Pests of Landscape Trees and Shrubs : An Integrated Pest Management Guide (University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Pu)

Sm Quarto, PP.327

Clear, concise and accessible, this guide to pest management is likely to become a valued resource for homeowners, and should be considered a required text for landscape managers and their crews. Unlike some other books in the field, which survey pests and the poisons that are designed to kill them, entomologists and plant pathologists at UC Berkeley have collaborated with Dreistadt and Clark to produce a complete and sensible approach to controlling pests through choice of plant types; planting practices; early identification of problems; adopting mechanical, physical and biological combatant measures; and, as a last resort, chemical antidotes. The details of pests' life cycles are revealed--and even interesting. Tables in the back of the book help identify plant varieties, symptoms and more. Although the book focuses on trees and shrubs in California landscapes, the information is sound and broad enough to be of help in other climates, too. Photos not seen by PW.

Copyright 1994 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Compiled by scientists at the University of California's Statewide Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Project, this guide is aimed at homeowners and gardeners as well as landscape and pest management professionals. There are chapters on insects, mites, snails, and slugs; diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, and viruses; weeds; nematodes; and abiotic disorders. Numerous color photographs help identify symptoms and pests. The nearly 50 pages of tree and pest tables make this guide immediately useful; trees and other woody plants are listed alphabetically by their common names along with symptoms and probable causes of disease. This publication is not just for Californians since most of the trees and shrubs discussed are grown throughout the United States. Readers looking for information on a wide range of garden and household pests should turn to works like Michael Hansen's Pest Control for Home and Garden (LJ 3/15/93) or William Olkowski and others' Common-Sense Pest Control (LJ 5/1/91), but Dreistadt offers considerably more detailed information on common woody plant pests. A sound choice for horticulture and pest management collections.
William H. Wiese, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.