Identify these larvae / bugs please?

[kathyd]

I found them under the grassy (well weedy) edges of my raspberry bed, but I've also seen them elsewhere. Are they goodies or baddies pls?
Thx

[Potstubsdustbins]

Could be leatherjackets but I am not sure. If you google it there are lots of pix which may be give you a better idea.

Colin

[Aberdeenplotter]

Leather jackets are usually in single numbers. I don't know if these are harmful or not but if I found anything on my plot like them,I would not be giving them house room.

[BarleySugar]

My mother used to say if it moves fast it's a goody, because they need to hunt their food. If they move slowly they are baddies because they don't need to run after the fruit and veg as they don't move.
There are probably exceptions, but if I find something unidentified on the plot, I use that as a rule of thumb.

[alex-adam]

Is your raspberry area fairly newly cultivated from grassland / lawn? - you little visitors certainly look like leatherjackets (crane-fly larvae) which are common in newly cultivated areas and are particularly prevelant in warm / damp autumns. - Like Aberdeenplotter, I certainly wouldn't have them on board, so leave them exposed and our feathered friends will see them off.

In general when you see any garden insect a rule of thumb is: If it moves quickly, its a friend - If it moves slowly its a foe.

Addendum: - Done a bit of research, they could alternatively be chafer grubs, (Scarabaeidie) - just as destructive as leatherjackets.

[Nicos]

a-a....I thought chafer grubs are white?
I'd go with leather jackets too ( not that I actually know!!!!)

[kathyd]

Hi all

Thx for your input. I just don't know enough about creepie crawlies yet to be sure about things, but I don't want to do mass slaughter to things which are helpful keeping other things under control! I'll take your advice on these though and expose them tomorrow. My own view of things is 'if there's loads of them, they're probably not good news!'

[kernowyon]

look more like caterpillars to me, especially the one on the far right

[Aberdeenplotter]

a tory caterpillar?

by the way, Leather jackets are called "the torry worm up here"

[kathyd]

Definitely not caterpillars Kernowyan. They look more like the click beetle larvae in my bug book to me, but the colour's wrong I think. They have little tiny pincer thingies at one end, and a brown or black nose at the other. They seem to have small hairs or something, and lots of little legs. There must be 100 or more of them all together, which makes me wonder about crane fly larvae if they're usually solitary, but then the patch IS dug in the middle of a ratty fieldy meadowy area which I'm determined to reclaim over time!

Maybe GYO could run a feature on garden pests and we could all send in our photos! (hint hint!)

[Potstubsdustbins]

One indicator is increased bird activity in the area. Also foxes like to dig them up.

Colin

[Two_Sheds]

they could alternatively be chafer grubs

Def not those, chafers are very distinctive

[Two_Sheds]

They certainly look like leatherjackets to me, it's just that I've never seen so many all together. As has been said, they're usually found individually

[J.V.]

(edit: I wish I typed more quickly - two replies arrived in the meantime - doh!)

I would also suggest leatherjackets as a likely ID - wrong shape and colour for chafer grubs (these are more white, fatter and curled up), and wrong size, shape and colour for click beetle larvae (aka wireworms - thinner and orange/yellow). Some cutworms look a little like these, but leatherjackets seem most likely.

I would definitely get rid of them as best you can - otherwise they will hang around until early summer gobbling any roots they fancy - typically grass, but veggies too. I lost a few seedlings in the spring in new beds just reclaimed from scruffy grassland, and found grubs much like these to be the culprit

I read somewhere that there is a biological control if you have serious problems with them, but it might be getting a bit cold for that?

JV

[Two_Sheds]

there is a biological control

Rooks & crows, they love 'em. They dig up the school's playing field to get at them, turn it into a horrible scruffy mess