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Location

Message

Date Posted

Burton, Ohio

I'm having trouble finding ground corn at the area feed stores. So, is cracked corn okay to use or does it have to be ground in order to work as a fungicide?

10/20/2009 9:35:07 PM

Paradise Mountain, New York

It has to be ground corn meal. Crack corn takes a very long time to break down

10/20/2009 11:50:51 PM

Feed mills don' carry it here either, but if you ask they will grind it for you. It's not exactly like the corn meal you get in a grocery store but it works for our purposes.

10/21/2009 5:55:07 AM

Picton,ON (j.vincent@xplornet.ca)

Some old feed mills have what is called a Plate Grinder. These machines are designed to grind pig feed into a fine almost flour like powder. this is the equipment needed to get the consistency you are looking for. Most modern feed mills do not have this equipment, so look for an older mill that is still operational. Most of the older mills, still do small batches as well.

10/21/2009 8:22:24 AM

Boulder County Colorado USA planet Earth

I waz given some at the RMGVG tour in Aug. Great stuff.

10/21/2009 11:36:57 AM

Colorado Springs, CO

Go to "Soilmender.com", check out their website, call their 800#, and order some in 40# bags and have it UPS'd (or lowest-cost way) to you. If you want it you can get it. Tell them that Ross in CO gave you the referral. I am their sales mgr for CO/NM/UT/AZ.

10/21/2009 12:03:23 PM

Williamsburg,KY

Im very curious, just what does cornmeal do for your pumpkin patch?

10/21/2009 1:04:51 PM

Covington, WA

I'm curious as well. Does anyone have a link to any research on this? I was aware of corn meal as a weed inhibitor but not as a fungicide. I was leary of using it as it was my understanding that it inhibited root growth of weed seeds and was unsure how that would affect secondary rooting on pumpkins. It was supposed to work like preen. Would this have the same effect even though it's used for a different purpose?

10/21/2009 2:10:48 PM

Burton, Ohio

http://gardening.about.com/od/naturalorganiccontrol/qt/Cornmeal.htm

10/21/2009 2:55:47 PM

Covington, WA

Thanks Mr D

10/21/2009 11:40:03 PM

Burton, Ohio

Tiller, corn gluten meal is a byproduct of the wet-milling process and is used as a natural preemergence herbicide that works like Preen.

10/22/2009 5:56:57 AM

Picton,ON (j.vincent@xplornet.ca)

Very interesting...I have not heard this before about corn meal. It does do an excellent job of attracting earth worms as well.

10/22/2009 7:53:40 AM

Boulder County Colorado USA planet Earth

See ross know his stuff. I love the soil menders products they work great.

10/22/2009 9:44:52 AM

check out some of doc gipe's old posts he knew some "stuff"

10/22/2009 1:04:42 PM

Paradise Mountain, New York

Just do a web search and type in " Using cornmeal in your garden soil"

10/22/2009 8:17:31 PM

Colorado Springs, CO

I knew someone would mention the "gluten" word. Corn gluten meal is defined with 9-0-0 (NPK) balance. It is all Nitrogen, and none of the other two. It generally has a redidual presence of 2 to 4 months depending on weather and the water it experiences. Lo and behold, yes, it has been shown to deter seed germination, both good and bad, whether wanted or un-wanted. Great if used in soil around transplants....but NOT if already in the soil and one plans on inserting seeds. Once a (weed) seed has sprouted...it will simply be fed by that 9% N presence !

The other stuff, a fully-cracked corn meal is known to feed the Trichaderma genus of fungi, the good fungi. Their many species' population increases and they do battle with the "bad" fungi, and that war goes on out-of-sight of you and me. One feeds the good guys by sprinkling in at bottom of transplant hole, or into the backfill medium while planting, or scratched into the top 1" of soil during the season. This also invites worms to enter that area and "graze". People leaning too heavily on synthetic chemicals (water-soluble, fast feeding and salt-based) will do more harm to the micro-biological activity in their garden soils than they could ever imagine.

The most important forces in any grower's arsenal are the numerous Biological forces at work for you. An active biology processes and makes available the elements of the (organic) chemistry that has been introduced into the soil. Who ever thought that biology, chemistry and physics could be so easily understood !

10/24/2009 12:36:45 PM