To some a spider isn't just a creepy insect, but a helpful and invited guest in gardens or crops.

A new pocket guide created by MSU's Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, is meant to help people identify insects, like spiders, that could be beneficial or harmful to their plants.

Mary Gardiner, an MSU entomology graduate student, decided to create the guide, "Identifying Natural Enemies in Field Crops," about six months ago.

Doug Landis, a professor of entomology and Gardiner's adviser, said the guide was never planned, but was conceived coincidentally.

"The project was originally intended to focus on soybean aphids," Landis said. "From there we just decided to broaden the topic, and it led to the creation of the guide."

The 46-page guide includes everything from beetles to spiders and whether they can hurt or help plants.

Landis added that the guide can be used by anyone who has a garden, but farmers who work with produce are the most likely to use it.

"Field crop producers are the ones that will probably benefit the most from this," Landis said.

Gardiner said the book could help a wide variety of people.

"Anyone who is working with vegetables or flowers will be able to go in the field and identify the beneficial insects and the insects that will cause problems," Gardiner said.

Jeremy Moghtader, a manager and instructor at the MSU Student Organic Farm, 3291 College Road, said he hasn't seen the guide, but it could be helpful to the farm.

"This sounds like a really cool and useful tool that students could use to identify beneficial bugs," Moghtader said. "We definitely encourage beneficial bugs around the farm and are working on future ways to attract (them). … A guide like this could be very helpful in finding ways to bring in more bugs."

Mike Brewer, IPM coordinator and associate professor of entomology, said he was glad the book was created.

"We really welcome the opportunity to release a book on something that people really should have knowledge on," Brewer said.

The guide was created as part of IPM's goal to identify and resolve problems with insect pests, he said.

"The reason we put this out is because we need to identify these enemies of specific plants," Brewer said. "By helping identifying these plants, we are helping people in avoiding doing such things such as unnecessarily spraying."

Gardiner said she and her colleagues would like to limit spraying pesticides to avoid harming plants and insects that could be helpful to them.

"There are plenty of beneficial insects out there, and so we wouldn't want to spray in that garden then," Gardiner said.