What does this to bean seedlings?

I've had this problem for years. Something snaps off the new leaves of bean seedlings. See foto. Since the damage is above the remaining seed halves, I assumed it couldn't be cutworms. Rabbits?

TIA
LAS

As far a the beans coming up with no leaves, I had some do that and some did not come up at all. My situation was too much rain and some of the seeds rotted. It was so wet for over a week some of the plants did not look healty.

They are coming into it now plus I reseeded some.

These didn't come up with no leaves, I'm pretty sure.... Well, I think I'm sure. My impression has been that the first two leaves were eaten off. But I'm going to plant a second crop and will watch very closely to make sure about this.

Thanks,
LAS

I am having the same issue in Southern Maine,.... I do not have rabbits or ground hogs in the area and I have a cat on patrol,.. so I am not sure what's up?

Last year, I had to reseed the pole beans b/c the first seeding came up and then rotted when they were 2-3" tall. I thought maybe the seeds were bad but the second seeding was successful.

Hmmm a similar thing happened to me but with my sunflower seedlings- they germinated almost 100%, looked like healthy seedlings, but then something ate the tiny leaves about a week later (over a period of a few days.) Really annoying! I collared the survivors and started new ones in cells. I'm not sure, but it may have been cutworms. (rabbits? hope not.) All that was left was the little stems. So far, no more have disappeared. Anyone else have any ideas?

I planted a second crop of beans (for longer season, not because first was destroyed or anything) and a couple of seedlings were attacked in this way. I've decided it must be earwigs. If they eat through the tiny stem then the leaf would disappear. There's a little bit of earwig damage on larger nearby bean leaves, and there hasn't been any sign of a larger animal like a rabbit.

This looks like slug damage to me. I used to be plagued with the problem, but no more. I've seen as many as a dozen baby slugs on a nickel sized leaf (you have to look at night).
My solution: Just as the seeds are breaking the soil surface, I cover the row, and about three inches either side with 1/2 - 1" of sifted compost (I use a 1/4" hardware cloth sieve I made). My theory as to why this works (almost 100%) is that the top 1/8" compost dries out very quickly, then when the slugs try to crawl over it, they are totally coated with the dust and can't lay down a slime trail to go about their business. Out comes the sun and the poor little slugs are roasted (some people call them Escargots, pay lots of money, and eat them)... what a big meanie I am. I have actually observed this process. Try it. If you don't have compost, you might also try using peat moss, but it packs easily in the rain and is harder to fluff up than compost, should it rain as soon as you apply it.

Now, if you don't have compost, perhaps the ability to get even with the slugs will be enough incentive to start your compost heap. Get four shipping palettes, wire them together, and start throwing in green stuff and brown stuff, a bit of water, and a couple of shovels full of garden soil for the initial starting bacteria. When that's really full, wire three more palettes beside the first ones; undo the wire on the front of it, and fork the material into the new bin. Reattach the palette and fill 'er up again. Next spring, you will have number one grade dark compost in number two bin! I live on the edge of town and have an occasional raccoon try to get the cover off, but can't, and the bears just walk on by. A well kept compost doesn't attract them. In fact, at our local landfill they cover the finished areas with compost and the bears will not dig up the garbage. No compost, and they tear it up.

Yes, slugs are a problem. I finally got a really good solution for my delphs and campanula medium (they grow in front of a stone wall) and caulfilower and other susceptible things. I put a ring of copper around them. For the perennials it's no work at all after it's done. I'm sure the rings will outlive me. I get flashing at Home Depot. I've also enclosed little beds with a big square of copper, like asclepius seedlings. I thought about enclosing my bean beds (I plant in beds, not rows), but didn't do it this year. I'm thinking I'll try Spinosad plus, but I'll also try the compost approach on selected sections to see how it works. Clever idea!

LAS

hmm,.. maybe I need to get the flashlight out,.. and check for slugs.....

my beans are doing real good now, although they are not real tall,... the rows of beans most affected with the above problem were adjacent the edge of the garden (lawn),.. so it may well be the slugs,... although I have not found any,.. and I patrol the garden a few times a day...

I had a green pepper plant that was lush one day look like this the next morning. Planting box is 20 ft up on deck with no stairs..so I went looking. Found a HUGE caterpiller and ID'd it as tobacco hornworm (or maybe it was cutworm) He was really hard to find because he blended in with a perfect shade of green but he had started at the top of another pepper plant so I got him...no others so far...weird!