Something is biting the heads off my baby plants!

Ive started some fall tomatoes, peppers, and brug seeds. They are coming up just fine, but some thing is snapping the leaves off some of the germinating seeds. What can I do?

where are they? Something is eating them-either a slug, snail, grasshopper etc. Do you see a slime trail?

I don't see any bugs or trails. The plants are on my east facing porch in flats, about 3 to 4 ft off the porch decking. A flying insect? Shall I dust, put on mosquito nets?

Could be something like rabbits too, if the seedlings are very tiny then they probably wouldn't waste their time and they'd eat other things in your garden instead, but if they're a little larger the bunnies could see it as a nice all you can eat buffet.

gloria-if they are snails or slugs up on your deck-either pick up the containers and look at the bottoms or sides-that is where they hide until dark-or do a slug hunt at night where you come out there with a flashlight and find them-they will be eating your plants about an hour after dark. the proper attire for this activity is your jammies! lol

If it is a grasshopper-which i am thinking it is-it is probably gone by now, but a mosquito net wouldn't be the worst thing to do. Dusting won't really help if these are small seedlings because by the time they react to the chemical and die-they will have already killed the plant.

the flats are sitting on the top of an old dishwasher in an open east-facing sun porch. And they are sitting directly on some spare roofing shingles I had. The shingles have imbedded grit, so I doubt it is slugs or snails. Also checked under the seed containers. No bunnies are on the front porch. Could be grasshoppers. I put on some old gauze curtains suspended over a frame. Hope that keeps the critters out. i would not like to loose any more of these brugs.

thanks, everyone.

I don't know, but I had a similar problem with some baby ginseng. Something ate them up in no time at all. They were on a table with some other small plants, a trumpet vine, echinacea, bird of paradise...nothing else was effected but the ginseng.....gone over a few days. Never did see any critters. The table is probably 30" off the ground. We don't have rabbits in the area...a squirrel maybe, but they normally don't come up on the patio. Oh well!

Yes. These are up on tables. 30 to 35 in off the floor. I found some old "sheer" curtains. I draped them over the flats. I suspect this is some kind of early morning grazing grasshopper. Something that has
build in snippers!