Thanks Chef Hick

I started seeds in soiless peat and vermiculite. They are planted in good well draining soil with a good measure of municpal compost. Mike Mcgath said this week on his show that compost from township facilities is very high quality. I have had this bed for some time now and the soil tests I did last year were good.

When I pulled the plants out the roots were stunted. The leaves on the plants didn't seem to discolor they just wilted. I have another plant that seems to be going. I will take a closer look.

I don't think in is an animal. I have rabbits and I think they can pull on plants when they eat them that can hurt the roots and kill them.

You don't think it could be a form of root rot instead? What color are the roots? Are they dark especially on the growing tips?

The reason I asked about the soil is, in the past, I've had plants wilt in the ground because the potting soil didn't soak up any water once in the ground. Those were mixes with large chunks of bark or coconut coir based. I've had to remove as much soil from the roots as possible to fix it.

As far as animal, I was thinking more along the lines of underground larvae and grubs.

For what it's worth, I've had snapdragon seedlings wilt on me but I always attributed it to a damp-off disease.

Finally, you can still contract a pathogen from the county compost so don't rule that out as a source.