I would say that the first leaves have been eaten by something just leaving the cotyledons.

Okay thanks, I wasn't sure as I did have one come up that does already have leaves.

In the picture, looks like there may be some damage to the growing tip as though its been nibbled on.

So the ones with no leaves are lost and I should cut them down?

Any suggestions on what to do about that?

I haven't dealt with this sort of thing personally (yet). Hopefully, others will chime in and suggest what the potential culprits are and the possible solutions to deal with them.

Ok, thank you!

bad_wolf_85, don't pull them, they are fine. Every seedling is not going to be perfect. If you pull all the imperfect seedlings, you will be replanting a lot of stuff unnecessarily.

Hi bad_wolf_85,

The soil in both of your pictures looks very moist, which is a favorable condition for slugs/snails. In my experience, they are particularly fond of eating young seedlings as well. I've had entire patches of seedlings wiped out in one or two nights due to hungry slugs. I can't say for sure that is what is eating your plants, but that would be my guess.

There are several options to deal with slugs/snails. You can pick them off at night (when its cool and moist enough for them to come out from hiding) and either smash them or drop them in soapy water. Alternatively, you can buy products such as "Sluggo" that can be applied around the garden that will kill them--an easier, more passive approach. Beer traps are also sometimes recommended, but in my experience, they aren't nearly as effective as picking them off by hand. There are even more approaches to dealing with them (copper wires, borax, diatomaceous earth, ect.) but I have not tested these personally, so I cannot comment on how effective they are.

Again, this is all assuming that slugs/snails are the issue. It could definitely be something else eating your plants. I would personally just go out several times after it gets dark with a flashlight and look at the plants closely. If you see slugs/snails on them, it's a pretty safe bet that they were the culprit.

Hope that helps.

Thank you all for your input!

I've also had woodlice (pill bugs, roly polies) do that to some bean and gourd seedlings... It can get kind of irritating, so much that certain plants I no longer direct seed...

I had similar problem when I soaked my beans before. Later I found that it is better not to soak them. If soil was too moist, may be same reason for the damage. In future, you can just plant 2-3 seeds instead of one intended, and after they come up and have at least one pair of true leaves remove bad ones or extra. (Cut them off on the ground level, do not pull to keep good ones undisturbed. )

FWIW, whenever I plant peas & beans ( other things attractive to molluscs), I sprinkle the area w/ iron phosphate snail bait pellets - esp. the perimeters - or else they'd chew off all the seedlings as they sprout.

I had a lot of trouble with bald heading green beans that have trouble before even sprouting. Never really found out what it was, but when they sprouted they were covered with pill bugs. I am told they can't eat sprouts but my experience seems to say differently IDK.

I would let them struggle and try to make it, and most of them did. If I pulled them all I would not have gotten any beans.

Thank you all so much for your advice, I don't believe it's snails or slugs as I've been looking around the plants and yard at night and haven't seen a single one yet. I do know there's a lot of roly polies around my yard, haven't seen any around the sprouts though. I think I'm going to leave one or two of the damaged sprouts and try to replant a couple more to see what happens.

I've actually had a couple of plants like that make it to adulthood last year.. For the ones that don't, I compensate by planting extra seed or starting new seed then re replanting them in the area after the first two leaves are an inch and a half...

They don't bother adult plants but I've actually seen the roly polies in action... At first I didn't know what the problem was either. It's pretty dry here so not many slugs or garden snails around. We also have predatory snails around here that eat the vegetarian slugs and snails. I thought it was cut worms also but in my experience, the cut worms deadhead the whole plant and not just the tops. I only figured it out when I watered the plants couple of times before it was dark. My beans sprouted earlier in the day with their little leaves starting to poke out. So they were fine. No damge at all... Ten minutes later I come back to see 1-2 roly polies munching the top of the sprouts... I pulled them off and threw them somewhere else both times... I didn't want to be removing roly polies all the time so after that I learned not to direct sow certain plants...

Pic from last year...

So yes I agree, it may be beneficial to start them indoors if you are having this kind of problem. I may try sprouting some inside myself this year and bring them outside ASAP.

Wow, I have a lot of roly pollies in my yard, but they don't attack my seedlings. I have a layer of mulch pretty much everywhere in my garden, though. I wonder if that is the difference?

They only seemed to be a problem for me with the beans.

I'm thinking it depends the bugs in the area where you live and certain plant types... Most of my problems are with bitter gourd seedlings, both smooth and lined luffa seedlings, and with a few certain bean seedlings... Other than that, I usually don't have problems with the bugs, once those plants get large... Most of my bugs are hidden in the mulch also.

Do you have rabbits? They like tender new growth. A poster on wintersowing said she covers new seedlings with wire mesh wastebaskets bought at a dollar store for $1. I'm going to try that, anchoring with landscape staples.

Here (in WA) the slugs eat all sorts of stuff. I don't think I've had much trouble with the beans, but they like to decimate my squash seedlings. In Colorado, I never saw signs of any slugs (it was really dry) but I did see the pill bugs eating my beans, just like this. The ones in my current garden don't seem to bother anything enough to notice.

I did end up leaving these sprouts and they actually started growing pretty well.

I'm having another problem now though. The bottom leaves are turning brown and falling off. What's going on?

Some bean seeds come up 'bald'. Perhaps there was a bean weevil already in the bean.

Bald seedlings can be the result of planting too deeply, especially in heavy soil. I've also noticed that older seed is more susceptible to emerging bald. Starting beans in pots overcomes this issue, but it only makes sense for pole beans, where you get a high yield per plant.