Sallygarden Smallholding - The Forum For Sustainable Living

I put artichoke (globe) seeds into six pots a couple of weeks ago in my greenhouse and they started coming up no problem. Then yesterday I realised they had all, bar two, been nibbled and there was only stem left.

So I've now re-sown and put them into a plastic bag. No doubt they'll get mould or something but still.

I did notice my lettuce seedlings were being gently nibbled but nothing too bad. Any ideas? And how do I stop it/them? I do want artichokes again this year!

Hmm. Maybe slugs hiding in the pots? I check mine over before planting in them, then try and keep them up on a table in the ptunnel.

I've had seedlings chewed through like you described by leatherbacks, but that has always happened with direct planting in soil, not pots.

I'd just try again, and maybe put them up off the ground on a table until they get their first set of true leaves.

Yeah, it must have been slugs - there's still time left to re-sow. A bench is a must, but slugs will piggyback onto it if you don't check each and every pot and tray that's ever been on the ground; once there they will hide under things indefinitely, coming out at night to chomp away (you can usually catch them by coming down shortly after dark with a torch).

I operate a strict quarantine procedure for pots and trays from the moment they're sterilized in the spring. Treat them the same way you'd treat food in the kitchen - if it's been on the floor, it shouldn't be on the table!

Incidentally I notice you said "again" for your chokes. They're short-lived perennials, and do much better grown from offsets than they do from seeds - so once you've got 'em, you should never need to sow seed again!