so, I still ask, anyone out there know why not to use the stuff packaged for baking in the garden?

fuzzy158,
I will save you the long winded rambling. Regular corm meal is a good fertilizer so it won't do any harm. If you are getting results with it as a fertilizer, keep on doing it! Success is the best teacher!

Ron
The Garden Guy
httpa://www.thegardenguy.org
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I did a lot of reading on the web about corn gluten meal, and it seems the properties are very different than just corn meal alone. Google it and you'll get everything from user-friendly short articles to academic research papers. But here's the short version: they're not the same. Good luck.

Plain corn meal, the stuff you cook with, is not the preemergent weed suppressant. The weed suppressant is corn gluten meal. See Kimmsr's message for how CGM is made from corn.

When you buy CGM labeled as a weed suppressant, the price includes a license fee that goes to Iowa State. When you buy CGM in an unlabeled bag at your local feed store, you don't pay the license fee.

Having said all that, you are not the first person to notice that ordinary corn meal has some seed germination suppressing effects. Several years ago GardenWeb member Nandina was testing ordinary corn meal as an anti-disease material and reported seed suppression in this very forum. What rate did you use the ordinary corn meal?

how long do the alleopaths last in the cgm?

and are you saying that a 'secret' way around paying for the expensive "preemergent CGM" is to buy the feed bags of corn meal??

Yes, I have had success using corn meal (From the grocery) as a weed suppressant. I did not measure, I simply dusted my beds with it, until I could see a fine layer. I did not notice any evidence of it burning any plants, but i believe It did provide some nutrients. As my budget will not allow me to use the licensed product, I will continue to use baking meal. It seems to be working, why not?

At Lowes corn gluten in the pretty package is $10.00 for 5 pounds, at the local feed store it is $5.00 for 50 pounds.

The only problem is the feed is in the form of extruded pellets, and it takes a little more time to get it soaked into the ground. but the savings makes it worth the extre time.

I just stumbled upon some good news for us cheapskates. US Patent 5030268 - Preemergence weed control using corn gluten meal - expires on January 16, 2010. That's just around the corner.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5030268.html

Hum
I know I wasn't dreaming when I met an older gentleman who knew or was involved in making or getting to market corn gluten for weed control or ???? This was back in the 1990's
I was a magazine rep. I was putting up the new magazines and taking down others n a local drugsgtore. When an interesting older guy started talking to me. He was interesting but I had work to do. So I did not absorb all he was saying. Wish now I would have gotten his name>
I thought about him later when I first saw the product advertised in a garden supply catalog
Just reminising
Thanks
Jean

The only difference between corn meal and corn gluten meal is that the former contains starch in addition to protein, while the latter is almost pure protein. I don't know which one has more weed suppression effect but from a fertility perspective, CGM is more concentrated. The starch portion is just organic matter and would slow down the N release, which may or may not be what you want.

The only problem is the feed is in the form of extruded pellets, and it takes a little more time to get it soaked into the ground. but the savings makes it worth the extre time.
You can find this savings on many of the organic products. And like mentioned just apply earlier. I apply alfalfa pellets when I run out of the loose hay around the stacks. I just apply earlier and they work well. I'm trying to get some corn gluten pellets right now. I will apply them in the fall where my corn rows will be next year. I buy my soybean meal, cottonseed meal and most of the other products at a feed store rather than at a nursery. I was in a nursery the other day that handles alfalfa meal, soybean meal and corn gluten and couldn't believe the prices. I can buy at least two 50# sacks of pellets for what they get for one small bag of alfalfa meal. I suppose it was 10 pounds maybe. Someone is making money. Like molasses. I can buy 50 pounds for just over nine dollars and see what it costs you per gallon to buy that labeled for gardens. Jay

So question if the diffrence is "starch" isnt it cheaper to buy corn starch and cooking grade corn meal? I also heard of mixing baking soda and corn meal with epsom salt has anyone tried this with out damage to their lawn or flower beds?

Mistina, what are you hoping to accomplish with this mixture? What is it supposed to do?

The problem with many of these so called 'natural' or organic home remedies is that they really don't do anything despite being touted for all sorts of magical properties. Corn meal - or even corn gluten meal - really doesn't have significant herbicidal or fungicidal properties. Scientific testing to support any consistent herbicidal properties have not been able tosuccessfully duplicate the results generated by Iowa State University that caused all the hoopla to begin with. And the fungicidal properties simply do not exist. But since CGM is nearly pure protein, it's not at all a bad organic fertilizer (if you overlook the consideration that most feeder corn grown in the US is GMO'd).

And Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) provides absolutely NO benefit to the garden unless you have a magnesium deficiency in your soil.

If you want to use any of these or similar organic home remedies for weed control or pest or disease suppression, do some research first before you spend money purchasing these products needlessly. There are numerous websites outlining any scientific testing or investigation into the alleged beneficial properties these products may or may not possess. Look in particular for scientific papers or websites with the .edu suffix.

Finally, purchasing food grade equivalents of these products at a grocery store will always be more expensive than buying in bulk from a feed lot source.

As I have written on these forums many times there are no magic elixirs out there. Many people have misrepresented what Corn Gluten Meal will do and many people found the one report, from Texas A & M, that told of corn meals apparent fungicidal properties and have just disregarded the follow up studies that could not replicate that one study. Many people will tell you that they have spread corn meal around and had the fungal disease stopped and maybe something happened as it always will in nature.

To get enough magnesium to do much good one would need to apply a very large amount of Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulfate). The one cup of Epsom Salts to one gallon of water sprayed over 100 square feet is not much.

Your best defense against unwanted plant growth, aka "weeds", is good gardening practices, applying mulches to help control them and periodic removal of those unwanted plants. Your best defense against plant diseases and insect pests is good gardening practices that include making the soil these plants grow in into a good healthy soil that will grow strong and healthy plants that are better able to withstand an attack.

kimmq is kimmsr

I got very good guidance .

It obviously works its the first and main ingredient in Preen.

Preen also markets an organic pre-emergent that is essentially CGM. For the skeptics, CGM is an effective organic weed and feed when applied correctly; i.e, when the soil temperature is within the recommended range (varies by region, of course) and when watered in as directed. I have no personal experience with corn meal, though owners of St. Augustinegrass lawns in Texas rave about its fungicidal properties.