The Dirt Doctor - Cornmeal 101

The Dirt Doctor - Cornmeal 101

Cornmeal is different than corn gluten meal and horticultural cornmeal is different still. Cornmeal is -- well -- just cornmeal right out of the kitchen. Horticultural cornmeal is a more concentrated form. How has this food product become an important gardening tool?

Cornmeal, plain old cornmeal right out of the kitchen, has a terrific use in gardening, landscaping, and farming. Even for your potted plants. It's a natural disease control. Dr. Joe McFarland and his staff at the A&M Research Station in Stephenville discovered, that cornmeal is effective at controlling fungal diseases on peanuts. I started playing with it and discovered that it is effective on brown patch in St. Augustine and damping off in seedlings. Used at about 20 lbs./1,000 sq. ft. per surface area of soil. Cornmeal will help control all diseases on photinia, Indian hawthorn, roses, fruit trees, turf and seed flats. Horticultural cornmeal is even better because it is the concentrated outer edge of the corn kernel and it's available in large bags at many of the garden centers and feed stores that sell the organic products.

DISEASE CONTROL IN THE GARDEN

Use cornmeal for root or soil borne fungus problems at 10-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Cornmeal works as a disease fighter in the soil by providing and stimulating existing beneficial microorganisms that feed on pathogens such as rhizoctonia, better known as brown patch in St. Augustine. Cornmeal at about two pounds per one hundred square feet also works on seedlings to prevent damping off, also on any other soil borne fungal diseases on both food and ornamental crops. One application may be all that is needed, but multiple applications are okay if necessary because cornmeal serves as a mild organic fertilizer and soil builder. The cornmeal needs moisture to activate. Rain won't hurt cornmeal's efficacy because, like all organic products, it is not water soluble.

ALGAE CONTROL
For floating paint-like and filamentous algae in water, use cornmeal at 5 pounds per 1,000 square feet or 150-200 pounds per surface acre. The cellulose in the cornmeal helps to tie up the excess phosphorous in water, balances the water chemistry and thus kills off the algae. The organic carbon in the cornmeal enables the beneficial bacteria in the water to flourish at the expense of the algae. Then the decomposing algae provide a source of carbon for the bacteria. One or two treatments is usually enough to control the algae for several months.

Caution: any fast algae kill from any product can cause an oxygen depravation and result in fish kill.

Additional information can be obtained from the following publication:

"Cornmeal -- It's Not Just Hog Feed Anymore," The Peanut Farmer, May 1996.

Aquaculture Engineering (1990) 175-186.

P.S. Cornmeal only works in an organic program. When toxic chemical products are used, the effect of the cornmeal will be lost.

CORN GLUTEN MEAL -- It does not have the same disease fighting qualities. It is the natural "weed and feed" fertilizer. See separate entry for details.

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[ArizonaAdventures]

thanks foor the tips, looksa like I'll be searching for some gluten

[pinkginger09]

Hi

I am confused about fungus, some do their best to get fungus back in the soil,

and now you say get it out of the soil? please respond.

[tangrene]

@tangrene I might add that it worked great around transplanted tomatoes and flowers...hardly a weed in those beds for several years!

[tangrene]

I put a large bag of Worlds Best Cat Litter (made from corn) in a flower bed (my cat refused to use the litter so I decided to add it to my bed). I seeded that bed 3 times and could hardly get sprouts to come up and to make a plant. This was before corn gluten weed stuff on retail market. I searched for germination problems and corn litter...and found info about it's use. SOOOOO If ya want a good weed preventer...use your cat litter!

[ladysmithrose]

so I can sprinkle this right onto my potted plants :)

kewlies

[WurledPeas]

Ironic. The world starves in many places and we save our decorative lawns from disease using a staple food.

[w1cebu]

"Organic" relates to how green your lawn looks while considering how the deep effects of human actions to the habitat in a direct way or otherwise; Sustainability with co-inhabitants of the environment. It's man's choice to co-exist with nature and reap the earth's long-term productivity, OR patronize man-made products that are one-sided, good for the short-term but harms slow & "irreversible". Brand names are made cheap, they capture part of each one's money, profiting from lot's of people.

[TurfCare11]

Corn Gluten Meal = 20 lbs/1000 at ($35 per 40 lb bag)

Lesco Pre M = 5 lbs/1000 at ($18 per 50 lb bag)

You do the math - Organic is down right EXPENSIVE!

[froebroe]

great video!

[TerrainBuildingClan]

THANKS!!! for the advise!