Honeybees in the flowers, fire ants in the yard, roaches in the kitchen-the good, the bad, and the ugly bugs are all over Texas! And they're here in the Texas Bug Book, your complete guide for identifying and organically controlling all of the most common Texas insects.
Drawing on years of practical experience and research, organic gardening experts Malcolm Beck and Howard Garrett give detailed instructions on how to identify, understand the life cycle of, and control or protect Texas insects, mites, snails, slugs, nematodes, and other critters. They also include striking color photos and black-and-white drawings to help you identify each bug.
What sets the Texas Bug Book apart from other insect guides is the authors' organic approach to pest control. Beck and Garrett highlight the many useful roles that hugs play in nature and offer proven organic remedies for infestations of pest insects. Most importantly, they explain how to create a balanced, healthy environment in which infestations are much less likely to occur.
Armed with this information and entertained by the authors' firsthand stories, you won't even think of saying "nuke 'em" the next time little green crawly things come to lunch in your yard or garden. Just whip out the Texas Bug Rook and discover how to end the population explosion without wiping out the beneficial bugs, lizards, frogs, toads, turtles, snakes, and birds.
Malcolm Beck, of San Antonio, was a pioneer in organic farming. He is the founder of Garden-Ville Fertilizer Company, the mecca of organic growers in Texas. Winner of the Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence in 1997, he writes and speaks extensively on organic growing practices.
Dallas resident John Howard Garrett is host of the radio gardening talk show "The Natural Way" (WBAP-820) and author of the Dallas Morning News column of the same name. A landscape architect by training, he has converted several commercial projects to organic programs.
"Texas Bug Book makes the insect world exciting, attainable, rewarding, comfortable, and manageable. The key concept that pervades the book is balance. The authors ask us to pay attention to all the layers of life, to recognize and encourage healthful natural processes, and to improve the foundation of everything that grows, the soil. The result is proactive, long-term positive management of a cause rather than reactive, short-term shotgun control of a symptom."
PATRICIA Q. RICHARDSON,Ph.D., and RICHARD H. RICHARDSON, Profrssor of Zoology, University of Texas at Austin
MALCOLMBECK.COM