Young sunflowers missing first two leaves

Suspect maybe a field mouse or slugs?  The creature leaves the bare stalk.  I put cups over 3 new sunflowers over night and good.

Live in middle TN.

Got better results in another bed with 3 of them in another bed after they got more mature.

Did they have leaves already?

We have some beans that came up, but the cutworms had chewed the leaves off just below ground.

Douglas, that was going to be my suggestion ... cutworms.

I found one yesterday.

Cutworms are moth larvae that hide under litter or soil during the day, coming out in the dark to feed on plants. A larva typically attacks the first part of the plant it encounters, namely the stem, often of a seedling, and consequently cuts it down; hence the name cutworm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutworm

Cutworms are usually green, brown, grey, or yellow soft-bodied caterpillars, often with longitudinal stripes, up to 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) in length. There are many variations among the genera. There also are variations in their biology and control, so the following extension material must be applied only as appropriate to the region.

Rained less than 1/8 inch last night.  Luckily no cutworms, but found 4 black soft slugs lurking around.  So terminated them.

I hope they like Michelob ultra.

Too bad I didn't snap photo before I stepped on them after I flicked them on to concrete, they were jet black and almost 0.5 inch long.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Did they have leaves already?

We have some beans that came up, but the cutworms had chewed the leaves off just below ground.

Yes, had two leaves but left a green stalk about an inch above the surface.