Does Corn Gluten Work?

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The chickens liked it. :)

As for seed germination... I'd have to give it a qualified maybe. Perhaps I did not apply it heavy enough. Or perhaps it needed two or three applications a month apart. I like to think it reduced the weeds, but IMHO a good thick layer of mulch does a lot more.

sdb

For myself, in San Antonio, it seemed to keep the crabgrass at bay from my st. augustine. Dunno if it was just placebo affect, but my great aunt swears by it.

You could get some ordinary corn meal. Then blindfold yourself, and also blindfold your entire lawn. Then spread the cornmeal on half of your lawn (randomly selected) and the corn gluten on the other half.

Voila! A Double-Blind study that should eliminate the placebo problem.

Happy to be of help.

vince norris

Dr. Yucca: To kill a plant, you first have to name it a "weed" and debase its culture and ancestry.

I too, was interested in this Corn Gluten hype, and to me that is what it is. Last summer, after I harvested my melons, I took a 42"tiller behind my tractor and tilled four rows sided by side 100 ft long. I selected the rows randomly and treated them as follows: Row 1 I used Treflan(this is what commercial growers use). Row 2 I did nothing, Row 3, I used Preen(purchased at Walmart), and Row 4 I used Corn Gluten. The Treflan and Preen rows had nothing germinate except a few Bull-Nettle(probably from a root not a seed). The row I did nothing too had several different kinds of grasses and weeds, including Lambs Quarter, Rag Weed, white clover, Poor Joe and others. The row I used the Corn Gluten in seemed (maybe) to have a little control of some of the grasses, with no noticeable effect on the weeds, and not complete control of the grass as the Treflan and Preen did.

Note: This was just Corn Gluten(not the >>

I don't like to promote a technology I don't have confidence in (corn gluten) but from what I have read, your test and another that was posted here is not very valid.

I have read that corn gluten works by promoting the growth of certain fungi in the soil. These fungi suppress seed germination, but it takes more than one year to develop a large enough fungus base to be effective. So a one year test is not useful, and neither is a test in which the soil is dug each year. Corn gluten is supposed to be effective on lawns when it is applied for more than one year.

Evidentaly, we are reading different books. Try this for facts:

Draw your own c>I don't like to promote a technology I don't have confidence in (corn

According to some experts:

"Corn gluten meal prevents sprouting seeds from developing normal roots. This does not directly kill the seedlings, but makes them susceptible to dehydration if the soil gets dry. Established plants are not affected."

See this entire article at Pesticide.org:

========================================= Dr. Yucca: The only good weed is your neighbor's weed.