I'm afraid I've been there, and leaf mulch won't help much. I'd suggest putting up bird netting until your seedlings are big enough to no longer be quite so attractive to the birdies.

I found some wire trash baskets at the dollar store that are just perfect for sitting over seedlings. they let the sunlight shine through but the birds can't eat the seedlings, once they get going good you can just lift them off and put them away for another time.

Pam

Not birds. Bugs, maybe?

Seedlings was up and 2 leafs one day and by morning nothing is left. Have shade cloth over the seedlings. Anyone with ideas?

I have read beer traps, soapy water, diatomaceous earth, egg shells, and ???

Will try plastic bottles next.

Anyone?

Why are you sure it's not birds? I was amazed at the total destruction they were able to generate. I thought it was bugs too, since I couldn't imagine the overnight destruction being from birds, but once I put up the bird block, miraculously, I had growing, healthy crops.

Could it be pill worms? I lost a bunch of bean seedlings to them this year. I have so much organic material, especially pine needles and wood chip pings, that now I have problems with pill worms, or sow worms, whatever they are. And yes, they do eat seedlings. Pesky bugs. I've heard that slug killer gets them, although I haven't tried yet. Wonder if other iron formulas like ironic would work?

I use chicken wire folded with ends crimped to make long "tents." Easy
to join several together for a long row. Easy to take down, roll up and
store. 24" high chicken wire will make a 12" tent.

Not to say it couldn't be birds. But I have a shade cloth clipped to trellis close to the ground. If a bird got in there, I don't know how it would get it way out. I have formed a tunnel, so to speak, and I have a hard time getting to the plants.

BUT, the little plants I have plastic bottles over ( or partial bottles ) seemed to have lived thru the night. I will plant some more seeds and see what happens.

Experimenting continues!! Thanks for your input.

I think that most ground level bugs only eat dead or decaying plant matter, not living plants. I've got a lot of roly polys that live in under my zucchini and consider them my on the ground composting service. They eat dead leaves, but I've never found them on living parts of the plant. Crickets and roaches are big fans of dead plant stuff.

It's possible that you have some little caterpillars - I had some that couldn't have been 1/4" long that ate through my mexican primrose last spring. Sparrows will hop in under bird netting and like little plants, too.

Great ideas here for protecting seedlings! I need to get busy and start planting and you've given me some excellent ideas for how I can protect those baby plants!! Thanks!

I have been having the same problem, I have made small cages to cover the seedling but something is still getting to them.The mesh is 1/2" squares so I know it isn't birds. I have put clear plastic cups with the bottoms cut off around them and this has worked.

I think azbookworm is correct! I have noticed a lot of crickets in the area.

🤔 hmmm?! Didn’t know birds would eat leaves too. I’ve seen them dig up seeds I’ve just sowed and mess with my seed tray soil but not eat leaves. I learned something new.

Your culprit could be cut worms. They will eat off most of the leaves and can do it all over night. I’ve heard you have to go out with a flashlight at night to catch em and pick em off if you want. I can see them at sundown, but can be hard to miss they look just like the soil and blend in with some seedling stems. I use diatomaceous earth...and that seems to work. They crawl on the surface of the soil. I just spread some over the seedlings and soil surrounding. I’ve seen a higher survival rate, but I feel like I’m always laying down new seeds cause of this.

Good luck!