This is the other seedling which seems more likely but i dont want to get my hopes up. Also ignore the salt on the ground, i put some down just in cause as this area seems to be a breeding ground for the slimy pests.

Adding salt to your soil is a REALLY bad idea.

I have several foxgloves which keep their numbers almost constant by self-seeding. Maybe that "almost" shouldn't be there ... but the melancholy fact is that I can't recognize foxglove seedlings until they're about 6" across. Apparently the smaller ones have leaves which don't look like foxglove leaves.

Sometimes I see something small and think it looks familiar -- but not familiar enough for me to know what it is. I'm pretty sure a bunch of those were foxglove seedlings.

Salt kills plants. Plenty of other things will kill slugs and snails without killing plants too.

This post was edited by missingtheobvious on Sun, Sep 7, 14 at 22:55

It's not nearly as much as it looks like, some of that is sand, white pebble and rock. Could you tell me why by chance? Only because i'm trying to keep the slugs and snails off my seedlings, i don't apply it every day or every week for that matter, i usually sprinkle it on them when i can find them but at the moment i'm trying to find nicer ways of relocating them.

eek, ok noted. Yikes salt kills plants. No more salt then! Thank you for letting me know. So much learning to do. Well i do pellets but its hit and miss.

Salt will kill slugs and snails only if it is applied directly onto them. There is no point putting it on the earth as it will dissolve with the moisture and mess up your soil without bothering the gastropods. I've not seen them eat Foxgloves anyway.

Salt kills plants for the same reason it kills slugs - it removes water from their tissues. To find out further why salt is bad for the soil Google up some info.

Hence the old term about "salting the earth" - see link. Try beer traps for slugs if you want something that kills the buggers without horrible chemicals. Use the cheapest beer you can buy.

Flora is correct. I never saw slugs eat foxglove either. It is a pretty pest-free plant. Foxglove was used as a medicinal herb and is the original source for digitalis, the heart medicine. (Check out foxglove's botanical name!) While we find great medicinal use for plants with such compounds in them, the plants use those compounds for protection versus pests and browsing.

Young plants, let alone just sprouted seedlings, are hard to ID. You have to wait for some more characteristic leaves to appear. Repost when your seedlings get bigger.

FataMorgana

Here is a link that might be useful: wikipedia - salt the earth

Thanks again i knew it was a long shot but you just never know what someone might or might not see. I shall re post if they get big enough before the cold arrives.

Thanks for the link Fatamorgana as soon as missingtheobvious told me salt kills plants, that's enough for me. I'm not looking to undo all my hard work. I love my seedlings, maybe too much on how i coddle them at times but still. I didn't know salt was harmful before this summer i never gardened therefore there was never a reason to look it up, i only knew it killed slugs. But yes, i shall try the beer can method. Also to start collecting them for a friends chickens.

Rest assured my soil will come to no more harm knowingly or unknowingly. That's why we're called newbies just one more learning curve to come about.

Thanks again,
Scarlet