stuart noble writes
Pam Moore wrote:
On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:40:53 GMT, Rusty_Hinge
wrote:

The message
from stuart noble contains these words:
Can anyone suggest what may be attacking my pansies? They're in
troughs on a window sill and, one by one, something seems to be
lopping the tops off very cleanly at ground level. No soil or root
disturbance, and no damage to flowers or foliage.
Any advice welcome
Slugs.

hint They prefer slug pellets to pansies. /hint
Isn't there some botrytis-type disease which attacks pansies, making
them keel over and die? It might be that. If it is, no cure AFAIK.
Pam in Bristol

Interesting. I can't see why a slug would eat through the stalk but not
touch the rest of the plant.

They start by eating at soil level where they can easily reach, then of
course eventually the plant falls over and is no longer quite so
attractive.

There's quite a few plants where the slugs seem particularly attracted
to the stems rather than the leaves - french beans, runner beans,
citrus, sunflowers for example.
--
Kay