Hmmm, normally I would blame slugs, since they are the #1 enemy of my small seedlings. I never mulch around seedlings and use the organic slug bait until they are well established for that reason. How odd that yours were there this morning and gone in the afternoon. Could it be a chipmunk or squirrel nipping them off?

Otherwise it's been an okay year so far for sprouts and seedlings. I'm a little disappointed about some of the Daylily seeds (bought on the Lily Auction), because I sowed some kind of early when we had that hot weather in March. The ones that were sowed in late April are germinating much better!

I was going to say the same thing as terrene -- some kind of critter. Nothing else makes sense. One year I lost a bunch of seedlings because we'd accidentally used a soil sterilizing weed killer on a patch of soil before planting, but even those seedlings took a week or so to die.

It's been an OK wintersowing year here -- all the tomatoes germinated so I have about 11 extra plants. The petunias had little to no germination, but most everything else yielded at least a few plants.

Are you sure they didn't dry out? I can't get all this stuff done and my stuff is frying- no mulch down yet.

Karen

So nice healthy seedlings went in the ground and a few hours later they had completely disappeared?

I wouldn't say it was a WSing problem ("Bad year for WSing"), I'd absolutely suspect a varmit! Rabbit, Ground Hog,something on four legs. I've had a lot of insect/slug damage this year but it does not happen that FAST.

I tried some things in the peat pots last year and they dried out really fast. Still seems like awefully fast to have fried to the point they are gone. Karen - I also "can't get all this stuff done" and am having trouble keeping up with watering newly planted seeds/plants as well as keeping my not yet planted jugs watered.

Chipmunks, groundhog, squirrel is your problem, not WS. Most likely a chipmunk.

If your seedlings had dried up during the day, you would still see some of the dried up green seedling.

Only the above mentioned 4 legged critters would make the seedlings vanish from sight and do so within a few minutes to several hours.

I'd put money on the infamous chipmunks though; one of the banes of gardeners and farmers around the country.

I deal with them on a daily basis, right along with the resident groundhog and they create disasters in my gardens.

Your description though, is that of a "crew" of chipmunks fast at work, having their "meals and snacks" thanks to you and WS.

Fran

Yes - a critter problem. I am dealing with that right now. The latest WS seedlings to 'disappear': verbascum GONE...Flanders Fied poppies: GONE....Nigella GONE, and my sunflowers another one bites the dust. It is frustrating....does anyone have any tried and true deterrents that are eco friendly?

The best way I've found for controlling unwanted garden critters are critters of my own -- the cat patrols the front flower beds for squirrels and rodents, and the dog keeps the back veg garden squirrel- and deer-free. It's not a perfect system (the cat has also brought in harmless lizards and butterflies, and while I haven't seen feathers I'm sure she'll grab a bird or two if she can). It does help protect the garden though. My biggest banes are aphids, caterpillars, and slugs. The cat won't touch those, though if I hand-pick the bigger bugs I can carry them to the grateful chickens; nothing as gratifying as watching Japanese beetle grubs turn into eggs!

Sorry to hear it's been a rough start to the garden year.