Customer Reviews

Good Bug Bad Bug: Who's Who, What They Do, and How to Manage Them Organically (All You Need to Know about the Insects in Your Garden)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Since I do not use pesticides around our place (we raise poultry and they will eat anything), I really like to know which are the good bugs and which ones I should squish. I also have several kids that are very interested in bugs so I figured that this book would kill two birds with one stone.

The book is spiral bound and very pretty. However, this book lacks significant details that one needs. Most of the pictures of the bugs are from the side and often not even zoomed in enough that you can easily make out the bug. There are many bad bugs that look very much like good bugs. This book does not explain any of the physical differences between these look a likes. In fact the book does not even mention the look a likes. The advice from the book is to sit and watch the bug and see what it does to decide if it is good or bad for your garden.

What pictures are provided often only show the mature bug. In some instances, it also shows the larval stages, but not usually. To turely provide a vauable identification guide, pictures from the side and top should be provided.

The book offers suggestions about what to do if you find the bugs. Most of the time, the suggestion is neem or pyrethrins. I do want to give a huge kudo for pointing out that ducks and geese offer great "biological control" with slugs. Chickens, turkeys, and guineas also offer wonderful biological controls for many bugs.

Overall I was disappointed in the book. I believe that Edward Smith's "The Vegetable Gardener's Bible" offers better descriptions and pictures (though they are drawings). My oldest son also has several general bug books that are much better in their detail and descriptions.

I have always found Jessica Walliser's gardening books to be so useful, but this one takes the prize. The photos of the bugs--good and bad--and what their damage looks like is invaluable when trying to figure out what course of action to take in your garden. I took this book out to my garden and flipped through its pages looking for a picture that matched my plant damage--flea beetles! And again--cucumber beetles! I feel like not only am I learning to identify insects, but I am better managing my vegetable garden, organically. Jessica's advice for "Live biological controls" and "Preventive actions" and "Organic product controls" for each pest tell you exactly what to do when something is attacking your plants. I highly recommend this book for any gardener wanting to learn, before reaching for the spray bottle.

Finally!
A straightforward book about pests and beneficial insects for gardeners. I have looked for a book like this for twenty years!

GOOD BUG, BAD BUG has great pictures and brilliant information about each pest, including what their damage looks like, what plants they attack, how to prevent attacks, and how to control attacks organically. Better yet, it has an equally awesome section for beneficial insects, with pictures, detailed information, and tips on how to attract them and keep them in your garden.
With a great introduction and a very useful glossary, and spiral bound to last a long time, this book just plain ROCKS.

Being a gardener has never been easier and more difficult. While planting and pruning is still as simple as ever, prolific plumes of pests are commonplace. What's a dirt lover to do!?

The eco-answer has arrived with Good Bug, Bad Bug by Jessica Walliser. Printed on water-proofed, laminated pages and wire-bound, Good Bug, Bad Bug is written in easy to understand language. You can quickly identify invasive and beneficial insects. Walliser provides expert organic advice on how to attract the good guys and manage the bad guys without toxic chemicals.

From container gardens to acre-sized plots, Good Bug, Bad Bug is the perfect reference guide for every grower. Thanks to climate change, pests are invading regions they aren't native to. That means more destruction and increased confusion. Walliser's approach is simple and green: get rid of the bad ones and encourage the good ones to stick around. Color pictures, an informative introduction, glossary, and product directory round of the books' awesome qualities.

This would be a good book for a beginning gardener, but lacks the depth that I expected. I had expected to see more about what was in my vegetable garden, but this is broader to include the whole landscape. The book is simply not big enough to cover vegetables, flowers and conifers.

This book was recommended to me as a must-read for the organic gardener. It certainly is that. Since I received it, I keep it close at hand, referring to it often. It's a very handy size and format(sturdy, spiral-bound,washable cover). So far, I've concentrated on the pests, since that's what I've been dealing with in this my first organic gardening venture (after 40 years of gardening with chemicals). On two pages is the DESCRIPTION of the pest, PHOTOS showing both the insect (in its adult and sometimes larval stages) as well as the damage it does,how to SPOT THE DAMAGE, PLANTS THEY ATTACK,PREVENTIVE ACTIONS you can take,ORGANIC PRODUCT CONTROLS and LIVE BIOLOGICAL CONTROLS you can use,as well as other helpful information. I haven't looked into the beneficial insects yet, but they give information about the LIFE CYCLE, PESTS THEY CONTROL, HOW TO ATTRACT AND KEEP THEM, as well as other pertinent information.

Listening to Jessica Walters each weekend on her radio show has rewarded all of us gardeners, horticulturalists, naturalists and biologists with quite ample information on growing organically plants whether for ornament, food or lawn. This full-color-illustrated and short book will help one easily identify the most common insects and bugs deleterious to one's landscaping and to control them organically, in many instances with the beneficial, predatory insects or bugs. This book is not intended to be a field guide. Rather, it is a convenient guide to be used by the gardener. The pages are laminated, thereby encouraging taking this book directly into the garden without fear of water or soil damaging its pages.

First off, the photography in Good Bug Bad Bug is some of the best I've ever seen. I like being able to take this book out into the garden to figure out if a insect is beneficial or not.
It's easy to use, I like the spiral binding and I'm able to find everything I want quickly.
It's the best insect identification book on the market today. I love mine!

This book is the go-to-in-a-pinch explanation for friends with gardening questions. The pictures and descriptions are simple for the gardener who needs to solve a problem while still having time to hoe.

This is only an ok book. The bugs in the photos could have been larger and better quality and I would like it to include more bugs.