diff --git a/lib/config/presets.js b/lib/config/presets.js
index 6ea36a82a0bf5a6a027bccd3f767d0a692d112c7..0cb107df0ffea6f171a50c32e8392bd4fe81a6ee 100644
--- a/lib/config/presets.js
+++ b/lib/config/presets.js
@@ -171,8 +171,7 @@ async function getPreset(preset) {
   if (!presetConfig) {
     throw Error('preset not found');
   }
-  logger.debug(`Found preset ${preset}`);
-  logger.trace({ presetConfig });
+  logger.trace({ presetConfig }, `Found preset ${preset}`);
   if (params) {
     const argMapping = {};
     for (const [index, value] of params.entries()) {
diff --git a/lib/datasource/npm.js b/lib/datasource/npm.js
index f5749ce62e71713a4ee218d3b583df6dc01531e2..53131c9850c7baeb9e6a9846c1d64d2eaf17d7ca 100644
--- a/lib/datasource/npm.js
+++ b/lib/datasource/npm.js
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ function setNpmrc(input, exposeEnv = false) {
       const maskedToken = `${token.substring(0, 2)}${new Array(
         token.length - 3
       ).join('*')}${token.slice(-2)}`;
-      logger.debug({ maskedToken }, 'Setting authToken');
+      logger.debug(`Setting authToken to ${maskedToken}`);
     }
     if (!exposeEnv) {
       return;
diff --git a/lib/manager/_helpers/node/package.js b/lib/manager/_helpers/node/package.js
index 974b03c47098ff58375446bbd983f4deac6ee3a1..559326900a696f85719d1c9fe0687af6c165db87 100644
--- a/lib/manager/_helpers/node/package.js
+++ b/lib/manager/_helpers/node/package.js
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ async function getPackageUpdates(config) {
   const { currentVersion } = config;
   logger.info('Checking for nvmrc updates');
   if (!isPinnedVersion(currentVersion)) {
-    logger.info({ currentVersion }, 'Skipping non-pinned node version');
+    logger.info('Skipping non-pinned node version: ' + currentVersion);
     return [];
   }
   let endpoint;
diff --git a/lib/manager/index.js b/lib/manager/index.js
index 53eee972289c8c62b6de421bbe2cbe39a18ac11d..166244f8e94cfed67b890c45a4c21d5b6cfee571 100644
--- a/lib/manager/index.js
+++ b/lib/manager/index.js
@@ -63,13 +63,9 @@ async function detectPackageFiles(config) {
       continue; // eslint-disable-line no-continue
     }
     const files = [];
-    logger.debug(
-      { manager, filePattern: managers[manager].filePattern.toString() },
-      'Using file pattern'
-    );
-    const allfiles = fileList.filter(file =>
-      file.match(managers[manager].filePattern)
-    );
+    const { filePattern } = managers[manager];
+    logger.debug(`Using ${manager} file pattern: ${filePattern.toString()}`);
+    const allfiles = fileList.filter(file => file.match(filePattern));
     logger.debug(`Found ${allfiles.length} files`);
     for (const file of allfiles) {
       const { contentPattern } = managers[manager];
@@ -89,7 +85,7 @@ async function detectPackageFiles(config) {
       );
     }
   }
-  logger.debug({ packageFiles }, 'All detected package files');
+  logger.trace({ packageFiles }, 'All detected package files');
   return packageFiles;
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/platform/github/index.js b/lib/platform/github/index.js
index 635850c266443a1f93e1201ea923c4db9f180170..6d16a69c7c4bf8135cf600e2890efcfb627a99b7 100644
--- a/lib/platform/github/index.js
+++ b/lib/platform/github/index.js
@@ -796,7 +796,7 @@ async function getPrList() {
       closed_at: pr.closed_at,
       sourceRepo: pr.head && pr.head.repo ? pr.head.repo.full_name : undefined,
     }));
-    logger.debug({ length: config.prList.length }, 'Retrieved Pull Requests');
+    logger.debug(`Retrieved ${config.prList.length} Pull Requests`);
   }
   return config.prList;
 }
diff --git a/lib/workers/branch/lock-files.js b/lib/workers/branch/lock-files.js
index 52055146dd354fd1e3d66f3d76382e54890ea531..bc8d2464e5afc9412ee9a6d1dca494b6f44de8be 100644
--- a/lib/workers/branch/lock-files.js
+++ b/lib/workers/branch/lock-files.js
@@ -176,18 +176,18 @@ function determineLockFileDirs(config) {
 async function writeExistingFiles(config) {
   const lernaJson = await platform.getFile('lerna.json');
   if (lernaJson) {
-    logger.debug({ path: config.tmpDir.path }, 'Writing repo lerna.json');
+    logger.debug(`Writing repo lerna.json (${config.tmpDir.path})`);
     await fs.outputFile(
       upath.join(config.tmpDir.path, 'lerna.json'),
       lernaJson
     );
   }
   if (config.npmrc) {
-    logger.debug({ path: config.tmpDir.path }, 'Writing repo .npmrc');
+    logger.debug(`Writing repo .npmrc (${config.tmpDir.path})`);
     await fs.outputFile(upath.join(config.tmpDir.path, '.npmrc'), config.npmrc);
   }
   if (config.yarnrc) {
-    logger.debug({ path: config.tmpDir.path }, 'Writing repo .yarnrc');
+    logger.debug(`Writing repo .yarnrc (${config.tmpDir.path})`);
     await fs.outputFile(
       upath.join(config.tmpDir.path, '.yarnrc'),
       config.yarnrc
diff --git a/lib/workers/branch/schedule.js b/lib/workers/branch/schedule.js
index 6e7137cc0a866ee64032ad208b7e5e591c21a595..4d6ced432ec2785b1fea6697fa64ce9000d82893 100644
--- a/lib/workers/branch/schedule.js
+++ b/lib/workers/branch/schedule.js
@@ -53,10 +53,7 @@ function hasValidSchedule(schedule) {
 
 function isScheduledNow(config) {
   let configSchedule = config.schedule;
-  logger.debug(
-    { schedule: configSchedule, timezone: config.timezone },
-    `Checking schedule`
-  );
+  logger.debug(`Checking schedule(${configSchedule}, ${config.timezone})`);
   if (
     !configSchedule ||
     configSchedule.length === 0 ||
diff --git a/lib/workers/package-file/package.js b/lib/workers/package-file/package.js
index a2d512fa2118db4f5af9b2987a7f640045a14c5d..caf5939ea2dc5db645b4925d669d4e469bed5e0a 100644
--- a/lib/workers/package-file/package.js
+++ b/lib/workers/package-file/package.js
@@ -17,10 +17,12 @@ async function renovatePackage(config) {
     return [];
   }
   const results = await getPackageUpdates(config);
-  logger.debug(
-    { dependency: config.depName, results },
-    `${config.depName} lookup results`
-  );
+  if (results.length) {
+    logger.debug(
+      { dependency: config.depName, results },
+      `${config.depName} lookup results`
+    );
+  }
   // Flatten the result on top of config, add repositoryUrl
   return (
     results
diff --git a/lib/workers/pr/changelog.js b/lib/workers/pr/changelog.js
index 34cc35e7e04e6bec8e75d6aeda620c39bd6d03ba..0278bccbba13245c725a56464efa844f4d01161a 100644
--- a/lib/workers/pr/changelog.js
+++ b/lib/workers/pr/changelog.js
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ async function getChangeLogJSON(depName, fromVersion, newVersion) {
     return null;
   }
   const semverString = `>${fromVersion} <=${newVersion}`;
-  logger.debug(`semverString: ${semverString}`);
+  logger.trace(`semverString: ${semverString}`);
   const cachePath =
     (process.env.RENOVATE_TMPDIR || os.tmpdir()) + '/renovate-changelog-cache';
   const cacheKey = `${depName}-${fromVersion}-${newVersion}`;
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ async function getChangeLogJSON(depName, fromVersion, newVersion) {
   // Return from cache if present
   try {
     const cacheVal = await cacache.get(cachePath, cacheKey);
-    logger.debug(`Returning cached version of ${depName}`);
+    logger.trace(`Returning cached version of ${depName}`);
     const cachedResult = JSON.parse(cacheVal.data.toString());
     return addReleaseNotes(cachedResult);
   } catch (err) {
diff --git a/lib/workers/pr/release-notes.js b/lib/workers/pr/release-notes.js
index 0d9e6a1575f227e0e948aeba5c9c3d601eea2308..2890e0966e7b752d25c8d6263f52ebca6a315733 100644
--- a/lib/workers/pr/release-notes.js
+++ b/lib/workers/pr/release-notes.js
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ async function getReleaseNotesMd(repository, version) {
       .map(f => f.name)
       .filter(f => changelogFilenameRegex.test(f));
     if (!files.length) {
-      logger.debug('no changelog file found');
+      logger.trace('no changelog file found');
       return null;
     }
     const file = files[0];
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ async function addReleaseNotes(input) {
   for (const v of input.versions) {
     let releaseNotes = await getReleaseNotesMd(input.project.github, v.version);
     if (!releaseNotes) {
-      logger.debug('No markdown release notes found for v' + v.version);
+      logger.trace('No markdown release notes found for v' + v.version);
       releaseNotes = await getReleaseNotes(input.project.github, v.version);
     }
     output.versions.push({
diff --git a/lib/workers/repository/updates/generate.js b/lib/workers/repository/updates/generate.js
index 691434e4e7db7d04a811f74682b81af1066025af..82ebd1e23422619fc4450e816c7d2298975ab45f 100644
--- a/lib/workers/repository/updates/generate.js
+++ b/lib/workers/repository/updates/generate.js
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ const semver = require('semver');
 const { mergeChildConfig } = require('../../../config');
 
 function generateBranchConfig(branchUpgrades) {
-  logger.debug({ length: branchUpgrades.length }, `generateBranchConfig()`);
+  logger.debug(`generateBranchConfig(${branchUpgrades.length})`);
   logger.trace({ config: branchUpgrades });
   const config = {
     upgrades: [],
@@ -58,10 +58,7 @@ function generateBranchConfig(branchUpgrades) {
       upgrade.isRange = false;
     }
     // Use templates to generate strings
-    logger.debug(
-      { branchName: upgrade.branchName, prTitle: upgrade.prTitle },
-      'Compiling prTitle'
-    );
+    logger.debug('Compiling branchName: ' + upgrade.branchName);
     upgrade.branchName = handlebars.compile(upgrade.branchName)(upgrade);
     if (upgrade.semanticCommits && !upgrade.commitMessagePrefix) {
       logger.debug('Upgrade has semantic commits enabled');
diff --git a/lib/workers/repository/updates/semantic.js b/lib/workers/repository/updates/semantic.js
index d6933ff14bf58421c499ec306fcfbeb3de62a209..5297c160b4da8b01073652253c70cf849cd2a60c 100644
--- a/lib/workers/repository/updates/semantic.js
+++ b/lib/workers/repository/updates/semantic.js
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ async function detectSemanticCommits(config) {
   }
   logger.trace(`commitMessages=${JSON.stringify(commitMessages)}`);
   const type = conventionalCommitsDetector(commitMessages);
-  logger.debug({ type }, 'Semantic commits detection');
+  logger.debug('Semantic commits detection: ' + type);
   if (type === 'angular') {
     logger.info('angular semantic commits detected');
     return true;
diff --git a/lib/workers/repository/validate.js b/lib/workers/repository/validate.js
index f9525df7df9ffe82c93531c2500f3ac460705568..fb2911e4cbd9c6502222e476bfbcaa8f25cae4c7 100644
--- a/lib/workers/repository/validate.js
+++ b/lib/workers/repository/validate.js
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ async function getRenovateFiles(prNo) {
 
 async function validatePrs(config) {
   logger.setMeta({ repository: config.repository });
-  logger.debug({ branchPrefix: config.branchPrefix }, 'branchPrefix');
+  logger.debug('branchPrefix: ' + config.branchPrefix);
   const renovatePrs = await getRenovatePrs(config.branchPrefix);
   logger.debug({ renovatePrs }, `Found ${renovatePrs.length} Renovate PRs`);
   let validations = [];