Grocery store corn meal should be fine if it doesn't have flour mixed in. Where are you located?

I had similar issues when I 1st started looking. Then 1 feed store told me where to go to get everything he could not provide me. Bulk grocery stores (Sams, Costco, Winco, etc) for corn meal 25 - 50 lb bags - this easily costs 4x what cracked corn elsewhere costs. Soybean meal $18.50/50 lb get from a local feed store, they don't stock it, but it's in their catalog for them to order. I could also get alfalfa & corn (cracked) from the feed store but it's more expensive. Cracked corn I get from Tractor supply for $9.95/50 lbs, alfalfa for $11/50 lbs.

If you can't find anything you can try bulk dog/cat/fish food, just read the label

You may find better help on this topic on the Organic Lawn Care forum.

It's really only affordable if you can get it from a feed store or directly from a mill and even then if seen some pretty steep prices. It really all spends on your area.

I'm in Jacksonville, FL which is actually fairly rural so we have numerous feed stores. However, all of them look at me like I'm crazy and ask what it's used for. Apparently corn meal or soy meal aren't used in any kind of agricultural feeds around here. I ended up just picking up some alfalfa pellets for $13 / 40 pounds.

My feed stores in San Antonio used to look at me like I was crazy, too. The last one I was in asked me if I wanted alfalfa pellets for feed or to fertilize my lawn, so some are becoming savvy.

Corn meal with flour in it is fine. Wheat is a fertilizer by itself, but you can't find it at most feed stores, so we don't talk about it. What you don't want to see in corn meal is baking soda or baking powder. If you're shopping at a grocery store that caters to Hispanic shoppers they will have tortilla mix that already has the additives in it. Right next to it in a bag with different colored labeling will be 25-pound bags of unadulterated corn meal.

Cheap dog food is a good idea. Florida has more horses per capita than any other state, so if you can find a stable somewhere, they will know where to buy animal feed. They are mostly buying alfalfa hay but they also buy horse cubes, another form of alfalfa that is only found in feed stores.

Did you try Tractor Supply for the grains?

I tried tractor supply, they even let me look through their catalog of what they could order and I saw nothing. I ended up buying the alfalfa pellets there which are marked as horse feed on the package. I did notice they had a cow feed supplement that contained mostly soy meal, but it has a ton of other ingredients, which I would think would be the same problem with dog food. Plus, I don't want my dog eating it! I'll check in with a Hispanic market but it seems the food grade stuff is not cheap.

TSC has corn, whole & cracked. You don't need "corn meal," you need the most economical source to add organic matter. Same goes for SBM. For me SBM is steadily going up in price since supply is low this time of year. In the Fall after harvest, SBM will be dirt cheap & I will stock up for 2017. Corn & alfalfa are always essentially the same price. Right now you can score wheat very cheap. It gets to a point where the cost and (in)convenience of the product outweighs the benefits. To my knowledge nothing that I buy is labeled as an organic lawn product. If you are asking for or looking for that, it may be the cause of some confusion. You simple want some big bags of grain.

What's wrong with just recycling your clippings and leaves every time you mow? It's free and contains the essentials. You could supplement with compost and Milorganite when needed.

Yes, I'm just looking for cheap grain. Checked with a Hispanic market, they can special order 50 lbs of corn meal but it's $25, which is actually more than it would be to load up a cart of 5lb bags at Walmart. Cracked corn may be an option. All of the feed stores have that. I'm looking to boost by organic matter since I just moved into a home with a neglected lawn that appears to have none. There are no trees or leaves around.

Maybe you should do a soil test to find out what your organic matter levels are, I'm fairly certain you can't tell whether you have any or not just by looking at it. You might not need to boost anything. Mulch mowing usually provides a good amount of organic matter for your soil.

Also, while I understand people nowadays are so far removed from their natural roots and food sources that a lot of them have only seen a live chicken at the petting zoo, throwing perfectly good food on the ground to rot is, in my opinion, a very wasteful and questionable practice.

Cracked corn is great. Expect to see the occasional corn plant pop up, because the screen for the cracked corn will allow the tiny kernels to sift through. Corn plants die as soon as you mow them off, so that's not too much of an issue. Whole corn, or deer corn, will give you a field of corn plants, so you don't want to use that.

I am basing that upon the soil in the jar test that was recommended on the organic forum. I am trying to do what I can right now for my neglected lawn that doesn't have much grass From what I've read here, about the only thing I can do at this time of year is add organic matter to help improve the soil. Should I not be doing that?

Dchall, how long do you think it takes cracked corn to get into the soil?

Should I not be doing that?

Yes, keep doing what you are doing. As evidenced by Morpheus, it's very difficult to add too much organic materials to your lawn. The end result is healthy soil that will better support what you want to grow. You are supporting the natural soil food web. For some of us that takes more effort because of where we live, others may not have that big of an issue.

Should I not be doing that?

Start by getting a soil test at Logan Labs. It will tell you exactly what percentage of OM you have, along with other minerals/nutrients. Post it here, and Morpheus will give you recommendations based on your soil condition. The folks over on the organic forum are basically trying to eat soup with a fork for philosophical reasons, which is fine if you're into the dogma, but you'll get a much more balanced and effective program here.

>>trying to eat soup with a fork for philosophical reasons

True, but I'll try to give anybody alternates they find more acceptable if they wish. If they only want "organics" (as they incorrectly define them on the other forum), it's not going to be effective, fast, or cheap.

However, I always restrict myself to chemistry that doesn't cause problems, is of low toxicity*, and is both effective and as cheap and fast as possible.

* Everything is toxic in large enough doses, even water, so the only thing we can say is that something is of low toxicity, not non-toxic.

Not sure how the discussion got shifted away from where to buy grains, but I guess I'll just stick with what I can find, alfalfa and cracked corn. I never said I wanted only to use "organics." From my understanding that's sinply all I can use on my lawn at this time of year. I don't see any need to soil test right now since I can't apply chemical fertilizer right now anyway. My plan is to build up my organic matter throughout the summer by applying alfalfa, cracked corn, and milorganite until it cools off. In September, I'll do a soil test and see where I'm at.

You do not need to drop corn on the ground to increase organic matter. Roots and the associated fungi are a major contributor of organic matter in the soil , maybe more so that anything put on top:

http://www.caes.uga.edu/commodities/fieldcrops/forages/Ga_Cat_Arc/2013/HFG1302.pdf

"We’ve also been evaluating how much of the
OM buildup is due to the roots, plant litter, and animal manure by monitoring the radioisotope
signatures of these sources of biomass as they decompose and become incorporated into the soil.
Our preliminary results seem
to indicate that the roots and root
exudates are the major sources of
soil OM improvements. These
results support the findings of a
consortium of American and
European scientists in a recent
review in the journal Nature. Their
controversial report challenged the
long-held belief that crop residues
and biomass on the soil surface are
the source of soil OM buildup."

A lawn that is well fed and well watered with a deep extensive root system will help you to increase soil OM over time without the need to bust your back nor your wallet with hundreds of pounds of corn.