(Waving robotic arms in the air) Does not compute! Does not compute!

Kidding. You can certainly apply it by hand if you wish, but it will go through a rotary spreader. CGM applications generally result in the toxic-looking (and completely harmless unless it cakes up in your lungs) gold cloud around the person applying. That's pretty normal.

Assuming the same consistency with corn meal, the same will happen. If it's a rougher grind and more like soybean meal, you won't have any trouble at all and won't have a cloud around you.

A lot of the meals cake up too much to go through a drop spreader, but I've never tried that with corn meal. Given past data, I would assume that to be the case until somebody says otherwise. I use a rotary for my soybean meal, but that's ground fairly rough.

Just use cracked corn. Some seeds may germinate (has never happened to me) but will be dealt with when you mow it over.

Cornmeal does cake up. Also be aware if you use cornmeal as a fertlizer you need to apply it at a rate of 35 pounds per 1000/ft2

Thanks for all the replies guys. I think I will try some this year. I already have some soy bean meal and alfalfa pellets, but what the heck lets experiment some. :-) And to my fellow Pennsylvanian Morpheuspa, I may send Will Robinson to see you.

jayt63,

Quick way to check your app rates when using a protien. If you're getting feed grade product it'll give you a breakdown of protein %, crude fiber % etc.......and of course grocery store cornmeal has the protein on the "Nutrition Facts" label.

In any event take the protein % and divide by 6.25. The answer will be the amount of nitrogen in the bag, or close enough anyway.

Convert that to a % and divide 1 by that. There's your app rate per 1000sq. ft if your thinking in terms of 1#N per 1000sq. ft. The more you fertilize with grain meals the less you tend to think in terms of NPK though.

In any event its a good rule of thumb I think simply because you'll be buying and hauling a lot of product which is trouble enough sometimes and you sure don't want to lug around more than you need.

Convert that to a % and divide 1 by that.

HUH? X/1=X

In any event take the protein % and divide by 6.25. The answer will be the amount of nitrogen in the bag, or close enough anyway.

Convert that to a % and divide 1 by that. There's your app rate per 1000sq. ft if your thinking in terms of 1#N per 1000sq. ft. The more you fertilize with grain meals the less you tend to think in terms of NPK though.

While corn meal is known to be a fungicide IMO it is a poor choice in terms of ecconomics as a fertlizer. Depending on where you get your info crude protein content of corn meal is between 15 and 18%. So this means once converted to nitrogen (X/6), nitrogen content is between 2 to oercent by weight. So to apply 1-pound of nitrogen using cornmeal would require between 33 to 50 pounds per 1000/ft2. Well if you have checked the price of corn meal now days it has sky rocketed due to the ethanol scam going on.

Using corn meal at a rate of 20-pounds per 1000/ft2 as a fungicide is one thing, but as a fertlizer doesn't make much sense IMO. A better choice is soybean meal or cotton seed meal in terms of ecconomics. These two require an application rate of about 13 to 15 pounds per 1000/ft2.

Just my two cents worth.

"Convert that to a % and divide 1 by that.

HUH? X/1=X "

But that's dividing X by 1, to divide 1 by X, it would be 1/X, not X/1.

My math teachers used to do me the same way ; ).

1/%of n=amount of product you'll need if you want to apply 1# of n per 1000sq. ft. Sticklers keep me honest.

Which makes tx-weed very right 'cause that comes out to about 100#s per 1000sq.ft. which is obviously a pain at any price. Its important to keep an eye on the protein though. Lots of people assume that CGM is always 9% N and it isn't if you're buying feed grade.

But that's dividing X by 1, to divide 1 by X, it would be 1/X, not X/1.

Once you converted the protein content to weight ratio the amount in pounds of product is:

100/X = pounds of product per 1000/ft2.

So for cornmeal the protein it is rounghly 15% protein, 15/6.25= 2.3
100/2.3= 43 pounds of cornmeal per 1000/ft2 to get the equivilant of 1-pound of nitrogen

If you've got 15% protein then you're right. The two big bags of grocery store cornmeal on my shelf are roughly between 6-8% assuming the Nutrition Labels are accurate.
I'd rather carry yours.

Back to the OP question, I would use fine cracked corn instead of corn meal. Cracked corn spreads very easily and usually takes mutliple passes in my rotary spreeder (wide open) to apply just 10 bs/100ft^2. (I typically add 20-30 lbs over two applications).

Yes it is low in protein and not a great fertilizer, but in New England our grasses prefer to be fed heavily in the fall and not in the spring. Cracked corn also has antifungal properties for the white fungi (not the red's).

In my organic program I worry less about NPK and more about adding organic matter (carbs and protein). With that said I gradually increase the protein content of my fert as the season progresses (alfalfa in mid to late summer, SBM,Milorganite in the fall).

Hope that helps.

TW--I didn't pay any attention to any of the rest of the math, since I use UCG for my fertilizer and just throw it on the lawn as I get it. I just noticed that you had divided X by 1 instead of 1 by X.

Since I know that UCG is about 1.5% N, I can use that to figure out if I'm getting enough. To be honest, if the grass is green enough, I assume it's getting enough N.

the result of my soil analysis indicates i need to apply 5-5-15 fertilizer. if corn meal is 9-0-0, will i need to add anthing else?

1. Can you apply corn meal year round? wanting to use it as a fungicide on my St. augustine. I live in Texas, it is July and temps are in upper 90s. wondering if it will burn my grass? Or not be affective during summer months?

You can use CM any time you like, in any season, on any grass. The equivalent NPK is 1.65-0.65-0.4, or, if they sold it in a bag and had to label it, 1-0-0.

And that's a slow organic, so none of that will be washing right into the soil.

Application rates for what you're suggesting (I think I answered in another thread) are 10 pounds per thousand square feet or so. However, if you wish to also use this to condition your soil, amounts of up to 50 pounds per thousand are just fine.

You can also use cracked corn if you would prefer and if it's easier for you.

I hope everyone realizes that the protein in 5 pounds of grass (12%) equals the amount of protein in one pound of cornmeal (65%)

One inch of grass equal about 200 pounds of dry material per acre. So if you have a quarter acre you are putting 50 pounds of grass clippings or about 6 pounds of protein on your yard each time you cut it. This is much more than you can possibly put on with corn meal.

I understand that this is general and will vary some what by the type of grass you have in your yard, but the basic fact remains.

The other nutrients that goes back into your yard is a bonus of the grass clippings

https://www.anderson-hay.com/blog/nutrition-101-crude-protein

https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/publications/livestock/feeding-corn-to-beef-cattle/as1238.pdf

https://pasturemap.com/pasture-inventory-estimate-available-dry-matter/

As stated in other post, corn meal by itself has no fungal properties, if it did you would not be eating it. It only support the organism that may prevent the fungus.

Also 1 divided by 0 is the mathematical infinity. 0 divided by 1 is 0

Well, we're not strictly using this for protein, so...

"Also 1 divided by 0 is the mathematical infinity. 0 divided by 1 is 0"

I don't see how this applies? In terms of numbers, it's simply rounded down to the lower integer for the equivalent bag number.

From the thread they were talking about the nitrogen content of protein. So what other components of corn meal give you the Nitrogen for fertilizer?.

Protein, approximately 11%, in the form of zeins in the case of most corn. 11% is the most common for most feed corn, which is near the bottom of corn grades. In this case, 11 divided by 6.75 = 1.63.

Since numbers are always rounded down (floor), 1.63 = 1.

That's the nitrogen source and the only one.

However, we're not necessarily using this on the lawn for the nitrogen in and of itself; the soil conditioning properties of adding the organics are nothing to be sneezed at. Otherwise, we wouldn't bother with fall leaves (effectively about 1-0-0 or 0-1-0 or 0-0-1 depending on how lucky you get). Who does what with what varies a lot as well.