I live on Molokai, where until recently I've been able to grow organic vegetables all year round in raised beds. In the past two months, however, I haven't been able to grow anything at all. Everytime I plant seeds in my beds, they don't sprout. If I plant seedlings, they're gone without a trace by morning.

Most of the seedlings get completely sealed under a tent of shadecloth, so I've ruled out flying and crawling pests. I dug around in the soil and found nothing except a few large earthworms and sowbugs, and I've never seen a snail or slug on my property.

My yard was flooded several times from mountain runoff last winter, so I'm wondering if something invisible arrived with the floods and infested my soil.

My local agricultural extension has no explanation, so I was hoping one of you experienced gardeners might be able to help.

Thanks!
--Devra

I always use hay mulch over my beds and the sowbugs must love it because there are always tons of them. The strange thing is, I've always planted my tiny seedlings right into the midst of them without problems. Only in the last two months did the seedlings start disappearing.

Do you know if solarizing the soil with a sheet of clear plastic will kill the sowbugs?