What do I do with all these caterpillars

hi all, my digging saga continues...... despite my patch being dormant for years and couch grass the only thing growing I have noticed an awful lot of caterpillars as I have been digging. And maybe there isn’t that many bit I saw at least 20 today as I wS digging and this may be normal? At least they look like caterpillars I should have taken a photo. Mainly greenish or greeny white but an occasional one that looks almost blue. But what should I do with them? I really don’t want to kill them. Are they doing any harm or are they just in a certain butterfly state. I thought they only grew on things the larvae could eat like cabbages but obviously I don’t know that much. Lol. If they do cause any harm could I just collect them all up and give them a new home in the woods by where I live?

 

Could you post pictures of what you found, so they can be identified, please?

 

Sounds like cut worms to me. These are larvae of a variety of moths. When I find them when digging I tend to throw them somewhere that the birds (which I usually have a lot of in the garden) can use them for a meal as they are known to eat plants and will be particularly damaging to the delicate stems of young vegetables you might plant if they are still there in big numbers when you start growing. They get their name from cutting the stems of young plants so somewhere away from where you are growing is a good place to send them anyway.

 

I thought the same as @Macraignil from your description @lazy-gardener (a tad confused by your mention of blue, tho... ) but a photo would certainly be better.

Cutworms

Nick

 

I knew I should have taken a photo. I will take one next time I am there but looking at weather it’s not going to be for a couple of days

 

If there is an abundance of root in the area you're digging, I'd say it sounds more like leatherjackets, crane fly larvae. Of course this is all speculation without photographic evidence

 

I always try to identify them.

If they are useful or pretty, I relocate them or just let them be.

If they are of the "I will eat your crops" - kind, they end up in a large bucket and the birds will do their thing