I have the following mint plants curly,kentucky colonel, mint julip, lavender, sweet lime, sweet berries, berries and cream, blue balsam ,orange and verigated ginger. also have china pink colacasia I am interested in any heuchera or heucherella you have for trade also am interested in hillbilly blues hosta is you have any. let me know one way or the other thanks scooter

Perhaps the supermodel analogy will help? Just like a woman does not need to look like a supermodel to be beautiful, your garden plants do not need to be pristine in order to be good producers. Free your mind from the shackles of advertising! ;) There really are a small number of pests that are common and damaging. And even the ones that are damaging need to show up in large numbers to be worth getting upset about. You will be exhausted in short time if you allow yourself to get upset at every hole you find in a leaf (especially since not all holes are caused by bugs) and every insect you see. Take it more like the justice system- the insects are innocent until proven guilty. Which means catching one in the act before deciding it is a problem. This will also save you a lot of money. I do not view bugs as nasty, dirty little things, but more fondly. They are amazing little things, very much alive and following their own purposes. Some are incredibly beautiful, and all of them are amazing. That last picture you have is a moth coccoon (technically a pupa). You can actually see the transition from caterpillar to winged insect in those, it is very cool. I do get rid of insect pests on my plants, but not from an emotional, angry place. Like with weeds, I do it because it must be done to get the plants to bear food for me. I'm not saying you need to think fondly on insects like me, I'm just putting out my way of thinking because it is different. Cheers!

The rapid spreading suggests sclerotinia rot. Do you see a white fuzzy growth on the bottom of the stem where the rot is? Pull up a dying or dead plant and split the stem open where the rot is. Do you see any hard black things looking like mouse poop?

I live in the northwestern corner of CT and had a fair amount of trouble with vine borers and squash bugs last year with my zucchini plants. But this year the infestation of brown marmorated stink bugs and squash bugs has been absolutely discouraging. I am a "newbie" when it comes to organic gardening, so having an infestation like this felt really devistating. Until reading about all the problems with stink bugs that were reported on this forum, I thought I was alone and doing something terribly wrong! They started on my zucchini plants and then seemed to "overnight" take over the pumpkin patch, gourds, tomatoes, cukes, and finally (although maybe it was something else)the eggplants. The stink bugs and squash bugs lived in harmony with Colorado potatoe beetles, all sharing the fruits of my labor! When the hurricaine came through last week, I decided not to continue trying to eradicate them, but to just pull everything out and start fresh next year. Too bad I didn't see this forum earlier, I don't think I have enough left to create a trap crop. One thing that seemed to work, although it was very short lived, was a mixture of 1 gallon of water, 2 Tbsp dish washing liquid and 2 tsp peppermint oil. This killed them on contact, but I imagine it would need to be applied on a reular basis, and I don't know how good it is to use the dish soap repeatedly. Thanks everyone, for the input and ideas. I'll make notes of what seems to work for others.