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Symptom

Seedlings collapsing

Seedlings are soft and small, so one night of slugs or cutworms, or a spell of wet cold compost, can finish a sowing. The stem base and the soil around it tell you which.

Look at the stem base. Pinched and dark means damping off; cut through means cutworms; grazed with slime means slugs.

Likely causes

Ordered from the usual answer to the less likely one. Each links to the full problem.

Recorded on Basil

  1. Seedlings collapsed at soil level from damping off Fungal disease Common

    Damping off

    Pinched, dark stem at soil level; patches of collapse.
  2. A slug on a holed lettuce Pest Common

    Slugs and snails

    Seedlings grazed away with slime trails.
  3. Small dark fungus gnats on houseplant compost Pest Possible

    Fungus gnats

    Indoor seedlings failing; larvae in compost.

Less likely on Basil

  1. A seedling cut through at the base with a cutworm curled in the soil Pest Common

    Cutworms

    Stems cut at soil level; caterpillar in the soil.
  2. A newly planted seedling drooping in fresh soil Damage Possible

    Transplant shock

    Wilting just after planting out.
  3. Young plants bitten off at the base by rabbits Pest Less likely

    Rabbits, deer and other mammals

    Bitten off, with droppings nearby.