Ask-a-Dave's-Gardener: Blauhilde bean plants all snipped off?, 1 by Adamantya

Adamantya wrote:
Hi there! I\'m new to Dave\'s Garden.

I\'ve had my own garden for 3 years now, and last year I planted Blauhilde beans - they grew tall, up bamboo poles, and they were prolific.

I planted the same seeds (from the same packet) in the same spot (ok maybe bad idea) with the same poles about a month ago, but this year something weird has happened - the seedlings all had their stems cut off at about 8 inches off the ground. (See photos)

I would guess cutworms, but the cut is not at ground level... Also wondered whether I may have caused this myself, (gently) moving the seedlings so they\'re touching the string, so they start climbing. But I think I did that last year and I don\'t think this happened last year.

What should I do? There are flowers below the cut, and on other side-stems, but I\'m not sure whether the plants will continue to grow upward..... Should I plant a new batch somewhere else? Or will these ones be fine?

Thanks in advance!