Sounds like Leather Jackets to me they are the larvae of Crane flies aka Daddy long legs. They are NOT good news and will eat the roots of many plants. Best feed them to the birds !

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Thanks for that, yes, that looks a lot like what I found. I did not see any on top of the soil (during the day), but found dozens when I was turning the soil and when digging holes in the flowerbed to transplant.

Is there anything I can do to get rid of these or prevent them from damaging my plants? I don't mind throwing them to the birds, but that is kind of reactive, I'd like to do something proactive if possible.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

I think once ground is cultivated leather jackets are less of a problem . They occur mainly in undisturbed grassy areas. However there is a biological control available using nematodes I think. I have never used this so cannot vouch for its efficacy. There are various suppliers I include a link to one below (I am sure there are others) However its not cheap !!

Here is a link that might be useful: Biological control

http://www.crocus.co.uk/pestscards/leatherjackets/

If this is the crane fly grub, they are attracted to plantains.
http://www.okstate.edu/ag/asnr/hortla/needham/extension/id/buckhorn_plantain.html

http://www.crocus.co.uk/pestscards/?ContentType=Combo_Card&comboID=96

Ah, it is:
http://www.uidaho.edu/so-id/entomology/Lawn/cfl.jpg

So aeration and systemic weedkiller seems the answer. I have no idea what the organic control might be.

Thanks all,

It does look like a Crane Fly Larvae (i.e. Leatherjacket. We are seeing a very pathcy yellow/green lawn, but that could be due to a few other factors. We just moved in and the previous owner neglected the lawn for about 3 months. Also, our new puppy wee's on the lawn and may be burning it out.
It doesn't seem that the leatherjackets are getting to our newly transplanted vegetable plants, so I will probably go with the nematodes in late summer. Thanks for all the help!

The pee will only be a nuisance for the dry weather. If you water it in it will improve the lawn. The puppy will be old enough to take it to the trees and lamposts before long anyway.

I would just leave nature take care of the larvae. They are pretty harmless if you don't want bowling green finishes on your lawn -which you don't by the sound of it.

What could be nicer than playing with your new puppy on your new lawn (site carefully selected of course) in this warm weather?

I have caterpillar's that look similar, in that they have no obvious legs. But some are brown (slightly striped) and some bright green. They are eating leaves voraciously in my greenhouse and the basil in particular is struggling to grow faster than it is being eaten. I remove a kill as many as I can find but especially the green ones are hard to spot.

It's now only August and some of the links above suggested that these larvae are only laid in late summer, and I've had the problem since July, and maybe earlier (but i first guessed slugs as i have lots of those too but pellets have more or less one that battle for the moment)

HB

Here is my monster - grateful for any help identifying it and a cure.

Here is a link that might be useful: