Dinghy- If at all possible, I'd avoid Sevin on berries which are already bearing. Not good stuff to have in your diet!
An alternative would be DE- diatomaceous earth. It kills off most insects by mechanically damaging their exoskeleton and dehydrating them. I believe it also kills slugs.... but so will common salt. Sprinkling a ring of DE (maybe mixed with a little bit of salt- you don't want a lot of salt in your soil) around the patch, and even around individual patches of plants might help a lot.
You can also sprinkle the DE right over the plants and on the berries- it won't hurt you a bit, and it can be rinsed off easily.
If you're having a lot of rain (we are), the berries touching the soil often start to develop a bit of brown rot even before they are completely ripe. This gives insects an opening, and they take full advantage.
Birds are also hard on strawberries- Robins love them! Not much you can do about that except possible put netting or even old bed sheets over the patch when you're not picking. There are various "bird scare" products on the market, but I don't think they work very well- or at least not for long.
Shepinthevalley- try a copper spray for the fungus (follow label directions). Either copper or sulfur are natural substances which are potent fungicides. They still aren't something you want a ton of in your diet, but they are relatively harmless to the soil and most desirable insects, etc. You do NEED to get at that fungus soon, (and you may want to take some affected leaves to your local Cooperative Extension to make sure of what you are dealing with) because it will kill the plants, or cause the fruits to rot.
But it may not be a fungus- it also could be late blight, or another virus. I've had problems with it in my tomatoes the past few years, mostly because we've had weather that actively encourages it- way too wet and either too cold, or very warm and humid. Copper does control almost all those diseases, if applied early and often.
Summerthyme
