Good advice above. You can also narrow down possibilities by crop - "common bean pests", "common squash pests", etc. and use the images tab. With some time and research you can quickly learn about the bad guys. Normally it is the damage we note first rather than the actual bug so also noting the type of damage done - tiny holes, big holes, chewed edges, wilting, shape of leaves (rolled up, turned under, etc) will help narrow it down. How much damage indicates if it is just a few pests that can be hand picked or many that need pesticide intervention. And since many pests are regional, don't forget all the resources from your local county extension office. They are good at narrowing down pests specific to your area. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Insect IDs (note all categories listed on left)

I went ahead and joined i-Naturalist and so far it is working really well. It is a lot faster submitting sightings than BAMONA. So far I am just adding photos I already had online starting with the most recent and working my way back. It seems other people are very quick to "agree" with most of my sightings to make them "research grade". I also got some quick ids on things I wasn't sure of. Obviously the ones that are a little harder to id won't happen as quickly. When I'm done I'm going to go in and add things to my life list that I have seen, but have no photo of. Those are not considered research grade, because there is no proof for others to confirm. Just like BAMONA, there are not many sightings on there for my county so I will be able to add a lot to that list. If I used a smart phone with a good camera and gps turned on I imagine that would make the process even easier using their app while away from home. My camera is not something I would carry around all the time and doesn't have gps so I have to add the location manually, but it does let you add the location to a whole batch of photos at once so that is nice. Also the majority of my sightings are at home so that makes it easier too. It is pretty cool watching my list grow as I add more pics. Many of the people helping with ids will add helpful comments on distinctive markings to look for and such. I highly recommend it to any other list making nerds!

The two books I refer to I was able to purchase at Coles Bookstore... They both are full of colored pictures and wonderful descriptions. Weeds of Canada and the Northern United States by Royer and Dickinson published by Lone Pine Publishing and sold for $29.95. It shows colored pictures of the seedlings, seeds, the mature plant and its flowerhead. I like the information on each including a detailed description of the flower, plant, distribution areas, fruit, leaves, seed, seedling, reasons for concern and similar species. The common name is listed as well as its Latin name and French name and a quick description. Plants of the Western Boreal Forest and Aspen Parkland by Johnson, Kershaw, MacKinnon and Pojar also published by Lone Pine Publishing for $24.95. It lists trees, shrubs, roses, asters, sedges, etc with the same details as the Weeds of Canada book. Brenda

Actually I never had any devastating disease problems with my plants. Most of the plants I lost (and these were no more than only a few dozens over the past 4 years) during the winter months because I wasn't able to provide adequate conditions - lack of space, poor ventilation, not enough light... Avoiding these and generally working on prevention had saved me from any real trouble so far. The reason I have asked for a book was to have a quick and easy reference to help me to identify some problems that I can't currently relate to anything particular. It is far more efficient to look at some description and photos to identify a problem and if needed to dig further do discover all possible reasons, instead of taking pictures by myself, posting to forums and asking questions that have being answered hundreds of times probably. For example I have Lagerstroemia indica plants and some of them are having some warts on their leaves as if the leaf is dusted with salt or more correctly like if salt crystals are protruding through their epidermis or maybe like some cysts filled with liquid, it is hard for me to describe it. Obviously I am lacking a basic knowledge in this area. I had troubles with all possible pests on my Clianthus puniceus plants and I am tired of babying them so I am about do discontinue them. They are not dying, but are losing their good appearance and hardly ever get to flower. They are looking good enough for sale just for a short periods of time after intensive treatments with quite poisonous chemicals against spider mites, heavy pruning and heavy feeding to develop some new foliage... I have some Aristolochias that show some browning of the lower leaves that I cant identify. Nutritional deficiency related problems is another topic I need to know more about. Otherwise everything grows as vigorously as it can, making my greenhouse to look ridiculously small... again.... :) Currently I am growing more than 250 species of plants with widely varying cultural requirements - carnivorous, succulents, bulbs, shrubs, vines from all around the world. I am slowly heading to reducing this number and some specialization, but I will always want to try some new plant so it is unlikely that the number will drop significantly. Compared to my tiny space and not so good location this number is big.