Return to the Garden Experiments Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Another type of Cornmeal experiment to try
| | |
Posted by Nandina 8b (My Page) on Tue, Jul 22, 03 at 16:08
Hi,
I may have stumbled onto another use for cornmeal. This post is directed toward anyone who is fighting sooty mold or scale on outdoor plants. Would you please scatter cornmeal under any such affected shrubs or trees three times a year; once in early spring, once in July and once in September. Concentrate the bulk of the cornmeal directly around the trunk. You may note, if the plants are evergreen that a yellow, threadlike fungus may form on the leaves. Don't worry about this as it will soon disappear and do no harm. You will not see immediate results from using cornmeal, but in a year or so the scale may be gone and you may find that you no longer have sooty mold problems. This is an experiment! I am hoping that some of you will have the patience to follow this regime and report back in a year or so any results observed. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Another type of Cornmeal experiment to try
| | |
| If this works, someone is going to have a tizzy explaining how. Sooty mold forms from the honeydew excreted by aphids and such. |
RE: Another type of Cornmeal experiment to try
| | |
| I guess you could see less scale on a plant that is growing more vigorously. If they are nitrogen deficient and you start fertilizing with cornmeal you could see an improvement. We also see a sooty mold from heavy scale infestations. Same idea as with aphids. Paul |
RE: Another type of Cornmeal experiment to try
| | |
Field,
I did not go into great detail as to what I think may be happening re the possibility that cornmeal controls scale and sooty mold. When I first noticed this happening I sought out others with one or both problems and began experimenting, treating and observing their plants closely. At the moment I don't want to attempt an explanation although I am pretty certain I understand what is happening. It has nothing to do with nitrogen or fertilizer. What I do want is for anyone fighting scale and/or sooty mold to toss cornmeal under the plant(s) three times a year as I explained above and report their observations in about a year. |
RE: Another type of Cornmeal experiment to try
| | |
| Shucks, Nandina, I understood you. I was just saying that, if it works, explaining how is going to take some doing. And all of us engineer/geologist/science type guys always want to know how and why something works. Otherwise, we don't know whether to believe it or not. That's how they teach us in school:-) |
|
|
|
|
