gets a little chilly at night because we are still getting so much rain, so I think I'll have to just plant them in some pots outside and move them inside at night or something! Are they extremely sensitive to wind? I hadn't read that, but I did notice that when I started trying to adapt them to the outdoors and opened my windows they would wilt really bad if it were windy or if I had my attic fan on.

I guess it's time to just go get some more and try again, haha!