Cornmeal Tea Recipe?

19 years ago

Hello all. Does anyone have a recipe and application instructions for cornmeal tea? I've read a few postings about it and am excited to try it out on my tomatoes.

Also, I was thinking about going with a trifecta approach to this. Has anyone tried cornmeal tea mixed with milk and/or aspirin? Yes, I know aspirin isn't organic, buuuuut I'm willing to try it out for my heirloom tomato babies.

Thanks!

Featured Answer

nandina

19 years ago

To Ellen - Yes, sprinkling cornmeal every two weeks around a plant subject to fungus problems is effective. Important point is to begin treatment early in the spring on those perennials, such as hollyhocks which are plagued with rust problems, when the first growth emerges in early spring and continue the treatment throughout the growing season. Just a quick reminder that only cornmeal purchased from a grocery store should be used on edible crop plants. Feed store type cornmeal or finely cracked corn is okay for everything else growing in your yard.

To darthtrader - Cornmeal tea is most commonly used on tomatoes and peppers. It can, of course, be used on all plants. As I keep repeating, cornmeal treatment must start early on to be most effective. However, I find that when plants are in the young seedling stage, sprinkling cornmeal around them is not as successful as spraying them with cornmeal tea, a process which I begin when they have grown to their second leaf stage. Mrs Hunter of Texas and I compared notes awhile ago. She is spraying once a week and does not find it harmful. It may be a more effective method for those living in hot, humid climates. Botton line, a once a week cornmeal tea spray should not be harmful.

When I was experimenting I did allow a cornmeal tea mixture to 'spoil' and then sprayed tomatoes with it. No harm was done. How did your milk and cornmeal tea combo work? Milk, of course, is used for mildew problems.

I am convinced that to grow a healthy, organic crop of tomatoes and peppers one must begin the process keeping all as 'clean' as possible. When sowing seed I set my starter pots filled with soil in a flat pan and pour boiling water over all. When soil has cooled I sow seeds which have soaked in water with a few drops of peroxide added. Then, when transplanting young seedlings to individual pots I again sterilize that soil with boiling water and spray the little seedlings with cornmeal tea. At planting time the plants are mulched, cornmeal scattered around each ( repeat this every second week) and tea treatments continued. Try this approach next year.

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Comments (8)

darthtrader
Original Author
19 years ago
Found the answer to my own question! For anyone who wants to know the answer, here it is.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cornmeal Juice aka Cornmeal Tea
gumby_ct
19 years ago
In case you were wondering, like I was -

"***Corn Gluten should not be used as a fungicide. Corn Gluten is cornmeal that has been processed to have a higher protein content. Iowa State researchers discovered that cornmeal gluten can inhibit seed germination. It is now used as a pre-emergent weed killer. ThatÂs a great tip, but donÂt confuse corn gluten with the fungicidal properties of corn meal."
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nandina
19 years ago
As the person who first experimented with making cornmeal tea to be used as a plant fungicide and posting my observations here on GW, a few additional thoughts which may be helpful.

Yes, the formula is one cup of grocery store cornmeal to a gallon of water. Here is the important part...let this mixture stand until is has a sweet, yeasty odor. This could take from 12 hours up to 2 days. Keep sniffing! Then strain carefully. I use a very fine strainer first and then pour all through a coffee filter so the liquid does not clog my sprayer. Unused spray cannot be saved as this combinations spoils quickly. Pour any leftovers around a plant.

Also and very important...cornmeal treatment should begin on plants such as tomatoes which you know are prone to fungus problems after seedlings reach the second leaf stage and continue every second week through the growing season.

I have not experimented with a 'trifecta' method of combining cornmeal tea, milk and aspirin in one spray. That is an idea for some of you to trial next year.
ellen_z7ny
19 years ago
Nandina,

Haven't you written about having good disease suppression just by sprinkling cornmeal around the base of a plant?
darthtrader
Original Author
19 years ago
You're not kidding about it spoiling quickly, nandina. At day 1 it just looked like water mixed with cornmeal. After 24 hrs it was smelling sweet, yeasty and corny. At day three, it wasn't so sweet smelling and the yeasty and corny smells were being taken over by a spoiling smell. I had to wait until day three to spray because I couldn't find my sprayer. I hope I didn't damage my plants instead of help them. We'll see... I did, however, add about 1/2 cup of milk into the sprayer with the cornmeal tea.

Here's a question for you all. Is it possible to overdo this cornmeal tea spray treatment? I remember a Mrs. H from TX recommending treatment weekly. If I did this twice a week, would that be too much? Or, if I sprayed with the tea AND sprinkled dry cornmeal around the plants weekly, would that combination be too much?

Thank you all for your input so far. This forum has taught me so much.
darthtrader
Original Author
19 years ago
I'm two weeks into this now. The first week it was a gallon of 3 day old cornmeal tea mixed with half a cup of fresh milk. It smelled...bad. The plants are still looking great! Today at dusk I sprayed with a gallon of 2 day old cornmeal tea mixed with 2 cups of milk. I also sprayed my seedlings.

A thought struck me while I was out there spraying. What can I add to this elixir to repell pests? Cinnamon to repell ants, which will discourage their simbiotic relationship with aphids is what comes to mind. Anything else you all might suggest? I wasn't sure about adding cayenne, as it might work against the beneficial fungus I'm trying to establish with the cornmeal tea.
Diane House
4 years ago
darthtrade, I hope you will receive this. I have read your and the others' posts. Lots of information! Thanks to you all. Curious as to how the tomatoes held up that season. Could you follow up on this post?

Thanks, Diane House