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Teaming #2
Teaming with Nutrients: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to Optimizing Plant Nutrition
Just as he demystified the soil food web in his ground-breaking book Teaming with Microbes, in this new work Jeff Lowenfels explains the basics of plant nutrition from an organic gardener's perspective. Where Teaming with Microbes used adeptly used microbiology; Teaming with Nutrients employs cellular biology.
Most gardeners realize that plants need to be fed but know little or nothing about the nature of the nutrients involved or how they get into plants. Teaming with Nutrients explains how nutrients move into plants and what both macro-nutrients and micro-nutrients do once inside. It shows organic gardeners how to provide these essentials. To fully understand how plants eat, Lowenfels uses his ability to make science accessible with lessons in the biology, chemistry, and botany all gardeners need to understand how nutrients get to the plant and what they do once they're inside the plant.
Teaming with Nutrients will open your eyes to the importance of understanding the role of nutrients in healthy, productive organic gardens and it will show you how these nutrients do their jobs. In short, it will make you a better informed, more successful and more environmentally responsible gardener.
Most gardeners realize that plants need to be fed but know little or nothing about the nature of the nutrients involved or how they get into plants. Teaming with Nutrients explains how nutrients move into plants and what both macro-nutrients and micro-nutrients do once inside. It shows organic gardeners how to provide these essentials. To fully understand how plants eat, Lowenfels uses his ability to make science accessible with lessons in the biology, chemistry, and botany all gardeners need to understand how nutrients get to the plant and what they do once they're inside the plant.
Teaming with Nutrients will open your eyes to the importance of understanding the role of nutrients in healthy, productive organic gardens and it will show you how these nutrients do their jobs. In short, it will make you a better informed, more successful and more environmentally responsible gardener.
250 pages, Hardcover
First published May 7, 2013
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901 people want to read
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March 13, 2020Botany + Chemistry = Zzzzzzz....
Okay, maybe that’s unfair. This book is full of incredible information, but it was just way over my head. It’s the kind of stuff I’d really like to understand - i.e. what goes on in a plant on the cellular level - but will take considerable effort and time on my part to absorb. (Maybe I’m just too lazy right now?) I had imagined it would explain how to make your vegetables more nutritious (I once read that our produce, or at least what you buy in the store, isn’t as nutritious as it used to be) but this talks about how a plant gets the nutrients it needs. I’m not sure this depth of information is necessary for home gardeners, but it might be nice to know for its own sake. Regardless, this is way beyond the author's prior book, Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web.
Okay, maybe that’s unfair. This book is full of incredible information, but it was just way over my head. It’s the kind of stuff I’d really like to understand - i.e. what goes on in a plant on the cellular level - but will take considerable effort and time on my part to absorb. (Maybe I’m just too lazy right now?) I had imagined it would explain how to make your vegetables more nutritious (I once read that our produce, or at least what you buy in the store, isn’t as nutritious as it used to be) but this talks about how a plant gets the nutrients it needs. I’m not sure this depth of information is necessary for home gardeners, but it might be nice to know for its own sake. Regardless, this is way beyond the author's prior book, Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web.
May 7, 2017
Another good one from this author. Difficult reading if you don't like science. I love science and some of it was still slow going. Worth the read. Lots of useful information. If you don't think endoplasmic reticulum is a cool word, you may want to pass on this one.
March 3, 2016
While Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web was the perfect mix of scientific detail and practical, fun gardening guide, this follow-up is much more textbook-y. Because it focuses much more on the microscopic processes happening within plant cells, this book is quite abstract, several layers removed from what an average gardener can touch, smell, taste, or see. And the topic is that which most of us do not really need to engage-- compost produced from diverse waste material provides enough plant nutrition (and the resulting veggies provide enough human nutrition) that few home-scale producers need to test soil mineral content and tailor their practices to alter their soil makeup (beyond general compost & mulch type stuff, already covered in Teaming with Microbes).
I didn't get far and hope to pick it back up again, but that won't be until I'm ready to really study. I'm guessing this would be a great companion guide to a plant biology course, but may be less useful to your average nerdy gardener.
I didn't get far and hope to pick it back up again, but that won't be until I'm ready to really study. I'm guessing this would be a great companion guide to a plant biology course, but may be less useful to your average nerdy gardener.
June 5, 2020
A useful guide for the nerdy gardener!
December 20, 2020
It was as in-the-weeds (yuk yuk) as I wanted. But this is pretty dense reading even though the author is trying to move breezily along. In fact, at times I felt like he was moving TOO breezily, to the point of being misleading. For example, some of the things he had to say about well-oxygenated soils are possibly up for debate. He claims that bacteria that fix nitrogen and plant roots require oxygen, which isn't strictly true on either count. In fact, the enzyme that breaks the triple bond tying atmospheric N2 together gets denatured in the presence of oxygen, which is one reason that legumes create nodes high in iron compounds that react readily with oxygen--to keep those compounds away from the nitrogen-fixers. And cyanobacteria will fix nitrogen and photosynthesize in the absence of oxygen. It's just another case where anything you say as a generality about nature is bound to have counterexamples.
My bigger issue with the book is that apart from the scientific information, it doesn't provide much of anything to do with this information. It says to get a soil test and follow the recommendations: university labs would know best.
Huh? Is that all you have to say on this? I can't reward this with anything more than 2 stars. I thought there might be discussions about cover-cropping, mulching, or other non-fertilizer based ways of managing soil fertility. They're simply not here apart from the "use good compost" mantra that you can find in any "organic gardening" book. The book doesn't even talk about how to make compost such that, for example, you don't lose all of the nitrogen and carbon to evaporation before it reaches the garden bed.
I admire the depth that the book went into, but it didn't seem to go anywhere with it in the end.
My bigger issue with the book is that apart from the scientific information, it doesn't provide much of anything to do with this information. It says to get a soil test and follow the recommendations: university labs would know best.
Huh? Is that all you have to say on this? I can't reward this with anything more than 2 stars. I thought there might be discussions about cover-cropping, mulching, or other non-fertilizer based ways of managing soil fertility. They're simply not here apart from the "use good compost" mantra that you can find in any "organic gardening" book. The book doesn't even talk about how to make compost such that, for example, you don't lose all of the nitrogen and carbon to evaporation before it reaches the garden bed.
I admire the depth that the book went into, but it didn't seem to go anywhere with it in the end.
August 26, 2013
a dandy book, easy to understand, lots of recipes, and shocking facts too. i didn;t know phosphorus (the p in n p k) will reach peak in this century. bad news for modern agriculture. another factoid, home gardeners use 3X of commercial fertilizer that commercial farmers do, leading to non-point source pollution of devastating proportions (see dead zone gulf of mexico, or any estuary in western world).
here's one recipe: feathers have lots of nitrogen 12-0-0, and is slow release, about 6 months. also, two bacterias (of many many) fix nitrogen but don;t have to have symbiotic relationship with plants, so look for azotobacter and azospirillum (hah) in your gardens/farms and they will freely and happily supply lots of useful N.
has lots of color pics.
here's one recipe: feathers have lots of nitrogen 12-0-0, and is slow release, about 6 months. also, two bacterias (of many many) fix nitrogen but don;t have to have symbiotic relationship with plants, so look for azotobacter and azospirillum (hah) in your gardens/farms and they will freely and happily supply lots of useful N.
has lots of color pics.
September 24, 2013
Teaming with Nutrients was disappointing, making me think it was the other co-author who was responsible for the glowing readability of Teaming with Microbes. There was some handy information in this book, but you have to wade pretty hard to find it.
April 4, 2022
Research based fertilization
This is the second time I have read this book. I understand it better now. Do not guess about fertilization of your garden plants.
This is the second time I have read this book. I understand it better now. Do not guess about fertilization of your garden plants.
September 2, 2019
Easy to understand what is happening with nutrients!
Great way to learn how your nutrients are actually getting to the top! What makes the nutrients plant available, and which can block out which others. I've found it helpful and would record it to a friend in need. I wish we could loan these to people somehow. Get the trilogy to really understand how to grow Great. Pot.,tomato,or any flowering plant
Great way to learn how your nutrients are actually getting to the top! What makes the nutrients plant available, and which can block out which others. I've found it helpful and would record it to a friend in need. I wish we could loan these to people somehow. Get the trilogy to really understand how to grow Great. Pot.,tomato,or any flowering plant
August 27, 2018
Heavy lifting for gardeners
Some good technical information. More detailed than the average gardening book - by and prayer of magnitude. A bit haphazard in organization resulting in a lot of repetition and some confusion. But some hard core information. Good explanations for the value of soil amendment.
Some good technical information. More detailed than the average gardening book - by and prayer of magnitude. A bit haphazard in organization resulting in a lot of repetition and some confusion. But some hard core information. Good explanations for the value of soil amendment.
February 13, 2024
This book is amazing. I enjoyed it immensely, but 6had to read a number of large sections more than once to get a good grasp of the information covered. I didn't pay enough attention in biology and it's been a long time ago since I tried to learn anything containing such a vast amount of interwoven content. Just reminds me that the only thing I really know is that I don't know anything.
September 28, 2018
Fun with the soil food web
This book takes the most complicated of processes and makes them understandable. Great analogies and humor make learning fun. This will be a ”go to” reference for me for years to come.
This book takes the most complicated of processes and makes them understandable. Great analogies and humor make learning fun. This will be a ”go to” reference for me for years to come.
July 4, 2023
A 9hr audio book. An amazing book for basic to semi-experienced gardeners. This book might seam a little slow to some but I assure you, its gold when starting to think about plant Nutrition. I am looking forward to reading the next books by this author.
March 4, 2025
Very technical at times, and not always perfect at connecting the technical with the practical, but still one of the more fascinating and rewarding gardening/soil books out there. Definitely made me realize my own limitations around chemistry and biology but learned so much.
May 21, 2019
It's all about the soil.
November 19, 2019
Great info
Great stuff. I’ll never look at plants and soil the same again after reading Jeff’s books. It’s amazing how much life is in the soil!
Great stuff. I’ll never look at plants and soil the same again after reading Jeff’s books. It’s amazing how much life is in the soil!
July 7, 2020
A challenging read in parts but still fascinating. Transformative ideas about what to feed your garden. Ditch the chemicals and work with nature.
August 4, 2020
This is dry as an organic garden that I forgot to water for 2 weeks. Might be a good reference for a quote if you are doing a research paper. He is right that all I know is N-P-K. That is all I need!
April 4, 2021
Like a 200 level biology course. Pretty accessable. Forgot I had it saved on my kindle and started it last year and just finished now that it's spring again and I'm gardening
February 28, 2022
Fantastic resource. Can't wait to put the information to use.
April 30, 2023
this is some heavy stuff, but it helps a lot that there are introductions and summations at the beginning and end of each chapter.
September 6, 2023
A complicated subject
July 27, 2024
If you want to grow a good garden, an excellent resource. Lots of science, so if you don't like science it may be a harder read.
February 5, 2025
Bem completo mas difícil se você não tem uma boa base de química, ainda mais difícil em audiolivro.
didn-t-finish
May 10, 2025Author claims that manifest destiny was more about farmland than about religion or political supremacy
April 16, 2023
An exhaustive resource on pretty much everything you could know on how plants grow. Excellent information, almost too much for the casual gardener. Overalll I was pleased.
October 14, 2014
If you're interested in the science behind the soil chemistry in your organic garden, this is your book. If you want enough knowledge that you can approach soil amendment armed with knowledge and instinct, you might be disappointed. I applaud Lowenfels for bringing to light what chemical fertilizers and frequent tilling do to plant nutrition. But even though I've had one university course each in biology and chemistry, I found I couldn't just read this book. To get what the author was saying, I needed to study and unpack most chapters. It's clear that Lowenfels really knows his stuff. I wish he'd teamed with a co-writer who could help him make it more immediately relevant.
March 6, 2015
A difficult read but worth it. A botany/ microbiology/ chemistry course in one book. Lowenfels has the ability to condense all the scientific knowledge gardeners need into an enjoyable narrative. And he retains and encourages the wonder of the layman first being introduced to these miracles. A plant cell is truly a wondrous piece of cooperation and efficiency. I especially like the epilog in which he compares the cell to the universe.
November 21, 2016
This is not a review but a comment and a question. On page 200, Lowenfels states, "...you can't feed the world just using organics.....Gardening is a hobby." So where should we be looking? Hvbrid methods, GM, breeding? I find this a fascinating statement, pointing out something that we need to come to terms with.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews