No, they are not the same product and cannot be used interchangeably. Corn meal is a food product, consumable by humans as well as livestock. Corn gluten meal is a byproduct from processing the corn and is not a food product (at least for humans) although is often included in pet food or sold as a livestock feed.

And I'd suggest you do further research on CGM's value as a fungicide. The efficaciousness of CGM for any gardening purposes is a matter of considerable discussion. While it may have some value as a pre-emergent herbicide, documented results have been hard to establish and the jury is still out as to exactly how effective it may be. I think much of it has to do with the proper timing of the application, which is a fairly narrow window depending on the weeds you are attempting to control.

There is even less credible documentation of CGM's value as a fungicide. To be properly technical, it is NOT a fungicide - but it does encourage populations of specific beneficial soil organisms that control pathogenic fungi. But virtually any type of OM will do exactly the same thing and at a much lower or even no cost.

The long and short of it is that CGM - corn gluten meal - is not some magic elixir that will cure all gardening ills. It may have some value as an application for organic lawn care in reducing the development of annual weeds (if applied at the proper time of year) and as a low dose fertilizer source, but that's about it.

What type of soil fungus are you attempting to control?

I had a serious issue with a fungus that affected my tomatoes( possibly late blight?) and something killed my strawberries( could have been black rot,red stele or anthracnose?) it was hard pin down the exact issues. If there are other organic methods to help control these I'd love to hear about them.

Corn meal has been touted as a possible fungicide based on one research paper done by a couple of researchers at Texas A & M. No one has been able to replicate the results they appeared to obtain. Some people, however, report seeing good results using corn meal, which is what you have found. Corn meal is simply ground (milled) corn.

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

Corn Gluten Meal is something else and is a by product of processing corn. Corn Gluten Meal is a high protein animal feed that was found to have some properties that will inhibit a plants ability to grow roots. Corn Gluten Meal has never been marketed to be a fungicide, although some people have suggested using it that way.

A soil that has a fungus could be solarized or that soil can be used as long as no plants related to those that are affected by the fungus are planted there. Your University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service may have information about soil solarization or there is this from the University of California.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74145.html

kimmq is kimmsr

Amanda, I think the standard answer is to rip out the tomatoes and don't plant tomatoes in the same bed more than one out of every four years -- rotate your crops. That said, I have amazingly good luck using actively aerated compost tea (AACT) which I brew for about a day in a five gallon bucket with worm compost, molasses and a couple other things. For me, it's kept away EVERY bad thing, except spider mites, and eliminates plant food from the equation.

for-worm-composters-who-brew-aerated-compost-tea-teaming-w-microbes

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3167075/for-worm-composters-who-brew-aerated-compost-tea-teaming-w-microbes?n=2