Re: Corn Gluten

**"* F* <c*@mail.com>**

Doreen,
I have tried several times to send you a reply to this query off-list, but when using the email at the bottom of your post my message bounces back. So here is my reply:

I use corn gluten on my lawn - it was applied two weeks ago. It isn't for every lawn owner, however. Corn gluten is frequently billed as being an organic pre-emergent herbicide, and many think that it will keep crab grass and other annual weeds at bay in the least toxic way.  Maybe.  

Like conventional pre-emergents, corn gluten must be applied when the soil has just reached 50 degrees. This is easy to determine because the forsythias come into bloom when the soil warms to this temperature. But unlike those more toxic pre-emergents, corn gluten must have a very wet period followed by a dry period in order to work. When applied just as the weed seeds germinate, the corn gluten will only kill those tiny weed seed roots if there is a dry period following the moist time that allows the gluten to reach the roots.

If the weather continues to be wet, or if the lawn owner has an automatic sprinkler that is watering the turf, the corn gluten fertilizes the lawn and the weeds. So it can't be counted on to work as a pre-emergent unless the conditions are just right, and how many springs are just right?  Right.... not that many.  

For gardeners such as myself, who don't stress about weeds in the lawn, corn gluten is a good high nitrogen, organic fertilizer that might have weed suppressing benefits. As a garden consultant, however, I hesitate to recommend it for weed control because it is very, very "iffy". 

The bibliography on this website had lots of good research about this topic: http://www.pesticide.org/pubs/alts/cgm/cornglutenmeal.html 

watching my lawn weeds grow after 7 days of rain as the forsythia fades,
C.L.
www.gardenlady.com
blog www.wholelifegardening.com
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