Mike Spencer said:
Just did that. We've had problems long ago with cutworms chewing
tender seedings right off at the ground. Web info suggests that's
characteristic.

These are "teen-age" plants, in bloom or just setting fruit, with
quite sturdy stems. The damaged plants aren't cut off, just girdled.

Well, we do have an enormous variety and number of moths here so I
guess that's a candidate answer but the damage isn't, AFAICT, typical
of cutworm attack.

I lost a fairly mature eggplant transplant this year to a cutworm, which
managed to girdle the stem and weaken it to the point that it fell over
in the breeze. Absolutely was a cutworm, as I found it, squished it, and
flipped it at the nearest robin.

Plant ended up a total loss but since it was an extra I'd tucked in at the
end of the bed and was too close to the patch of Anthemis* I wasn't
that upset about it.

*I have various herbs and flowers in my vegetable garden mainly to attract
and feed bees and hoverflies. Anthemis tinctoria 'Kelwayi' is one of them.

A quick search found this about flowers for pollinators:
http://www.foxleas.com/flower_shapes.htm

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Yes, swooping is bad."

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