LOL tabor say's its a caterpillar. grubs are really fat and really white.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:409849}}

Hi Angie, the pics look like cutworms to me. They can destroy a lot of little seedlings/plants very quickly!
gg

Tell Tabor I said Thanks! :)
GG,I was thinking possibly thats what they were,but it seems they are eating just the foliage and leaving the stem intact. I found both of them hiding down the side of a container between the plastic and mix. Do cutworms eat just the leaves sometimes? In my experience they have always just did away with the seedlings, stem and all,these are leaving the stems. Thanks for the suggestion,I am going to look them up right now!;)

Ok,I looked up cutworms and found out that there are different types of them! I had no clue,there are climbing cutworms that feed on the leave! Thanks so much GG for pointing me in the right direction! :)

So that's probably what ate the top of my verbena bona. - a climbing cutworm.

Ya learn somethin' new everyday....

Carrie

Look in the side of the container,that is where I found them curled up hiding until nightfall,that is when they feed. Like the parent moth they are nocturnal. So you wont see them in action during they day,but they wiped out two different varieties that I know of and could be responsible for some of them I lost, but, just didn't realize it was them that did it.

You have an Armyworm....

Here is a link that might be useful: Armyworms~University of Florida

You are welcome, Angie. I hope that you don't have any more! :)
gg

I think this year is going to a bug year. We had so many tent caterpillars on our hill, neighbors had them in their house and you could see them on the roads.
Next I was shoveling 1 year old horse manure compost for planting new grass seed area and I had 5 to 6 grubs in every shovel! I picked them out and put them in the cup holder on my garden tractor, drove over to the neighbor that has chickens and fed the chickens lunch. Those grubs bit me twice,but I won't see the same one again.

Thanks Vera for a name to go with the "face"...lol...
Lizzy,while flipping sod over,I have been finding tons of grubs also,I have been feeding them to the Robins,they have been hanging around just waiting for me to toss one to them! It has got so bad,that when I am out there working I can feel them watching and waiting...lol...

this year i have alot of wolf spiders in my winter sowing containers. freaky!!! i'd definately say a buggy year!!

Well at least you have the robins and chickens to feed them to because my robin from last year just doesn't hang around like she used to and the new one just doesn't get the feeding program so I've been taking them down to the lake and throwing them in there. This past weekend I planted some Day Breaks and I found at least 20 grubs in a 2 ft square area is that what most of you are seeing or is that a major problem?
I'm like you busylizzy I think that this is going to be a very buggy year but the funny part is that besides those evil little grubs that I'm digging up I still haven't witnessed any of the other critters that are eating any of my other plants.

Yep, I've seen more spiders and grubs in the last several months than I can remember seeing in years....and slugs galore!!

Not alone, I've been finding grubs every where I seem to plant and just the other day when I was laying down some mulch around my Hydrangeas, I pulled up a piece of grass weed that seemed to have sprouted in the corner and came across what looked like hundreds of baby grubs and a ton of ants too! I was horrified to see that many in one spot, I hate those things and usually feed the adults to the birds. I'm another one who feels it's going to be a huge bug season.

Linda

I agree,more bugs this year! :O Linda those little "baby grubs" are actually baby ants! You found your self a colony,be careful!

Vera: Where do you come up with this stuff? Armyworm? Who ever heard of an armyworm? How can your brain hold so much information about plants and gardening? I swear you are a plant encyclopedia with a human green thumb.

Karen