Houseplant Lovers Are Putting Aluminum Foil in Their Pots to Keep One Problem Away
Aluminum foil showing up around a houseplant can look like a strange way to cover the soil, but the shiny surface can serve a purpose above the pot. It reflects incoming light back toward the foliage, including areas beneath the leaves where pests such as aphids and whiteflies can gather.
Reflective material has been used around plants to make them less attractive to some flying insects. Instead of light coming from above, the foil sends part of it back toward the underside of the plant, disrupting the visual cues insects use when approaching and landing.
For a houseplant, foil can be placed across part of the exposed soil or around the inside edge of a large pot. It shouldn’t cover the entire surface, since the soil still needs to be checked for moisture and accessed during watering.
Foil can have another job when cats find the pot
Houseplant owner Katherine Xaviera had a different problem. Her cat had claimed the middle of a large pothos pot as a favorite place to sit, leaving her looking for a way to keep the cat out without removing the plant.
Aluminum foil came up several times in the responses. One person suggested balled-up foil, another recommended crumpling it across the soil, and others simply suggested foil as the barrier.
That use has nothing to do with reflected light. Crumpled foil takes away the smooth patch of soil a cat can step into or settle on, while its texture and movement may make the pot less appealing.
Several commenters also pointed out a bigger concern with Xaviera’s setup: the plant was a pothos, so keeping the cat away from the leaves mattered as well.
How you place the foil depends on the problem
Keep foil flat when the goal is reflected light or a reflective surface around the plant. Crumple it across exposed soil when the goal is keeping a cat from climbing into a large planter.
Foil won’t replace treatment for an existing insect infestation, and it won’t make a plant safe for a pet to chew. Its usefulness comes from something much simpler: one kitchen material can change both the light around the leaves and the surface inside the pot.
Has your cat ever claimed a houseplant pot, and what worked to keep them out?