This has happened before. Maybe if I go out at night with a flashlight I will catch the culprits, but right now I can only speculate. I usually buy a 6 pack of Early Girl and plant about 3 weeks into March, sometimes earlier sometimes later depending on the weather.
This year they only had 4" potted plants, so I bought 6 of those and planted them 6 days ago in soil in which I'd worked in a lot of my homemade compost. There were certainly lots of earwigs and sow bugs in that compost, and plenty of earth worms. There are certainly slugs in there too.
I was so busy yesterday I didn't get a chance to check out the plants, but this morning to my dismay I see that 1/2 to 3/4 of the foliage has been eaten from the plants! I'd put snail and slug pellets around the plants and sprayed some water to activate them. I also sprinkled some diazinon I've had for a number of years. I think it's unavailable now. I only use it on seedlings when plants are vulnerable. The diazinon is so old it may have lost its effectiveness, it wouldn't surprise me.
I made collars today out of thin sheet metal, and put more pellets and diazinon granules around the bases of the seedlings, also I sprayed them with Safer Soap. What is likely eating the plants and what can I do to prevent further damage? I was hoping to see bigger plants by now, not smaller!
Dan
Email: dmusicant at pacbell dot net