Teaming with Nutrients: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to Optimizing Plant Nutrition Hardcover – May 7, 2013

wow. This is a very detailed description and explanation of plants and how nutrients are used by them. It is a scientific rather than a gardening cozy book. I like to know how things work, so it is interesting to me. It's complicated, that is life. But taking the time to understand how nutrients work with plants will in the long run provide an understanding of what soil amendments and fertilzers to use, and so save frustration and money. It is not at all an easy "go get a bag of fertilizer or compost". I would say, it explains why a well made compost does wonders, and so many people swear by it, while some are unimpressed and find synthetic fertilizers satisfy in the short term. I can't just use the old fashioned gardening books for much advice in this area. I live in a very heat stressed arid area with a short winter season. The native soil just hardens up in the drought down several feet, and mulch withers. We may go on water rationing at times like last year. A few shrubby plants hang on, others like vegetables look around and say "hell no" and die in days. I am learning more of how to support the plants better so they have a better chance of survival.

One of the best most informative books when it comes to growing and feeding plants. Has an amazing breakdown of the cellular structure and inner workings of a plant. The author is very smart

As a professional horticulturist I was seeking some updated information on "organic" sources of nutrition and found it in this text. A very good read which earned my appreciation for the fact that the writing allows for the novice to gain access to what might otherwise be a bit too technical information for the layperson. A timely release, excellent presentation and useful reference material serve to make my professional life appropriately informed which certainly has translated into my being able to explain the nuances of plant nutrition via the use of "organic" amendments so as to intelligently direct my customer base into making smarter choices for their landscape, garden and home environment. For you serious gardeners and reactionary "organic" die-hards this book will keep you better informed. Hugely recommended.

Excellent book! As a gardener and speaker, this is a subject that is dear to my heart and I've read a lot of books; some are good, some are junk. This is one of the good ones. Lowenfels covers this subject in depth but in a manner that makes it easy to comprehend. Not only does he cover the nutrients, both macro and micro, but also the role they play within the plant. He goes into great detail about how the different plant systems function. He somehow manages to keep ta complicated subject simple enough for us laypeople to follow along. I'm looking forward to reading the other books in this series.

Love love love it!!!!! Must-have for serious gardeners (buy Teeming with Microbes too--the sheer savings in fertilizer costs will pay for both books). It really does simplify very complex concepts. Understanding these concepts really teaches you WHY you do things in gardening, demystifying why things go wrong and why they go right. I gardened my whole life but felt that I had hit a wall--sometimes things grew, sometimes they didn't, and I didn't know why. His books have helped me push beyond and my garden results have been nothing short of spectacular. On another note, I had a burning soil-related question and googled Jeff Lowenfels' email address (cheeky, I know). He responded within a day and thoroughly explained the concept. Great guy, great author! I wish he would have been my high school science teacher!

This book is the sequel to the authors book teeming with microbes. To understand this nutrient book with maximum absorption of knowledge you must read teaming with microbes. This book and the book before this one helped me stop nutrient lock in my plant and helped with diseases.

Very well written tons of information but still has a good flow to get you through some of the meatier areas. He dose a great job of taking something complicated and breaking it down to smaller easier to digest sections that all build upon each other. I recommend this book if your serious about agriculture demystify what the fertilizer companies try to keep under wraps for there own gain. My favorite part was discovering the 17 essential elements for plant to live and reproduce, worth the time!

This book is fabulous. I got this one after reading "teaming with microbes", and loved that one, and wanted to get more information about soil food webs. I truly believe growing soil vs growing plants takes alot of research and trials, but in the end, the soil is thriving and in turn the plants. There is alot of sort of technical information, but like the way he simply says, don't worry so much over this part, just let in sink in.