I have had my ph tested and I know how to apply chemicals. I have researched and read all instructions carefully.

I think any response has to consider the kinds of pests you're facing. Using good Bt, I have to assume that caterpillars aren't an issue. Hard to believe that Sevin (Carbaryl) isn't just killing everything, including slugs, though. Note that Sevin and Bt do have a shelf life of just a few years. So if you're using an old mix, it may not be potent, and in fact, can cause phytotoxicity in the plants. Label instructions often are not clear about all that. Also, note that once mixed with water, both Sevin and Bt need to be used immediately.

I'm sorry to hear that you have so many problems. Gardening can be very frustrating.

I'm wondering if all you're doing is too much by killing everything - good and bad - and not letting Nature do it's normal job. Have you ever tried IPM - Integrated Pest Management?

I LOVE to see Praying Mantises in my garden... and Ladybugs. If you kill-off the first aphids there is nothing for them to eat and they go elsewhere. Of course, poisons will kill them too. Perhaps you might think about doing things a different way.

Veggie gardening is a real chore fer sure and disasters don't help.. My cabbages and broccoli needed 2 looper inspections per day to keep them under control without pesticides. Same with flea beetles, the best time to keep them in check is as the sun sets, they don't like hopping off the plant when it is too close to dark. Crop failures (esp the mysterious ones) are a pain too. I always have a plan B and sometimes a C....on plan C now with the melons.

Unfortunately, nature doing it's normal job is often when one species survives and the other is killed. So pest management is a matter of deciding who you want to survive. When the pests are overwhelming, waiting for their enemies to show up is often a losing battle. I generally avoid using what one might call non-organic insecticides, but I use them when I have to. My issue isn't organic versus non-organic. It's rather what's a health risk and what isn't, and those risks have been well established.

Sevin is a broad spectrum insecticide. It kills the beneficials along with pests. You may be better off using gentler, more targeted methods - IPM mentioned in a comment above.

If sevin is not working then I am not "downgrading" here are some pics. Many leaves that are getting eaten are on plants I spray with sevin 3x a week. I am growing sunflowers for display only so I figured that is a good plant to use to target bugs. They are getting ravaged.

If sevin is not working then I am not "downgrading" here are some pics. Many leaves that are getting eaten are on plants I spray with sevin 3x a week. I am growing sunflowers for display only so I figured that is a good plant to use to target bugs. They are getting ravaged.

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your plants are in extreme stress from what looks like drought.. water properly immediately ...

pests seem to be able to find stressed plants.. sorta piling on ...

im not sure i see any reason to be spraying any of them ...

ken

3 times per week applying Sevin is contrary to the recommendations and the excessive use is doing more harm than good. It is not 'downgrading' to use appropriate methods in appropriate amounts at appropriate times. Doubling down on a method which clearly isn't working makes no sense.

To get better results I would suggest first and foremost identifying exactly what is bothering your crops. Then decide if it matters. You are not growing for the show bench so a few holey leaves and blemishes do not matter. Once you've decided what is doing the damage start with the least environmentally damaging method ie water and hand picking. By using Sevin at a rate way beyond the product recommendations you are destroying the ecosystem of your garden and also damaging your vegetables. The effects from the Sevin (discoloration, stunting and distortion) are making it difficult to see what damage is being caused by actual pests. (btw the hole in the sunflower is just a physical tear, not the result of a pest, unless something stood on it.)

What are you growing in? The soil looks dry and rocky. Has it been amended at all?

The instructions for Sevin application are a half dozen times a YEAR. Three times a week will kill everything many times over (including bees and earthworms). Seems easy to conclude that if overdosages of Sevin aren't curing your problems, then insects aren't your problem. The pyrethroids in Sevin can, in large doses, actually damage plants. That may be what you're seeing. I think you need to take a step back and really assess your problem, before firing bazookas at random. Your soil is probably so soaked with Sevin, it may be a while before plants recover. The half-life of pyrethroids like cypermethrin in soil is several weeks with thoroughly aerobic conditions.

My cabbages and broccoli needed 2 looper inspections per day to keep them under control without pesticides.

Row covers work. I've been using them for years on cabbages, collards, kale, etc; they go on when the plants are set out. All looper problems eliminated.

It has been extremely dry.

I exaggerated my sevin use at most 3-4 times in the same area. I checked at night and did not find anything. I have at least 2 different types bugs at night hitting it, not slugs. It has been way to dry for extensive slug damage and by location and past history it is not slugs.

I did learn my old sevin no longer worked (likely to old) so I got new stuff, that helped a lot.

The biggest issue is things get hit within a couple hours of emerging so bad they die or get set back a couple weeks. I have sunflowers that emerged overnight (not visible at 8pm) eaten to death by tiny bugs at 6am.

If you're using fresh Sevin, I'd have a hard time understanding why you're seeing ANY insect damage. Sevin is a very effective contact insect killer (both good and bad bugs), so it ought to work fast. It will get washed off somewhat by rain, so if it is very wet, reapplication might eventually be necessary.

Dan I agree, first note that I realized my old sevin was not working. I have sunflowers in planters on a deck and every year I get some weird triangle bugs that live under leaves and hop very fast when disturbed. Easy to handpick, they do not leave easily. Ants seem to farm them. Never really an issue so I tested old sevin on them, they were fine.

I work very hard in my garden and take great pride and it is becoming a source of frustration and not pleasure. 90% of days I am out there very few hours examining everything. To constantly get bugs, dieses, fungus etc is frustrating. Sorry to vent here.

I have well water and it does not produce enough water to supply us and the garden so I was not able to water as much as needed. Instead of sprinklers I watered by hand, what I thought was enough (it was not hot), so I did not waste water. In the past I had over watered and got mold, etc. This year I did not really grasp the lack of rain. We have minimal rain once in around 12 days. We got a long hard rain starting 36 hours ago. I swear plants grew before my eyes. No more wilted peppers.

About 10% of garlic is producing bulbs above ground, I read this is a sign of stress. I do not think they got enough water. I save my own garlic and I think this might have happened very very few times in the past. We also have very cold winter.

Plants that get hit are in certain areas, by far the biggest issue is they literally get mauled immediately upon sprouting. It kills or massively sets them back.

I am having much less damage to new sprouts so new sevin did work. I have checked my garden at night a few times and not found anything I can see on leaves.

That said I want to make sure this does not happen next year. I am still getting some bigger bugs hitting some leaves, pics following. On 1 hand I know it is bugs so it does not really matter what I need to stop them, if I cannot find them at night and hand pick (maybe they see me and flee), then I must use chemicals. DE did not work, and it was dry. Very dry.

I often spray sevin on "distractions" maybe there is a landscape bush nearby so I hit it instead of veggies. I rotate my sevin, maybe potatoes today, sunflowers tomorrow. I spray walks through raised beds in hopes of getting slugs. You get the picture.

The larger areas of leaf damage now are confusing me.

Outside of the triangle bugs on deck planter sunflowers I have not seen a single bug or slug on anything this year.

That big leaf is just a ripped physical damage. Baffles me why plants die so quick, and why it bothers different types of plants at the same time. Are you sure it isn't birds or mammals?

Do you get carried away with fertilizers? Plants do seem really stressed. I would think daily watering from a watering can would be enough.

Really don't know why you even needed Sevin especially so early, with seedlings. Your soil does look like it could be improved a lot. Remember that warm weather seedlings (squash, cukes, sunflowers, beans) do not like cold soil like in May when it was cooler, and seedlings may be weak and prone to problems.

Not sure I understand. You're hand-picking bugs all over the place, but in your last post you're saying you only have ONE kind of bug. A "triangle bug". Not sure what that might be but Lygus bugs have a light colored triangle at the base of their wings. Is that it? They are serious crop pests all over North America, and I understand have a special affinity for sunflowers. They could be damaging your seedlings. My understanding is that pyrethroids like Sevin (zeta-cypermethrin) ought to work very well on them.

I should add, and I just learned, that zeta-cypermethrin, which is now the principal ingredient of Sevin (it used to be carbaryl, but is no longer - carbaryl is a recognized neurotoxin) is understood to have insects develop resistance to it! It is said that if you use it regularly, season after season, that can happen, especially if you don't do a good job killing the insects with it. So you might take that as a possible caveat on the effectiveness of Sevin. Formally, you're supposed to rotate the use of this compound. That is, not use it on the same bed year after year. This is all new to me. I don't use Sevin very much, but some caution is in order with it.

I think the water stress might have contributed to the issues. Stunted plants not growig quickly are prey to more pests and diseases. The soil also looks very poor. Can you say what it is? Someone suggested using transplants and you said you had too many plants to do that. But if you are not getting good results with direct sowing it would be worth doing. In my climate it is too cold to sow cucurbits earlier than late May so I always use transplants. They work fine.

I do transplants for pepper, tomatoes, leaks mustly. The rest is direct sow. Again many things were massacred within hours of emerging from the soil. Issue is in certain spots, lots but other places zero issues. I keep checking day and night and I have not found a single bug. For 10 days it was crazy dry, so slugs are highly unlikely, plus I know where slugs hit and it was not like this.

Last night I found the very first bug, a small slug curled up at the base like it was trying to stay war, Literally the first slug I have seen in weeks and the first bug on any plants.

Deck sunflowers not worried about, triangle is shape of bug, the are pointed and look like derbies and hop fast when yo almost touch them, they spring and disappear it is so fast. Never an issue, easy to handpick.

My old sevin was expired and did not work, new one had a very unique smell the old did not and worked.

On one hand I am sure it is bugs so what really does not matter a lot, I never see them so I cannot hand pick. DE did not work.

Dirt is good, tomatoes and other things grow like crazy and I have had it tested. There was a huge lack of water and things are looking better now.

I am still frustrated I cannot catch bugs in the act. Most days I am out there every hour, 12 hours a day and at night and early morning before light every day.

Outside of slugs, which I am positive are not the issue, what bugs are out at night?

I have had my garden for almost 10 years and I am out there several times a day 7 days a week, my point is I closely monitor it so I know things like slug were not the issue at this time.