Great information on many different subjects. It would be helpful if it had more color pages with pictures of the actual bugs (which is has some of these but I needed more). It has many different places to look up things that you find yourself easily drawn into other subjects you were not looking for. It has plants seperated by diseases, or by insects that attack them. A ton of information on how to do an organic garden with sacrifical plants, a few home brewed help receipes, and lots of information for the new gardener, plus some wise parts for the small home farmer. Something for everyone and easy to read and understand.

The book really is complete, easy to consult and delightful to page through. I live in a tropical area outside the US and was afraid the book might not cover the (many) pests we withstand here. But they were all there, and were referred to attacks against tropical foliages, which actually amazed me! The detailed pictures of insects and disease symptoms are accompanied by an informative text, and the chapter on organic controls covers cultural procedures, physical control, biological control and organic sprays and dusts, both commercial and homemade, with recipes. The structure is perfect for a handbook, easy to consult in any situation, be it garden design, crop choice, regular maintenance or solution of installed problems.

For the organic gardener, this is a must have for your reference library. Very informative and comprehensive.

The health aspects of organic gardnening cannot be overstated. The petroleum-based fertilizers and toxic pesticides, genetic alterations, etc. of current farming techniques are causing many health problems and will increasingly do so. This book, and other books like it, reveal truly healthy and environmentally safe techniques to grow untainted food that is truly nutitious. Your local supermarket does not sell food, it sells commerical products. Food depleted of its nutrients cannot be "enriched"; what was healthy is now "dead" food. Much in the same way most of us have been duped into buying "health plans". Such should be more appropriately called "sickness plans". Health plans do nothing to keep you healthy. Not one penny of your payment goes to increasing your health and boosting your immune system. But rather you pay them to expose you to what can be deadly immunizations and in fact they are much more harmful than beneficial. Germs are not your enemy. The suppression of your immune system is. It is what you do to your own body and immune system. What you willing (and sometimes unwillingly) expose yourself to is what makes a person sick. Your body is completely capable of healing itself when you provide it with the proper nutients found in natural herbs, fruits, and vegetables grown free of man-made chemicals and toxins. The answers are out there but the medical establishment wants to keep them from you. It makes big pharma billions every year. For example if most of you knew that there are at least 10 (ten) cures for cancer what would we do with all those who overnight would become unemployed? Yes, there are commercial entities that want control over your life in every way, whether you realize it or not. Take control of your life or let the government be your guardian. Which one of these options is best for you?

The health aspects of organic gardnening cannot be overstated. The petroleum-based fertilizers and toxic pesticides, genetic alterations, etc. of current farming techniques are causing many health problems and will increasingly do so. This and other books like it reveal truly healthy and environmentally safe techniques to grow food that is untainted and truly nutitious. Your local supermarket does not sell food, it sells commerical products. Much in the same way that most of us have been duped into buying "health plans". The should more appropriately be called "sickness plans". Health plans do nothing to keep you healthy. Not one penny of your payment goes to increasing your health and boosting your immune system. Rather you pay them to expose you to what can be deadly immunizations that are much more harmful than beneficial. Germs are not your enemy. What you do to your own body and immune system to; what you willing (and sometimes unwillingly) expose yourself to is what makes you sick. Your body is completely capable of healing itself when you provide it with the proper nutients found in natural herbs, fruits, and vegetables grown free of man-made chemicals. The answers are out there but there are commercial entities that want control over your life in every way, whether you realize it or not.

this book was well organized in its presentation of problems for each type of plant covered. set in A-Z format of common plant names (though Latin names are used as well), the editors (Barbara Ellis, and Fern Bradley)give several ways to combat garden issues from an organic methodology. most of the ways of working with organics that they outline are not high cost, but are high maintainence as is all organic gardening, if done right.

the book also covers some common insects a gardener would see and if they are beneficial or not and how to work with the beneficials (what to plant to attract, etc) and to control the "bad bugs". they also outline some diseases and how to fight those with organic methods. then they touch on other ways to fight garden pests (cultural, physical, and biological contols). they also talk about different organic dusts and sprays and how to use them effectively.

If you want to garden organically and can only afford to buy one book on insect and disease control -- this is it! I go for this book first whenever I think I have problems in the garden, in the landscape, in the orchard. It's an all around great reference book!

Excellent Book with lots of informative teaching! Money well spent. Fast and professional delivery! Much appreciated!

This is so far the best book about pests and diseases. Easy to read, great ! photos which really help to identify a pest and good structure make this book a winner.

Detailed descriptions and photographs combine to make this book essential for every organic (or conscientious) gardener/farmer to own and keep handy. We wish we'd bought it years ago.

This book is a valuable resource for our organic gardens. We live in subtropical Florida and tropical Costa Rica and we wouldn't be without this book at either home.

The book is fantastic. Great photos to identify pests and solutions to deal with them. A must have for every organic gardener

Yes, it was chosen as a Best Gardening Book and I can see why. It is a must have for people who are into gardening without toxic chemicals. The photos in the indentification sections are quite good. It is easy to understand and since the first section is divided by plant family (common names), it's easy to use.

This book is an excellent reference source for identifying, managing and preventing pests and problems the natural way. It is an especially good source for identifying what your plant's problem is.

This book is an excellent reference source for identifying, managing and preventing pests and problems the natural way. It is an especially good source for identifying what your plant's problem is.

I received this book as a gift. There are quite a few books on this subject on the market and this one is the best. I too could not put it down and finished it in 3 days. It's a huge book, a great resource that is well researched and written.. I have a few friends who've purchased this book and really loved it too. I can highly recommend this book.

Author of
The Truth aboutt
Cafffeine

great book, my new favorite, all natural-no chemicals
thank you shipped on time

I love the listing of each plant species in this book, and the lavish pictures of pests and diseases. You can take this out to the peach tree or the magnolia and figure out what is wrong.

We use an organic lawn service and I do organic gardening (what of it I do, not much...no time) but it's essential to us not only as "green" folks but because I am chemically sensitive. I just can't have sprays or chemicals around me. I think this book is also wonderful because these chemicals are not to be lightly handled, and if you are pressed for time, it's better not to be careless with harmful pesticides and herbicides and just go for the more gentle organic way.

While learning how to control pests the organic way takes a lot of time (because you learn to plant and cultivate in such a way as to mitigate them and find an equilibrium with your local environment) this is a wonderful reference book and better than most others I've read.

Highly recommended.

This is one of the best gardening books that I have used. As a Master Gardener, I find this book has the most complete information on insect and disease control without the use of expensive chemicals. The book is very well organized and I find helpful in identifying most gardening problems that arise and answers for a safe and healthy garden. The detailed pictures of the diseases and insects are great and very, very helpful.

Natural is important to us given that we have children. The book allowed them to help with all the gardening chores without as much worry for us. Great for any garden! Thanks!

Excellent book.....very informative.....Good pictures and pretty thorough.....I keep it open on my terrace daily for reference.

This book is recommended by the Illinois Mastergardeners as a great reference book/diagnosis tool to have on hand. It includes an encyclopedia of 200 popular garden plants with care instructions and potential problems, an insect identification guide, a disease symptom guide and organic control practices and methods. I wish I had remembered I had it on my shelf when a "fungus" hit my tomatoe plants earlier this year. Everyone at the community gardens tomatoes looked like they had fusarium wilt. I eventually found out it has been happening for several years now. Now the search is on to find resistant cultivars because the fungicidal spray that was recommended to me (locally) did nothing and was applied after the fact instead of as a preventative at the beginning. I am moving this book off the shelf and next to my 'reading' chair to help plan my vegetable garden for next year. Forewarned is forearmed!

This is a great book and the first I grab when I need to get information or to solve a problem. If I could only have one book on organic solutions I'd pick this one hands down.

I have lots of organic gardening books and this is one of the best overall. It is detailed, informative and written in an easy to understand manner. Great as a first book for the budding organic gardener.

I have lots of organic gardening books and this is one of the best overall. It is detailed, informative and written in an easy to understand manner. Great as a first book for the budding organic gardener.

I find this book to be quite user-friendly and helpful in identifying different diseases and pests that are affecting my garden. It is also helpful as I plan what to grow because I can decide which varieties are most likely to be successful with relatively little pest and disease control effort on my part.

This is a overall a great book. One of the easiest to use I have found. The only thing which bothers me (and it is a minor detail) is that for each plant on which aphids are a pest, the book merely says "aphids" (green, black, white, red). There are many types of aphids, and it would be nice to know if I am looking for black, green, red, etc on a particular plant. Also for some species more aggressive management is needed than for others, but this book makes no distinction.

However, if you are considering this book, don't let that very minor detail stop you. This is definitely one that should be on every gardner's shelf! It is a wonderful reference.

Not knowing anything about this book ( as I live in SouthAmerica) I bought it from Amazon, thanks to others reviews.And it is now one of my favourite books on the shelf! It has plant data entries as well as it helps us to recognize pests, and different deseases in our plants and gardens. It has a wonderful insect identification guide, which covers from trips to beetles, mites, and other crop damaging pests. And it suggest all the organical methods to help and control plant deseases.This is just a short review, the book is really useful!

Bravo! Finally a book that not only tells gardeners how to avoid getting diseases and undesirable insects in their gardens, but how to get rid of them safely.

Many books addressing insect and disease control problems would have you believing gardening is chemical warfare! Following their advice, I acquired an arsenal of chemicals in my garage that would kill virtually any creepy crawly thing that dared slither into my garden.

What these books failed to tell me is the more you use these chemicals the more you need to use them. In a sense, your garden becomes addicted to them, as they kill all or most of the natural organisms in the environment that help your plants combat natural occurring bacteria, viruses and insects. Eventually your plants' only defense to such pathogens is your habitual spraying.As The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control explains, if left to its' own devices, nature will frequently correct the imbalances that caused the disease or insect problem long before any serious damage is done. This book clearly explains how plants naturally defend themselves against pathogens and how we can help them without harming the environment. It's no-nonsense, common sense approach to gardening makes you wonder what the human race was thinking of when we created all those dangerous chemicals.Every gardener wants his or her garden to be perfect. However, sometimes we get carried away, forgetting that earthly gardens are not sanitized portraits of heaven. This book brings us back to reality and reminds us to enjoy nature, not fight it.

This is definitely one of the best gardening books I have read in a long time!