Noticed the other morning that my 3 week old cauliflower seedlings in a flat of seeding mix numbered fewer than the previous evening. All the foliage gone, just an inch or so bare stems left. They weren't cut off at the soil line. Next morning a couple more were gone, the next only five left. I had them outside hardening off - overnight lows about 40, daytime highs in the 60s. I brought them in the house overnight & next morning only two remained. That did it - out came the insecticide & I drenched the seeding mix. Must have worked 'cause those two are still with me. This morning two of the tomato seedlings had met the same fate, so I treated the remaining tomato and broccoli seedlings.
Before I zapped the cauliflower seeding mix, I dug around in it looking for varmints, but didn't see any. Any idea what the insect might be that's doing this?
Thanks,
Frank
Critters in my seedlings
Frank ~ I had a couple of Vitex seedlings nipped off in this manner. The culprit was a grasshopper. I suspect they would camp out at night and dine too. Could it possibly be?
The seedlings looked like a g=hopper might have done, but whatever it was came into the house with the seedlings, in the the seeding mix I presume, and was small enough that I didn't find it when I looked for it. A puzzlement.
That's not good. It would be beneficial to know so it could be prevented. Sorry...
Frank - I started to have that problem with the lettuce and brassicas in my garden recently. Mine are not seedlings but good sized plants... The culprit? Little tiny green worms - cabbage loopers I assume. I went out one morning and some of my lettuce leaves were sticks and I couldn't see anything. These worms are masters of disguise - lol. You have to look very closely to spot them. Then I started seeing little holes in the cabbage and broccoli and same thing - little green buggers. Ditto tomato leaves and cauliflower and bok choi. If you look closely you may see little white, almost clear round eggs on the underside of your leaves. Those are the eggs the moth lays and when they hatch the buggers are almost microscopic they are so small... and they blend in with the leaves soooooo well...
Insecticidal soap or a blast of water or squishing them works if you're organic. I don't do chemicals so couldn't advise you there. They really don't do considerable damage to my mature plants, but can munch a seedling down in no time...
Kelly
Thanks.
Since you say they were NOT cut off at ground level or below, I would guess it is NOT hiding in the soil. Look underneath your flat(s) in any cracks or crannies, and there is usually a groove around the edge.
If I find a spider inside in the summer, I toss it outside. If I find one in the winter, I toss it on a houseplant or seed flat. But a small spider would be no match for a larger grasshopper, beatle, or slug.
pollengarden - I am so pleased to read that you know the value of spiders. So many people kill them on sight! I only wish the birds wouldn't eat them.
There's at least one living on my kitchen counter dining on fruit flies :)
Frank, that happened to my seedlings out in the garden last spring. One day I planted little seedlings out and the next day they were gone. I went out at night to catch the little beasts and was surprised to find pill bugs eating my seedlings. There was a population explosion and I guess it was sort of like locusts, they ate everything. Normally we leave them alone but we must have squished 10,000 of them last summer. I think it was our mild winter that allowed them to breed like crazy. They like a cool damp spot during the day so you can catch them by putting out damp newspaper at night.
Seedling chewers could be any number of bugs but if you have an unusual number of innocent looking pill bugs around they might not be so innocent.
We also tolerate non-poisonous spiders in the house and we make sure to tell guests if there is a spider living in the bathroom so they don't squish it. We have had a series of similar spiders take up residence in a potted cactus in the bathroom.
Katlian, in this case, I discovered that it was mice. I've had pill bugs damage small seedlings and found that I could protect them by leaving dry dirt just around the plant, cutting the bottom out of a plastic drinking cup, and placing it over the plant with the cut edge worked into the soil just a bit.
Frank
There's also a thing called "climbing cut worms" which I just found out. I had some tiny broccoli seedlings last fall that looked just like somebody had took scissors and cut off the stem just below the leaves. After losing several plants, I finally saw a little caterpillar about 1/2" long. I dusted them with BT and that was the end of it.