Corn Gluten Meal (CGM) has some pre-emergant kill qualities. Cornmeal is different and does not prevent seed germination. It is however rich in nutrients, a mild fertilizer, and does encourage beneficial fungus to thrive. Many persons including myself use it to fertilize the lawn. My suggestion would be to spread it on your lawn and / or in your gardens. There is no need to compost it. It's ready to go. You could of course compost it. It could smell if you don't have a lot of leaves or other brown material. Bill Hill

Use it as an organic fertilizer on lawn or garden. If you do add it to a compost pile, add a little to each layer of "browns" as you build the pile. The corn meal can be considered a "green" and it would be a waste and possibly smelly if added all at once.

It's also an effective control for grubs and cutworms - they love it but can't digest it, so they eat and die. I'd add it straight to the garden as well assuming we aren't talking a tiny little garden for that 25 lbs. ;)

Dave

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and very fascinated. Can anyone tell me how many pounds of cornmeal/cracked corn you add per 100sf or 1000sf for gardening purposes. If you happen to know the same information on alfalfa meal/pellets and dried/powdered molasses that would be helpful too.

Thanks !

I would spread it on the lawn or garden with a broadcast spreader. And typically its recommended to spread 10 lbs per 1000 square feet of the feed based fertilizers.

I don't use grains for my fertilizer, but I think the recommended rate is 20 lbs per 1000 sq ft.

I've seen recommendations as high as 25-50 lbs per 1000 sq ft but it depends upon what you are spreading and the protein content.

Generally 10 pounds per thousand square feet works well for my lawn.

They key is not to smother anything... you can hardly use too much except for smothering. I think the break point is volume and how much material you are willing to handle.

And the feed based fertilizers used to be cheap, but not anymore, so price is a bigger factor than it was a few years ago.

I also agree, no need to compost it, use it as is.

very_blessed_mom -
For gardening purpose I would use any of the following: Cornmeal, Alfalfa, Soybean Meal, Used Coffee Grounds etc @ 5-10lbs per 100sqft and 50 to no more than 100lbs per 1000sqft

For lawn use the general rate is 10-30lbs per 1000sqft.

Corn meal is a mild fertilizer with anti-fungal properties. I wouldn't use cracked corn in your garden unless you want to attract all the birds. Plus some kernels will sprout. Alfalfa meal or pellets are an excellent fertilizer. They increase organic matter in the soil but do offer NPK and a high availability of trace minerals. Plus they contain trianconatol, a natural fatty-acid growth stimulant.

For best results its recommend that you alternate the grains you use to feed a wider variety of micro-organisms.

Thank you all for the great information!

VBM

I used cornmeal once and got millions of ants around. You might not want to use it too close to your patio or porch until you try it elsewhere.

Karen

Has anyone tried cornmeal as a fungicide to prevent powdery mildew on dahlias? I'm wondering if it would adversely affect a tuber plant.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
drdevi

Corn meal is used on the soil, not the plant. So I would do that. Corn meal doesn't do anything. It sits there and decomposes. Apparently the fungi that are attracted to corn meal are also attractants for the predatory Trichoderma fungus. It is the Trichoderma fungus that feeds on the disease fungi.

In addition I would spray the plant with milk at a rate of 3 ounces per gallon (hose end sprayer). Spray every week or two.

If that does not work, try spraying with Equate (Wal-Mart's house brand) baby shampoo. I'd spray at whatever rate makes it come out foamy.