Seedlings disappearing without a trace.

Hi!

I have never planted anything before in my life and attempted to do so this year. I planted some Nigella, Lavender, and strawberry seeds that someone gave me. These are all potted at the moment. They did well where I was living in north-central Florida but I moved down to South Florida a week ago. I have noticed over the past 3 days that two of my 6 strawberry seedlings disappeared without a trace. They were the smallest ones and were maybe half a centimeter tall at the time of their disappearance. The plants are outside on the patio. The Nigella and the Lavender have not been touched by this wave of disappearances. I noticed ants in the area and tiny tiny insects in the soil of the strawberry seedlings. The insects are a rare sight and they'll quickly disappear after i see them. I have only been able to catch one but couldn't really see what it was before it fell out of my hands. Could these insects be the reason why my seedlings have disappeared? Could it be the ants? I have not seen any slugs or snails in the vicinity. I would also think that any small mammals would eat more than one 5mm seedling at a time but what do I know. I was so proud they even grew and I'm afraid I'll keep loosing them. Anything I can do?

Thank you!

Insects are a possibility--probably not the ants though, most of them don't eat plants. Without knowing what the other insects were that you saw it's hard to say if it was them or not. Slugs or snails would have been my first guess--they don't tend to be out much during the day so you wouldn't necessarily have seen them, but often you'll notice slime trails if they've been in the area.

I haven't seen any slime trails, but I will try bringing them in at night in case it's snails or slugs. If that doesn't solve it, the insects are more likely to be the cause I guess. I just went out to see if I could catch one, but I couldn't see any. If it is the insects, is there anything I can do to get rid of them?

Your best bet might be to put up some screening around the plants--there's a good chance it's something other than the tiny bugs you saw in the soil so unless you can catch something in the act and spray while it's on the plant it is often easier to block their access to the plant.

do you have many squirrels around? squirrels have to check out everything new I've added to my garden. they have bitten the top off of every sunflower seedling (I saw them). They trampled my cannas and daylily leaves (saw them) as soon as the leaves/stalks were growing and I had to cut them back to the ground again. they chewed the beak of my plastic pink flamingo. I planted a tiny crape myrtle and found it chewed in half laying on the ground hours later.
i've been in my house for 7yrs and they aren't used to my new gardens and plants, so hopefully their curiosity will go down the more I garden.

Birds will also pluck tiny seedlings and gobble them down. Just ask my disappearing lettuce and spinach.