OK corn meal is used as a fungicide and very very mild fertlizer because the protien content is so low. So in essence cornmeal is just a fungicide and not much of a fertlizer. Corn Glutten meal on the other hand is both a premergence and fertilizer. If spread at 10 pounds per 1000/ft2 makes for a very good fertlizer. If spread at a rate of 20 pounds has some limited preemergence.

Corn glutern meal is some what effective against annual weeds that grow from seed. It is not effective against prennial weeds except to fertilize them and mnake them grow. There are certainly cheaper organic fertilizers than CGM.

kathyga........I've written about it a few times here. Basically, the grass - and a couple weeds - in the corn gluten meal containers grew like crazy, telling me that it is an awesome fertilizer and not so great preemergent. I didn't get any crabgrass in that container, but I recall getting a really weird weed that I had never seen before and have never seen since. The most striking thing was the difference between the corn gluten meal and non corn gluten meal containers. When I dumped out the corn gluten meal container, the roots were REALLY deep and thick, causing the whole thing to come out in one giant clump, which was pretty interesting since I didn't spread too many seeds in there originally. The one with no fertilizer was pretty sparse in terms of root action.

I applied cracked corn in April. It has made a difference in promoting a healthy grass growth (general fertilization). So in the sense of having a healthier plant, it probably helps. I have been reading about rhizontonia solani. It overwinters in sclerotia, which are hardshelled and not vulnerable to chemicals or other fungi. When conditions are good for development (warm, humid), bulbils attached to roots start sending out hyphae. They can attack the plant through natural openings, like stomata. The mycelium can spread plant to plant (easy in turfgrass which is so close to each other) and spread the disease. Generally for turfgrass it's the leaves that are attacked and as long as the crown and roots are unaffected, the plant can regrow. However the grass is very stressed and does not have as much photosynthesis from the leaves (since many have been decimated) and so can be done in, especially if it has other stresses, like drought stress. Having a healthy plant ahead of attack may make a big difference in survival. I have some clumps where probably the corn was probably applied more heavily than others and they are noticably thicker and greener with wider blades. Try to keep the leaves as dry as possible as long as possible: water in the morning, when watering, so the leaves dry quickly. Mowing at 3 inches or 3.5 is probably better than 4 so that there is less humidity down there. I am reading that brown patch is worse when the highs are in the 80s than in the 90s (maybe because things dry more quickly at higher temperatures) so I am mowing at 3.5 for now and will move to 4 (highest I have) when temperatures are higher. I am also using Serenade as a preventative. I think I have had an attack in one area but in general the grass is hanging in there. Excessive nitrogen exacerbates brown patch. However, light applications (1/4 lb/k) or a slow release, like any organic, would help the grass grow. Be judicious in amounts applied, even for organics, as cool season grass should not be forced to grow in the hot part of summer. I did 25 lb/k of the corn in April and calculated that it supplied about 0.4 lb/k of nitrogen. That's not much. The grass is acting like it had more. Maybe it was so grateful for any nitrogen (I had not done the late fall feeding as the grass was still growing all through December), it started celebrating.