I grew oodles of corns in 2008 and 2009, and actually just ground it all up in October and November -- it sat in the basement in storage for all that time. I ended up with over a hundred pounds of corn meal, of various colors. I tried flour corns (actually, my favorite in terms of ease of grinding), dent corns (most productive), flint corns (not for grinding again, too hard! but pretty for decorative use), and even waxy corn (via someone in North Carolina who got seeds from China). I think my single most productive variety was Northstine Dent --- its a northern Michigan heirloom with fairly short plants (5-6 feet), and about 7 inch ears with yellow kernels. Hopi Blue Dent was probably the most productive blue. Earthtones Dent and Oaxacan Green were both productive, but the cornmeal is kind of ugly, yielding a strangely colored cornbread (kind of looks like dryer lint, but tastes fine). Painted Mountain was just OK in terms of production, IMO. Alas, my dry corn crop this year was an abject failure. The stupid squirrels striped every ear of my dry corns, from several hundred feet of row. There was NO walnut or acorn crop here, and I guess they were desperate for food, but partially my fault because I got lazy and was NOT good about getting them trapped, I just had too many other things to do. It did serve one purpose, they stayed out of my sweet corn and went for the dry corn varieties in the other garden closer to the trees. Hopefully next year will be better.

If you want to improve the soil structure then something like Nature's Helper (fine, aged bark chips) or another 'soil improver' would be better than vermiculite. The vermiculite is a permanent solution, so in one way, it's good, but it will NEVER break down and will be there for years to come. The benefit from adding OM, which will eventually be broken down by the microherd in the soil, is that it will all eventually improve your soil, making it more permeable and more fertile. The vermiculite will most likely do nothing, long term, for the improvement of your fulvic and humic acids. I would check to see if there is a municipal source of compost, and see if they will deliver - if they won't, then borrow a pick-up truck, if you don't own one, and get a few loads. It should be free, or nearly so, esp. if you pick up. I know there is a commercial operation near here where a freind got a pick-up load of mushroom compost and top soil for about $30 (about 2 cu. yards). Have you been adding the manure and compost to your garden beds for the past few years? I repeat what I wrote earlier - if you have been adding 4" or more of OM each year for a number of years, then you probably should have pretty good soil by now. If, however, this is only the second year or so you have been adding, then, yes, you could probably add more. One source of free or nearly so, OM is the local tree services, and the companies that trim the powerlines - they end up with truckloads of chippings, and are usually happy to dump one or more loads if you ask. The main draw-back is that the chippings are fresh and pretty coarse, so you have to be able to let them sit for at least a year - 2 is better - before using them. They do make a decent mulch, 'though you have to pick out the bigger pieces. If nothing else, it's a good "brown" additive to your new compost pile. You might also see if you can get the "spoiled" hay or straw. If nothing else, and for the future, see if you can get the bales people have used for fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations. By the time that they have sat out in the rain for a few weeks, they aren't really usable for either feed or bedding. Most people would probably give them to you, rather than have the garbage collecter take them, if their garbage service will even do so. I kinow nothing about the cotton by-products, they aren't locally available, so will let someone else comment on that.

It works every time for me. I use it at 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Now I am recommending a second application 3 weeks after the first. I'm practicing what I preach as I have some disease going on right now.

Folic acid is just another word for vitamin B. I think the application rate is 10-20 lbs per 1000 sq ft. I think it takes three weeks to start working. It may take more than one application.