Help ! what's eating my seedlings ????

Hello everyone
I need urgent help to save my seedlings from being totally devoured by a/several mysterious beings !

Along one wall on my patio I have a container (more like a trough) in which I have planted a mix of wild flowers (from seed) and a few dwarf sunflowers (from seed).
Now that the seedlings are growing ( about 2 inches high ) they are being methodically devoured by something.
At first I thought it was birds so I put up a net, but every morning I'm greeted by many more leafless stalks :( ... the enemy is obviously within !
I've scrupulously checked out the the container,earth,remaining shoots but can see no sign whatsoever of slug trails,snails or caterpillars.... I did see ONE greenfly however but I don't think that's the culprit as the leaves seem to have munched off ...
I moved the container away from the wall and I saw one or 2 woodlice (white) could they be responsible ?

The situation is serious now, I've lost 5 out of 8 sunflower seedlings and a good deal of the the other flower seedlings too.... maybe I should check it out at night with a torch too see if I can see anything ??

Any help/ideas would be HUGELY appreciated !

Thanks to all

 

Sounds like snails Helen, they can range quite a distance so they are probably tucked up in a crevase during the day.

 

Hi

1 question

Is this fresh compost ? or last years ?

It sounds like a snail to me , but if the compost is last years it could be in the soil (leather jacket ) before it turns ito a cranefly (daddy longlegs) you could sprinkle ant killer powder lightly on top of the soil , if organic ??? you would have to search through the soil around the base of the plant that had been eaten ??

Spruce

 

I remember growing my first tray of sunflowers when I was about 8 years old. They were doing really good until it was my turn to look after the school rabit.

 

Hello

Well the soil is a mix of last year's and fresh (about 50-50 with the fresh on top)....I've had a look in the soil but have not yet seen a larvae, are they on the surface or live deeper down ?
You say search the soil near the base of the plant that's been eaten , well I can see nothing at all, the stalks are intact but the leaves are gone...

As for snails, well I've checked almost every nook & cranny and none to be seen;

What I did find however was a rather large earwig... could a sole earwig be responsible for the damage ?

I am wary of using any chemical pesticides or whatever as I've got a 10 month old puppy who loves sniffing around the plants 'especially after I've been fiddling with them... and yes I did suspect the pup at first !

 

Does sound like snails ..If it is a plastic trough with a lip ,check underneath the lip as they will hide away during the day. If you have it netted could you put a few slug pellets around safe from the puppy ??
Could also be a caterpillar lurking somewhere ..
Dave

 

if its snails you will see trails, (that rhymes):D

I'm having problems with what I assume to be mice, eating the beetroot seedlings.
No slug can survive out in the open at the moment, its too dry.

 

How about earwigs ?

 

Have just watered the flower bed in question & observed... saw 1 (ok only one but my eyesight isn't as good as it used to be ) baby earwig come up through the soil... this morning I found a big one ,which has been 'disposed of' so it would seem that earwigs are the culprits.... any tips on what to do ?

 

Hi Helen
Earwigs have a little family that live together it sounds like you have killed the mum.

So 50 / 50 with the compost still think snail but leather jackets live just under the soil about a inch long and a dirty grey colour and when you pick them up they produce a stinky poo .
I had 5 Monarda root cuttings growing in pots on the patio and one pot had been eaten I emptied the pot and low and behold the leather jacket was in the pot now fed to the robin in the saucer I keep by the fence and when I find any tasty morsels in they go and normaly eaten in minutes

The plant that has been eaten can you pull it up and just check round the roots , I know ant powder sprinkled lightly will kill them
Or get up when its dark with a torch !!!!

Spruce

 

Actually, earwigs are a gardeners friend, they eat aphids and pollen mites, Unfortunately, when they go for the mites they tend to get over excited and damage the flowers.:D Helen`s most likely culprits are Keel slugs. they live in the soil/compost, only come out at night and leave no trace of their exsistence apart from the damage they wreak.

 

have pulled up eaten plants and nothing to be seen in the soil.... last night went out on midnight raid with torch and could see nothing either....this morning the seeds seem no to have been touched... maybe a coincidence or maybe it was the earwig after all...