Gob~ I'm not too keen on the thought of moth balls... They stink! Of course, so does kitty doo-doo! :) I've thought about chicken wire, as you mentioned... I think it would be easy to work with & easy to take off when the plants come back inside for the winter. As for the PL, I noted in my OP that I didn't water from the bottom, but drench it w/ the faucet in my sink or shower, so I don't think the roots are looking for water. It was originally in a plastic insert inside of a tin decorative planter... This is why I repotted it in the first place, b/c the original container was not condusive to good drainage. I repotted it in an 6 in. pot... The root ball only had about 1 in. on the sides that I had to put new soil into, so I thought that was a pretty good fit. I just have heard that these plants prefer to be rootbound & didn't want to over pot it. Hopeful~ These are outside kittens, so they don't technically have a litter box... I'm wondering if that wouldn't solve my problem though. We live in the country, so I just assumed that they would have plenty of options when it came to "litter boxes", but maybe if I put one out, they'd use it instead of my plants. They aren't really nibbling on any of the plants. I do have a Hawaiian Ti Plant that they like to bat the leaves on, a couple of them have been shredded by little claws. :) My PL was quite big when I got it. It's now in only a 6 in. pot, but I would say the plant is about 2-2 1/2 ft. tall (from soil level up) & spreads about as wide. Yes, my PL has been growing & blooming every since I got it, it seemed to never even notice the repotting. Super~ Duct tape is a great idea! I'm just not sure how long it would stay sticky outside in our area. The plant is blocked from rain, but the heat may mess up the sticky-ness. I will have to give it a shot though. LOL, I have seen cats trying to get things off of their paws, it is quite amusing, but I usually end up feeling sorry for them & help them get whatever it is off. :) Thanks for all the replies, they're greatly appreciated! ~Shannon

Very often, you'll find that clerks don't know roots from shoots & often dispense fragments of advice they overheard in the store or that just sound good. If you want to know if they really know their stuff, challenge them a little with another question or two, point out an inconsistency in the advice, or just simply ask them how they came to the conclusion they offered. Their reply will tell you much more than their advice about their qualifications. There is nothing wrong with fertilizing in winter, or maintaining a certain level of fertilizer in the soil. If your soil allows you to water freely, you can fertilize at low dosages EVERY time you water, even in the winter. Going back upthread a little .... If I had asked the question about why my plants aren't blooming during the winter, the advice to fertilize or give them more light would be entirely inappropriate, because they GET good light & they get fertilized @ every watering. I could just as easily cause my plants harm as do them some good if I took the offhand advice. Back to fertilizing: If your soil is slow, so you are forced to water in sips to prevent root rot, fertilizing in winter can be a very BAD thing. There would already be salts accumulating in the soil, originating from fertilizer and irrigation water. These salts CONTINUE to accumulate unless you flush the soil when you water. The effect of these salts is they make it commensurately more difficult for the plant to absorb both water and the nutrients dissolved in water as salt levels rise (They interfere with osmosis on a cellular level). From what I said, you can see that the advice to fertilize should never be given w/o some knowledge of how you are maintaining cultural conditions that affect salt levels and at least a GUESS at the likelihood of how much salt is in the soil now. IF you've fertilized every 4 weeks, it's almost assured that salt levels in your soil are high, unless you're growing in a fast (free-draining) soil. It also sounds like the plant is getting plenty of sun to assure budset when the plant is in the appropriate point in it's growth cycle (It's likely setting buds now). Some spaths bloom more continuously than others, but they all tend to bloom more prolifically in spring & early summer. That is genetically programmed into the plant, and no amount of fertilizer will change that. Additionally, you cannot make the plant grow MORE or grow Better or make it BLOOM more by supplying nutrients that are already present in adequate supply. It is only by increasing those nutrients that are deficient and LIMITING growth that you can improve growth (Search "Liebig's Law of the Minimum". How long has it been since the plant was repotted? Root-bound conditions slow extension. o/a growth and vitality, and can interfere significantly with bloom induction. Al

Yellow leaves huh. . . It could be over fertilized, but these plants seem to be sensitive to so many things, it's hard to say. It is usually a watering issue. They don't like to be 'wet' but they really don't like to go dry either. Lack of water and they droop, very dry the leaves fall completely over. Too wet, the leaves turn brown and crisp. I don't think too much light would cause the leaves to turn yellow. I think I would start by checking the roots. Do this by taking the plant out of the pot, removing as much of the soil s you can. If the pot was sitting in a dish for drainage and the dish held water, it could have root rot. You will know this if the roots are soft and mushy or smelly. At this time also check for bugs. If everything checks out repot it. What size is the rootball? It is possible it is in too big of a pot which would cause root rot too. You should be able to put your fingers between the rootball and the side of the pot, any bigger is too big. Amend the soil with perlite and bark (orchid bark) 1-1-1. For now, until it starts to recover, no fertilizer. I wouldn't feed it for a couple of months. Put it in bright, no direct sunlight. The new soil is fast draining so check it often and water as needed. Stick your finger in the soil, if it is dry 2" down, it's time to water. I have a huge one (3' tall x 4" wide) I take it to the tub about every 5-7 days and pour 3/3 gallon buckets of water in it, letting it drain well each time. Then I let it set there until it is completely done draining. Mine sits in front of a west facing window, after a few hours I pull the blinds so it gets filtered light for about 4 more hours. Your plant is probably smaller and that would be too much water, but just water til the water comes out the bottom. Do this a few times, this will help flush the salt buil-up as well as the excess fertilizer it is holding. Hope this helps.

That PLs are usually found in riparian settings (streamside or in boggy environments) where they naturally occur is absolutely no cause to believe they will do well in boggy soils. They adapt well to various types of water culture, and perform very well in fast-draining, well-aerated soils, but should be expected to perform poorly when asked to make the transition in soils from lengthy periods of significant saturation to times when the soil has dried down and become reasonably well-aerated and more hospitable to the plant. The reason, as has been pointed out, is the fact that the plant will grow roots structured to allow the plant to deal with one or the other set of conditions, but not both in a cycle that starts with a long period of saturation transitioning to the more appropriate moist (rather than wet or soggy) medium. How well a soil drains is determined almost exclusively by the size of the particles it is comprised of. While the arrangement you have with the pot sitting above the effluent in the collection saucer is commendable, it has no impact on how well the soil drains or its level of aeration. 1. How often should I water? Intervals will vary with season, light load, amount of air movement, ....... Unless you use a soil that allows watering on a schedule as opposed to on an 'as needed' basis, and yours doesn't, you should absolutely stick to watering only when the plant gets dry to the point it needs water. In fact, in spite of the stress it would create, it would actually be better if you waited for this plant to exhibit signs of the first stage of wilt before you water than to water before the plant need it. I'm not advocating using drought stress indicators to signal the plants need for water - just trying to establish a feel for the idea that a little under-watering is less limiting than over-watering. For this plant, marking your watering date on the calendar and OCCASIONALLY waiting for the first signs of wilt to establish appropriate intervals between waterings is a reasonable strategy. If you'd rather, buy a wooden birch dowel rod (1/4 or 5/16") from a hardware or big box store. Cut into appropriate length pieces for your plants, sharpen the ends with a pencil sharpener, and use the pieces stuck deep into the pot as 'tells' that will let you know the moisture conditions deep in the pot. If they come out wet or stained dark from wet soil, withhold water until they come out clean. MUCH better than "watering gauges/meters". 2. What else can I do for this plant? The answer to that could easily fill a book. You could try reading this (click on link). I read someplace that liquid fertilizer once a month is good too. Yay or nay on that? To be meaningful, any advice regarding frequency of fertilizer applications has to take into consideration your soil choice and watering habits. For example, if you water in small sips to avoid your MG soil remaining soggy too long, a one month interval at the regular rate is an automatic problem for more than one reason, and the type of fertilizer as well as its NPK %s both play a part in determining the criticality of the issue. If you're using a soil that allows you to water at will w/o the need to fear consequences centering on the fact the soil will be saturated for a length of time measured in weeks, you can actually fertilize at low doses every time you water, which is how I choose to fertilize all my plants during the winter. One type of soil (those that are very water-retentive, like yours) make it almost impossible to maintain control over effective nutritional supplementation; other types of soil that support little or no saturation make establishing and maintaining a sound supplementation program monkey easy. Al