It's so frustrating when that happens! What type of marigolds are they? I grew tagetes patula and calendula officinalis from seed last year. The tagetes were swiftly dispatched, decapitated almost immediately, just like yours. The calendula didn't suffer the same fate, evidently the snails weren't so keen on those, though they did get a fair bit of powdery mildew later in the season.

Yes, Marigolds are high on the list of favourite slug foods. They can completely destroy small plants in a single night, but tend to leave them alone when they get more mature. I protect the babies with blue pellets, I haven't found anything else that is effective enough.

Anyanka I could have cried for you too. How awful for that to happen after all your hard work. I have stopped buying and planting marigolds as they were always eaten the first night. My delphiniums fared a little better for about a fortnight or so but alas there is nothing left of them now. I hate putting pellets or anything out as I worry about the wildlife being poisoned. I will try in future to get plants that the slugs and snails don't enjoy or else plant those that they do in large pots and continually be on the alert.
Alison

I find it worth keeping marigolds in pots until the leaves harden up. After that, there seem to be few problems outside.
Also, I give the beds an occasional soaking in liquid Slug Death. This seems to leve the bodies underground, where the can't be picked up by other wildlife. But I would be glad if anyone could give the pros and cons on this product. I am one of those that doesn't like using blue pellets unless there seems to be no option.

Chris

I agree about the slug pellets - there is little option if you want to protect your seedlings.I only use them for a few weeks to tide plants over that small and vulnerable stage. Now is about the worst time, the weather being damp and the seedlings small enough to destroy in a single chomp!
I attempt to justify my actions by keeping my garden organic in other respects. Though there is that small matter of my vine weevil problem........

African marigolds - they love them!

Calendula - they won't toucch them. Not till everything has been eaeten, anyway.

Oh dear - they're Tagetes, and therefore doomed, doomed...
I'll have to plant them in a pot and put them on the ledge next to the lettuce trough...
I've used slug pellets in the past, but can't cope with the guilt anymore. It's all wildlife-friendly now, and we get so many birds, frogs, newts, toads.
Thanks all!

Yep, another one to cross off the list!

Oh Anyanka; I feel for you...I used to lose all my seedlings like that too.Irish slugs eat all kinds of marigolds....Not the older plants though. And you have to keep sunflowers safe until they are really woody. Marigolds are perennials in my sheltered garden. Blue pellets are the only way. I am protecting a dozen young sunflowers zealously.. I put many of my vulnerable seedlings behind wire netting to safeguard the birds... But I have never seen a dead slug vanish, so maybe the wild life prefers them alive. I was worried so I monitored a few slimy corpses..... They finally just wither away...

Here is a link that might be useful: Irish Anchorhold

Yes they do, unfortunately (but not all types)
In answer to the pellets isse that has been raised... I also think slug pellets are fine for just those first few vunerable weeks as has been said above... I also strongly suspect that birds not only do not eat them, but they don't eat the dead slugs either. They're clever! Even if they do, well, I think its justified for a short time. I don't have a dog and don't use them in the front garden.
Once a plant is big (eg my delphiniums now) I don't put any pellets there as its no longer vunerable (but did so 4 weeks ago) - I don't mind, and think one should except, a few chomps on the leaves now and again once the plant is a bit bigger. I just have a few pellets now next to my young dahlia cuttings and marigold seedlings, but I'll stop soon once they are a decent size. I'll only restart in summer if they start to decimate anything.
BTW I go out every morning to dispose of dead slugs to minimise chances of birds eating them though clearly 'the early bird' could well have got there first. I do suspect, as I said above, given I find dead slugs when I go out, that the birds avoid them....
Noticable how on Gardeners World by the way how they're doing a 'slug trial' to test how different methods and products protect a plant. The one thing they are not using is slug pellets. I have to say they are conspicuous by their absence and this is very censorious and unobjective - I wouldn't mind Monty saying his reasons for not using pellets himself - but I think it was wrong and censorious to ommitt them from the trial.

Again, thanks!
Consty, I haven't watched GW for some time now, but I agree with you that they should at least explain why they won't even trial the pellets. There are brands that are supposed to be pet-safe (I have a dog, a rabbit, and 7 guinea pigs, so that matters to me) - but what about all the other creatures? If I could be sure that they only harm slugs and nothing else, I wouldn't mind...
By the way, I have recently watched blackbirds and thrushes battering and eviscerating slugs & snails in a fashion that would give any film of it an instant 18 rating for excessive violence. Very gratifying...

Wonderful image of the birds. I have cats, so the birds are sometimes wary, which works all ways. There must be research re the slug pellets;they affect the slime making parts so maybe they are fine..I am as organic as can be, but it is hard to see good food crops destroyed. There seeems no point in growing organic if nothing is left to eat and I am sure the entry of blue pellets is minimal. And at least they are reliable; I used to spend a long while putting "traps" down etc....

Here is a link that might be useful: Irish Anchorhold