Depends on the specific bug. First I want to make sure it is a bad guy and not a beneficial since the beneficals out number the bad guys 95:5.

Then I want to determine if the bad guy is there in numbers or just a few passing through. Then evaluate the damage being done if any. If it is minimal I just ignore it. If it is serious then I look for the lowest toxicity pesticide for that specific pest. There is no "guaranteed to kill all pests" pesticides except for a few highly toxic chems that kill just as many beneficials.

So 1 "micro-slug looking thing" on a pepper isn't an issue. "Bugs" on corn could be depending on what the bug is.

You can Google 'common corn pests' and look at all kinds of pics to see if it is a bad guy. The most common corn pests IME are aphids and corn ear worms.

Dave

I also suggest that you post pictures here, if possible. No one can recommend pesticides, even those labeled as organic, without an identification of the "bug".

With very few exceptions, as long as the image is halfway decent, all kinds of creatures will be accurately identified in the forums in a very short period of time.

sluggo for slugs (I applied it yesterday, and only to the mulched beds, ahead of this week warmth), BT for brassica. That's it. I cut open dead zucchinis and kill SVB larvae manually. In the orchard, though, I use more stuff.

Concur with positive ID FIRST before reaching for any pesticide, even organic.
Neem, Bt, Pyola, and, in my rain barrels, mosquito dunks. Hand-picking often feasible. Shallow containers of cheap beer for slugs.
Floating row cover very helpful on crops that do not need pollination.
Remember to leave any tomato hornworms that have little white rice-like cocoons on them! Parasitic wasps at work!

If you mean insecticides, I've had good success with Triazicide by Spectracide. It kills a wide range of varmints including Plum Curculio, OFM, and peach tree borers. I don't have to buy a separate product just for borers.

As others have said, knowing your bug is the MOST important step. I don't know if you have a local Extension Office. I do & I bag the bug & carry it down for identification. I let the good ones back into my garden. Last year I was picking a bunch of stink bugs out of the garden. After a few weeks, I found about 100 tiny black & orange "babies" all over my tomatoes. I freaked out .... but they weren't baby stink bugs -- the were baby assassin bugs (very good guys)!

The best way to control harmful insects and other pest is cresting a healthy ecosystem from the soil up. Once you create a nitch where the beneficial organisms can balance the harmful, you will have very little need for pesticides. It's when everything works in harmony with one another, that's when you start seeing progress, and true solution. You could spray, spray, spray, but you are just attacking the symptom of a unbalanced ecosystem. The harmful is going to keep crawling back, until you get other beneficial organisms to balance them out. Like Dave said, the beneficial organism is what you see nine out of ten, that's if you have a balanced environment.

You ever notice how gardeners in the big cities notice a lot more pest problems than us near the woods, even though they try to create a healthy environment?

That's because the woods is already a balanced ecosystem.

Answering the original question, I go to pyrethrum/rotenone first. Both substances come from plants, and they work on a broad range of bad guys, most of what I see here. The Bt comes out for broccolli, and I keep the squash vine borers out with sevin when necessary. And no about of ecosystem talk will stop the evil SVB.

Jonfrum: true, these are plant-derived insecticides, and they DO work -- but on not only on a wide range of bad guys, but because they are non-specific they also kill pollinators and other beneficials. So organic gardeners do not include them in the arsenal.
And Sevin (carbaryl) is totally out of the question! It is toxic to pets and humans as well as all sorts of insects. (It's the hundred-magazine assault rifle, or, better yet, the WMD in the garden!)
Google the term "dangers of Sevin" for a lot more info on this.
Why plant a garden when you could just go to the grocery store & by chemical-drenched food?
Just sayin'.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sevin highly toxic to dogs (for example)

Altho I'm a big advocate of organic, or less-toxic methods of pest control, sometimes chemical warfare is required. And it seems so many people are so hesisitant to talk about it. Sure, DE sounds friendly when giving advice, but if you look in most people's shed, in a secret place, I'll bet they're hiding a poison somewhere, too. My go-to pesticide is Spectracide's Immunox Plus. It kills both bugs and diseases. I've noticed that it doesn't seem to hurt plants even if it's an extra strong solution. So far the only plant that I've ever injured with it is new guinea impatiens, and that's because I had spider mites so bad I was spraying every other day. Eventually killed the mites, but not the plants. It has always killed every bug I've sprayed, altho I don't recall any slug-like-bug I've ever used it on. :)

I try to be organic but the bugs make change my religion from my experience if you fighting bugs Spectracide is the best because the bugs don't need to east it to die it kills on contact. If you fighting fungus I use cooper for rust and to protect flower and fruit rot I use Monterrey .

No need for personal attacks but just the mention of Sevin will always trigger a hot debate - lots of examples of that here that the search will pull up if interested.

Which is why most have learned not to mention it unless they want some sort of controversial response. :)

Personally I find a couple of the other recommendations in this thread even more inclined to be abused in use and more toxic than Sevin. But that's just my opinion.

Dave

If one does decide to use a pesticide it is imperative that one follows the label directions to the letter. So many bees have been killed by people who do not take the time to read instructions. Farmers around here are now "beekeeping" so their crops will get pollinated!

Deborah....are you CERTAIN that your "black and orange babies " were assassin bugs? Because when I hear a description just like yours ON TOMATOES, I'd suggest that leaf footed bug nymphs are present. They appear in large numbers. The adults look quite similar to ordinary stinkbugs.