corn gluten meal or corn meal

Okiedawn OK Zone 7

15 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

It depends on what you are using the corn meal for. You apply the corn meal dry and then water it in to activate it. If you don't water it in, it doesn't work. Here's the different ones available and how you use them:

CORN GLUTEN MEAL: Corn Gluten Meal is a natural weed-and-feed fertilizer. Research done at Iowa State University in the early 1990s found that it inhibits root formation at the time weed seeds germinate. It also is about 10% nitrogen and feeds the plants at the same time.

You apply it (down here in southern OK) between February 15th and March 15th at a rate of about 15-20 lbs. per 1000 square feet. You spread it at this time to prevent germination of crab grass, grassburrs and other annual weeds that sprout in late winter to early spring.

You apply it (down here in southern OK) between September 15th and October 15th at the same rate of 15-20 lbs. per 1000 square feet to inhibit germination of cool-season weeds that germinate in fall and winter, which includes dandelions, henbit and annual bluegrass.

IF you are overseeding your lawn with rye grass or fescue, you can't use the corn gluten meal until all your grass seed has sprouted and grown at least a couple of inches tall.

CORN MEAL: Plain old kitchen corn meal has anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties, so it is great as a natural disease control in the lawn and garden, and even in seed flats and pots. It is also a mild fertilizer. You apply it at the rate of 20 lbs. per 1000 square feet. It has been found to be effective on brown patch disease in St. Augustine, and many people have found it to work on various soil-borne fungal diseases, including those that attack photinia, Indian hawthorne, roses, and fruit trees. Corn meal works, by the way, by providing and stimulating existing beneficial microorganisms that feed on bad pathogens like bacteria and fungi.

Corn meal can be scattered on the surface of your seed flats to prevent damping off. Spread at the rate of 2 lbs. per 100 square feet of seed flats.

FOR ALGAE CONTROL: You can apply corn meal OR horticultural corn meal to your ponds at the rate of 5 lbs. per 100 s.f. or 150-200 lbs. per surface acre of water to control algae in ponds. The cornmeal's cellulose helps tie up excess phosphorus in the water which helps balance the water chemistry and kills the algae. Also, there is organic carbon in cornmeal which "feeds" beneficial bacteria in the water which enables them to flourish at the expense of the algae.

You do have to be really careful about applying it to ponds though, because is can tie up so much oxygen that you have a fish kill.

HORTICULTURAL CORN MEAL: This is just a stronger form of corn meal manufactured just for the horticultural industry. It contains the concentrated outer layer of the corn kernel.

And, I want to emphasize that all the corn meal products work ONLY when used as part of an organic gardening program. They do not work if used in combination with chemicals.

For what it is worth, listeners of Howard Garrett's weekend radio gardening show in Fort Worth have been experimenting with corn meal for several years, using it to combat various fungal problems like skin (esp. foot) fungal problems and nail fungal problems. A lot of them have reported success by soaking cornmeal and water and using the "corn meal juice" as a soak for feet or nails. Some of his listeners have used it on themselves and other people, and some have used it on pets with fungal skin problems.

Dawn