I can sympathize. Many of the feed stores I have checked with don't carry corn meal either. But there are a few places in my town that do carry it, but they are more expensive. I prefer to pay less at the places that don't realize I'm just going to spread it on my lawn. Places that sell organic amendments definitely mark up products that originally were just sold in feed stores. Also look for alfalfa and dried molasses. Either of these is good for the lawn and can be found in feed stores. Tractor Supply, though not technically a feed store, carries many of these products. Also sometimes the feed store will offer to order corn meal for you.

thanks for the reply dogwind.
I realize that rabbit food pellets can be substituted for the alfalfa meal. I have been looking online at tractor supply but which bag of swine/cattle/horse/chicken feed will work for soybean meal and/or cotton seed meal.

I have to travel about and hour and a half one way (on one road) to a feed store that has corn meal. The store usually wolnt stock corn meal or soybean meal, but offered to order it as long as I give them a 4 day notice. This works for me, because I'm not jsut going to wake up and say "lets go for a 3 hours drive for some corn meal". I plan it out ahead of time.

Ask your local feed stores if they would be able to special order it for you. Its highly likely that their supplier has corn meal and all the other goodies, even though the feed store doesnt sell it. It all comes from the same place, on the same truck!

apundt-tx: what I generally look for is the crude protein content listed on the bag. The soybean meal I purchased this summer was listed 48% crude protein. That's pretty high. Most of that protein will turn in to nitrogen for my lawn. I don't think you'll find many feeds that are higher than that. Watch out for feeds that contain additional supplements, salts, or medications...vitamins and minerals are probably OK but medications or antibiotics are not. Fish food is high in protein and TS should sell it. The stores usually have a better selection than the web site.

dogwind,
looking around at other past topics on this forum it seems
I take the % protein in the bag and divide by 6.25 to get a rough estimate of what the %N would be.
The tractor supply fish and pig feed are around 12% and $12 to $15 so the ladybug 8-2-4 or ladybug cottenseed formula would be a wash for the cost vs Nitrogen output.

What are you paying for a 50# bag of SBM(48%) so I see what my closest feed store has for their price. Just trying to make sure they are giving me a fair deal when I call them.

Also how often do you fertile during the year?
I found another forum topic about using the federal holidays as a bases for a yearly organic program when starting out new.

I paid $12.50 for a 50# back of 48% SBM. I was far from the city at the time. I don't believe soybeans are often grown here, and I thought that was reasonable. Feed prices are highly elastic, and generally the further you live from from the farm, the more expensive it will be.
I generally fertilize 3 - 4 times per year. This year I fertilized more because green up in the spring was unusually slow, and I was fighting fungus, soil compaction and what I thought was SAD virus until mid July. Then it started getting really hot and dry everyday. My yard seemed to like it, and finally filled in and greened up. This forum's op used to post regularly about the fertilizing on the federal holiday's, simply because those days were easy to remember. Most people here say when you fertilize doesn't really doesn't matter very much. In the end, it all goes into the soil.

thanks again for the info.
How much will 50 lbs SBM cover?
I have 3000sq ft celebration bermuda.
The rest is weeds and rock/limestone.

Apundt, there is a feed station on west 290 that may close to you. I ordered 2 bags of soybean meal from them. It is about 45% of protein. The price is a little bit high around $18 if I remember it correctly. They don't stock the meals. They will order it for you and you pick it up after 2 or 3 weeks.

You may call them for the phone number below.

Feed Stationâ
9120 Highway 290 W, Austin, TXâ - (512) 301-7788â

Just called Callahan's General Store and they carry it for $12.5 50lb bag. So it is great deal if you want to drive a little bit far.

Callahan's General Store
501 U.S. 183, Austin, TX 78741-3699 (512) 385-3452

that's where I ended up going today to buy it at 12.50
I called all up and down 290 from Henley to Oakhill. only two quotes 14.00 and 20.00(used last years price to quote)

how much of the 50# do I use for 3000 sq ft bermuda?

20 lbs per 1000 sq ft is the typical application rate. Some do more, some less. When I started following an organic program, it was more commonly stated that 40# per 1000 sq feet was the recommended rate. But you can get the same benefit with just 20#. (or 10#) If your budget allows, buy 2 - 50# bags. That would give you 33# per 1000 sq ft.

How much you apply is up to your budget. I have always suggested 10-20 pounds per 1,000. That goes for any grain type fertilizer. 10 pounds usually improves things a lot. 20 definitely does, but I know a few guys on other forums who apply as much as 80 pounds per application. And they do that 10 times per year. The point is you cannot hurt anything by overdoing it unless you absolutely smother the yard with it.

Here is a link to a map of the feed stores near Austin. Zoom in to see the dots turn into data.

I know people dislike Scotts but wouldn't be cheaper in gas and much less polluting to pick up some of the organic choice fert when you're at your local lowe's or HD? Kinda defeats the purpose, to me, of organic fert by driving all over the country looking for organics.

the price is 12.50 much cheaper than the Scott's products.

I was traveling that way for some other personal business so pollution "for" the SBM was minimal.

The Natural Gardener of Austin on Old Bee Caves Road in Oak Hill carries corn meal and all the rest.
www.naturalgardeneraustin.com

I already know about Natural Gardner.
That's where I got the ladybug 8-2-4 for 25.00.
That's twice the amount I paid for the SBM which is around 9-0-0.

I have priced Corn Gluten Meal and Cotton Seed Meal there too. From what I have researched and read here on the forum it seems that the meal found at the feed stores might be the way to go.

If you need advice, visit The Natural Gardener and buy from him. But if you know what you want, then call every feed store in the map I linked to above. If they don't carry what you're looking for, ask them who does. I'm reasonably sure any of them carry alfalfa pellets (rabbit food). Should be $10-12 for 50 pounds.

thanks again about NG.
I stopped by him yesterday and bought a 50# bag of corn meal with free weevils and a hand core aerator.

The weevils will not be an issue if you apply it all before the winter comes. Our winters are not cold enough outside to kill weevils in the bag so by spring you would have a mess.

I bought a rather small bag of this fungus killer last weekend at a nursery and it cost @ 21 dollars and was gone in no time. it did not go very far at all. I will also look into the cornmeal since this looked like that was all it was.

Just to add info to the conversation, last week I priced corn meal at Red Barn Nursery (north 183), Great Outdoors Nursery (downtown on Congress), and Natural Gardener.

Red Barn: #50 bags @$25
Natural Gardener: #50 bags @$25
Great Outdoors: #5jugs @$9

So which is more successful- corn meal, or soybean meal?