Can beer make plants grow? How about buttermilk? Or music

Insect Symbiosis is a collection of chapters written by world authorities on the microbes that can be called symbionts that are associated with insects and mites. Whether bacteria, fungi or spiroplasmids, and whether endosymbionts or casual gut symbionts, the authors describe some of the latest work in a field that has grown rapidly since the development of the newer molecular methods, which allowed for the identification of even minute samples of microbes without the need for culturing. This reference summarizes the current knowledge of the relationship between symbiotic organisms and their insect hosts and provides an unparalleled analysis of cutting-edge research on this issue. Findings from international experts reveal possible new ways to control disease-carrying insects and agricultural pests worldwide. An examination of Wolbachia, considered by many as a vehicle to deliver anti-malarial and anti-plant virus strategies, is also included. Insect Symbiosis serves as a great reference on host-parasitic relationships for professionals from a broad range of fields.

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As ravagers of crops and carriers of diseases affecting plants, humans and animals, insects present a challenge to a growing human population. In Pest and Vector Control, H.F. van Emden and Mike Service describe the available options for meeting this challenge, discussing their relative advantages, disadvantages and future potential. Methods such as chemical and biological control, host tolerance and resistance are discussed, intergrating--often for the first time--information and experience from the agricultural and medical/veterinary fields. Chemical control is seen as a major component of insect control, both now and in the future, but this is balanced with an extensive account of associated problems, especially the development of pesticide-tolerant populations. The authors are leading authorities in their respective fields and two of the best known entomologists of their generation.

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Gardeners tend to assume that any organic product is automatically safe for humans and beneficial to the environment—and in most cases this is true. The problem, as Jeff Gillman points out in this fascinating, well-researched book, is that it is not always true, and the exceptions to the rule can pose a significant threat to human health. To cite just one example, animal manures in compost can be a source of harmful E. coli contamination if imporperly treated. Gillman's contention is that all gardening products and practices—organic and synthetic—need to be examined on a case-by-case basis to determine both whether they are safe and whether they accomplish the task for which they are intended.

Ultimately, Gillman concludes, organic methods are preferable in most situations that gardeners are likely to encounter. After reading this eye-opening book, you will understand why, and why knowledge is the gardener's most important tool.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Exactly what you want
For all of the new organic growers and consumers out there, this book is exactly what you want. The author has created a well written book based on scientific facts and very little (if any) bias. The creation of a well balanced book about a topic that is becoming quite confusing and contradictory speaks mountains about the author's talent and perseverance for the truth of home and commercial organic gardening.

As for the contents of the book, it covers: fertilization, weed control, pest control, disease control, and animal control. Each sections has many entries that are common to the home grower (this is the very valuable part of the book) and commercial grower that each end with the overall benefits, drawback, and the bottom line use.

If you're thinking about going (or growing) organic this is a great book to have and I keep going back to it every week while I grow my garden.

1 Star Oh Dear! The author picks evidence to support his conclusions!
Well, I came to read this book with an open mind, but a little bit of research shows that Jeff Gillman picked his supporting evidence so that it confirms his beliefs and prejudices. If you want accurate and truthful and impartial information, you'll have to look elsewhere. Too bad. I had hoped to find reliable information.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.

5 Stars Every Organic Gardener Should Read This First
Excellent information about organic gardening, and does a great job of dispelling various myths. It also debunks people like Jerry Baker, who would have you fertilizing your garden with ammonia -- gak. Highly recommend this book.

1 Star Too much fluff, not enough Substance.
This book was not very in depth, and tended to be very annoying. The author felt it necessary, to summarize the pro's and con's of each paragraph. You can read the entire book by just reading these two sentence page summaries. Save your time and money, buy another book.

4 Stars A lesser book than his first, but still a must-read
Well, organic agriculture is certainly big money these days, isn't it? The problem is that a lot of people think organic is automatically good, just like natural equaled good 20 years ago. Jeff Gillman, author of The Truth About Garden Remedies, returns for another go, this time to debunk the myths of organic agriculture.

The fundamental problem with the wide use of "organic" as a buzzword is that, like many other buzzwords, it becomes a thoughtstopper. Gillman does what a lot of people don't with their food -- he explains the many methods of organic cultivation and pest control (some of which are, for lack of a better term, surprisingly inorganic) and explains their history, how they're used, and the risks and benefits of each. And there's some surprising results -- for example, Gillman points out that many accepted organic methods are poorly tested and not well-understood for environmental impact and toxicity, and lots of popular, seemingly-sensible techniques can actually be damaging to the plants. Favorite organic ingredients turn out to be very dangerous (rotenone) or unavailable (quassia), and seemingly obvious ideas like tobacco sprays turn out to be highly impractical. Gillman does repeat some material from his first book, but a lot of it (particularly the pesticide material) is quite a bit fleshed out.

Perhaps surprisingly, Gillman is guardedly pro-organic, but his message is one of caution -- among other things, he recommends reading other sources with a critical eye to separate good information from woo, and he feels that organic practices are somewhat overrated compared to more scientifically-based approaches such as integrated pest management. He does seem to reject the Rodale doctrine that nutritional quality suffers under conventional agriculture, and generally treats organic agriculture more as a matter of environmental practicality and sustainability than Luddism. I'd mark it as five stars if it a) had some coverage of biodynamics, which to the uninitiated is a Theosophy-influenced blend of organics, homeopathy, and dime-store witchcraft, and b) had included the rating system that Gillman used in his first book. But it's still a worthy companion to the first book and a must-read for anyone who wants to understand what science thinks of organic agriculture.

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This handy tool for pest identification is just the right size for being taken right into the garden. Large color pictures and descriptions of each pest and their life cycle help make identification easy.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Excellent Service
The book was in perfect condition and it was delivered ahead of the expected delivery date.

5 Stars Excellent
This is a brief but excellent introduction to the topic. Although short, it's full of hundreds of tips and pieces of information on how to control various pests in your garden. Knowing a little about entomology helps, but isn't necessary. But a lot of the control comes down to using a weak solution of soap or lime to spray directly on the pests. This doesn't harm the plants, apparently, but many insect pests are susceptible to it. And there are many other such tips and methods discussed in the book. Some plants, such as marigolds, interestingly, can be planted also to control certain infestations since their roots secret a substance that is toxic to certain pests. Overall an interesing, practical, and informative little guide on the subject.

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From spooker poles and Perrier bottles to water bombs and cayenne pepper, Bill Adler, Jr., has tried every conceivable method to rid his backyard of these fluffy gluttonous rodents. Revised and even craftier than the first edition, which sold over 100,000 copies, this new revision contains humorous advice on keeping squirrels out of the flowerbeds and bird feeders.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great Book
The suggestions made in this book really work. A must read for anyone that has problems with those damn hideous squirrels.

BTW I really do like squirrels but....... I live in a major city. If you live in a place that actually has things that will eat them then perhaps you don't need this book. However, for any city dweller this is a must read.

3 Stars Not Remotely Tremendous
I'll keep this review short and sweet, since the book isn't exactly the utmost in literary achievement ever produced. The book is decent, probably right on the 3 star mark given what it tries to do and what it does. The intention of the book is to, well, outwit squirrels - a silly notion given a day or 2 observing the little...um, natural friends. Wit isn't what makes the squirrel dangerous. It's the endless effort a squirrel will go through to get your food. The overall effort described here should probably be called, "Outenduring Squirrels," since that's what you will need to do.

Overall, the book is hit or miss with the advice it gives. Living in a neighborhood with approximately more squirrels than blades of grass, you tend to either pick up ways to stop them from getting to your feeders, or you stop feeding the birds. Or as some have done, you throw in the towel and get used to having your seed receptacles ravaged by these tree rats. The advice in this book is sometimes right, and sometimes off the mark. That opinion is based on copious amounts of personal experience.

I got this as a gag gift from my father-in-law, since he knows how much I hate these animals. It was entertaining enough, though at times his sense of humor wasn't exactly what I would call top notch. Other times it was downright irritating. So it goes. I don't think squirrel banter is going to be on prime time television any time soon. Until then, you'll have to make do with books like this, which are good enough but hardly knocking on the door of your local bookstore's best seller list.

1 Star Squirrels Are People Too!
Genetically speaking, humans are closer to squirrels than to birds. So, by depriving squirrels of sustenance in favor or birds, the author is condoning murder being committed against one of mankind's close relations...MURDER MOST FOUL (fowl?), I SAY! Shame on you, Bill Adler Jr., if that is your REAL NAME, traitor! May the Great Squirrel poop in your beverage!

Good day, sir!

I SAID GOOD DAY.

5 Stars Dealing with frustration!
Mr. Adler's book about how to outwit squirrels is most informative and written with an abundant sense of humor, which one has to have.

4 Stars Squirrels: More Dangerous Than Nuclear Weapons
After the squirrels took over my backyard, car, and washroom, I bought this book to figure out how to take back the mean streets from these evil rodents. Unluckily for me, however, they noticed it when they were reading my mail and now they're after me... I had to move to an unknown Eastern European country just to escape them. Hopefully they won't figure out the combination to my wall safe back home, get enough money to buy plane tickets, and follow me here... that would make them flying squirrels, I suppose. Who would have guessed that squirrels could chew through five metres of lead?

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Insects and fungi have a shared history of association in common habitats where together they endure similar environmental conditions, but only recently have mycologists and entomologists recognized and had the techniques to study the intricacies of some of the associations. This new volume covers "seven wonders of the insect-fungus world" for which exciting new results have become available, often due to the use of new methods that include phylogenetic analysis and development of molecular markers. Eleven chapters of the volume are presented in two sections, "Fungi that act against insects" and "Fungi mutualistic with insects" that cover a number of major themes. Examples of necrotrophic parasites of insects are discussed, not only for biological control potential, but also as organisms with population structure and complex multipartite interactions; a beneficial role for symptomless endophytes in broad-leafed plants is proposed; biotrophic fungal parasites with reduced morphologies are placed among relatives using phylogenetic methods; complex methods of fungal spore dispersal include interactions with one or more arthropods; the farming behavior of New World attine ants is compared with that of humans and the Old World fungus-growing termites; certain mycophagous insects use fungi as a sole nutritional resource; and other insects obtain nutritional supplements from yeasts. Insects involved in fungal associations include--but are not limited to--members of the Coleoptera, Diptera, Homoptera, Hymenoptera, and Isoptera. The fungi involved in interactions with insects may be clustered taxonomically, as is the case for Ascomycetes in the Hypocreales (e.g., Beauveria, Metarhizium, Fusarium), ambrosia fungi in the genera ophiostoma and ceratocystis and their asexual relatives, Laboulbeniomycetes, Saccharomycetes, and the more basal Microsporidia. Other groups, however, have only occasional members (e.g., mushrooms cultivated by attine ants and termites) in such associations. The chapters included in this volume constitute a modern crash course in the study of insect-fungus associations.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Scintillating Symbiosis
Biology often reveals worlds within worlds, and this book does an excellent job of describing the extraordinarily complex relationships between insects and fungi. Yeast-eating beetles! Fungi hiding in the leaves of plants! Ants that tend fungus gardens - like tiny mushroom farmers! This scholarly volume will open your eyes to some of the more subtle wonders of nature.

5 Stars excellent overview of the subject
The book gives an excellent overview of parasitic and synergistic relations between insects and fungi. I was looking very long for a treatment of the subject in total, very happy now, that I found it.

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IF THEY ARE FLYING, CRAWLING, BURROWING OR SNEAKING IN, THIS BOOK HAS THE SOLUTION

Do you hate spiders?

Has your house been invaded by ants, termites or cockroaches?

Is your garden a feeding ground for caterpillars, aphids, mites or grasshoppers?

Are you tired of rabbits or deer eating from the vegetable garden you worked so hard to create?

Are raccoons after your trash or tearing up your lawn?

Is your property infested with mice or moles?

Does your neighbor’s dog or cat cause you problems every day?

Or would you simply like to enjoy your summer evenings without mosquitoes, flies or yellow jackets?

This book offers powerful, all-natural solutions to these problems -- and hundreds more. Every bug, pest, critter and animal related problem you can think of is covered in this comprehensive, detailed and creative book. And every one of the 1001 solutions in this book avoids the use of any kind of pesticide or other poison that could potentially cause harm to our families, our communities, and our natural environment.

There are over 2 billion pesticides manufactured in the United States every year. In 2002, more than 3.2 million people suffered medically related side effects from the use of pesticides. By using the simple, tried and true solutions provided in 1001 All Natural Secrets to a Pest-Free Property, you can make a significant contribution to reducing the damage caused by pesticides and other poisons.

This book has been designed to make it easy for you to find the information you need and gives you precise and clear answers to all your pest control questions. Protect your property and your family’s health today!

No one knows more about natural pest control than world renowned Dr. Myles H. Bader. He has spent countless hours over more than ten years of research to find the answers you need to know in order to keep your home, garden and grounds free of insects and critters of all kinds. Most importantly, Dr. Bader shows you how to do this without the use of poisons and toxic preparations.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Incredible
This book is incredible. I had no idea that natural substances could deter pests... I used a refrence in this book regarding ants. I put a couple teaspoons of cinnamon (thats right cinnamon) in front of an entry where the ants were coming in. I ACTUALLY watched the ants turn away from the cinnamon and go away from the entry point they were previously coming in. All kinds of stuff like that in this book. A+

4 Stars Reviews for 1001 All-natural Secrets to a Pest-free Property
Below are a few reviews of the Hardcover edition of this book before upgrading to the new improved Kindle format.

Michelle (5 Stars)

I was introduced to this book while shopping at a Nusery. I had some concerns using toxic treatments due to my dog spending a lot of time in my yard and the lady helping me used this book for non-toxic suggestions to remedy not one but multiple problems I had. I found it so informative that I went right home and ordered one for myself. I am so very pleased with all of the alternative remedies. I would recommend this book to everyone!

M. Alice (5 Stars)

Very good book to have. It helps with getting rid of the pesty little critters in the back yard where humans and dogs can enjoy it again. Very good shape.

Renee (4 Stars)

I own Dr. Baders book about getting rid of bugs and pest. It has been real easy to read and safe to use. Its also very easy to understand.All I can say is bye bye pest! Renee

Joseph's Mommy (4 Stars)

I like the book, but was a bit disappointed that there are often no references to find specific items to use (such as "Tansy leaves"). Do I find these at a health food store or the nursery, etc? I DO like the fact that there are multiple solutions for a specific pest.

A. Hinton (4 Stars)

An interesting book with many useful suggestions - though not as helpful with wasps or scorpions as I'd hoped. Worth having in your library.

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Since it was first published in 1997, homeowners, serious gardeners, and professional nursery owners have responded enthusiastically to Deer Proofing Your Yard & Garden: 66,000 copies are in print. In the last seven years, as the deer problem in towns and suburbs has gotten worse, new solutions have presented themselves. To cope with the situation and keep up with the latest in deer control, Rhonda Hart has revised her original book, adding more than 60 pages of new material on how anyone can protect their yard and garden from deer.As in her first edition, Hart takes a straightforward, just-the-facts approach. She tells homeowners exactly what they want to know: which commercial repellents are effective, how to make homemade deterrents, and how to create a landscape designed to repel deer.Since the first edition was published, virtually invisible polyethylene deer netting is now widely available and almost 100 percent effective in keeping deer out of the yard. Hart has updated her chapter on fencing to include this and other new products.Hart has also refined her plant lists to spotlight those that deer rarely touch and also to identify those plants that are less likely to be tasty targets, depending on the time of year and where you live.The chapter on deer repellents has also been revised to rank commercial and homemade products in terms of their effectiveness and how often a new application is necessary.This new edition provides anyone who gardens with a wide variety of deer-proofing alternatives so that at the edge of your garden, you really can say, "the buck stops here."

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars The best book on the topic
This is simply an excellent book that tackles a critical wildlife management issue intelligently and without politics and rhetoric. The scope of the book and the author's skill as both a gardener and a keen observer of deer antics is impressive. As a master gardener and garden designer, I use this book in almost all my consultations because the problem is so prevalent, and because Ms. Hart provides some really smart answers to customer's questions. Though I agree with the reviewer who thought the book lacked information on more exotic or esoteric species of plants, the list of deer resistant species is quite extensive in light of the other information provided. There will probably never be an exhaustive list of deer proof plants because of harsh winters and continual clearing of natural habitats to make way for housing and commercial expansion.
Ms. Harts' suggested strategy of using deer repulsive plants around more deer desirable plantings is smart. I was able to grow my beloved tulips surrounded by alliums, whose foliage emerges as the tulips start to bud. Kudos to Ms. Hart.

4 Stars The bible of deer resistant gardening
This book has become the bible of deer resistant gardening for good reason. I have yet to find a more thorough text regarding deer behavior, deer deterrents and, deer resistant fences. If you have a deer problem you should defiantly read this book.

The one chapter that could be improved is the one entitled "Deer-o-Scaping", which discusses landscaping with deer resistant plants. The list of deer resistant plants provided in this chapter is divided into plant categories (i.e., annuals, perennials, etc...) and delineates the zones where each plant grows, as well as the plant's soil and light requirements. While this is certainly more information than I have seen provided in most deer resistant plant lists, it nevertheless assumes the reader knows what the plant looks like and is familiar with its' habit. The novice gardener will need to reference other publications to learn more about the plants in this list before he/she can plan an attractive deer resistant garden. The experienced gardener will undoubtedly wish the deer resistance of more unusual and exotic plants were discussed.

5 Stars Good Read.
This book is very well written with a lot of information in it. I thought I knew a lot about deer until I read this book. I thought the book would be boring but it was anything but. I haven't had a chance to put into effect a lot of the deerproofing measures but they sound logical and with a combination of some of them, I'm sure we will have success.

5 Stars Information laden and downright funny
This book is concise, well-structured and highly informative. It begins with an analysis of how deer think (if you can call it that!), and how they use their senses. The author then uses these insights to derive numerous strategies for avoiding attracting deer and deterring them if they do find your garden. These vary from what I would call defensive (avoid planting things that deer like to eat, using the exhaustive list provided as a guide - there are even some roses that deer apparently dislike!) to highly combative (electric fences, self-activated noises or sprinklers). She also offers numerous ideas for upsetting deers' reliance on their sense of smell, including stringing up highly scented soap bars, and spraying plants with homemade pepper spray or stinky egg mix! There is an edgy humor to the book that makes for a fun read. A very intelligent approach to a very exasperating problem. Buy it.

5 Stars Very Useful reference to coping with deer problems.
I found the book very informative and helpful in coping with dear problems. The deer behavior section was very close to our actual observations on our property in Roche Harbor of the Washington San Juan Islands.

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Creeping Bentgrass Management presents a difficult management problem throughout the summer season. This complex dilemma is related to numerous and often interrelated factors such as: extreme air and soil temperatures, drought or excessively wet soils, dense thatch or organic mats, mechanical and other physical stresses, improper management practices, the misuse of chemicals, and other physical stresses. The goal of this useful manual—complete with helpful color photographs—is to give golf course superintendents practical tools to better understand the many stress factors that contribute to the creeping bentgrass decline complex. It will help you pinpoint problems, and implement cultural and chemical solutions to maintain the integrity of your course.

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