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Basic Cornmeal Questions

viche
14 years ago

Been thinking of switching to cornmeal for my lawn for a while now and I have a few unanswered questions:

1. Will Cornmeal attract ants? I alreday have enough of them on my property. I don't see how the ants won't be attracted to this source of sugar/protein.

2. Should I be looking for "cornmeal" or "cracked corn?" What's the difference? Will cracked corn grow into corn plants?

3. Does cornmeal or cracked corn contain cgm? I might want to reseed a few areas.

Thanks!

Comments (2)

  • dchall_san_antonio
    14 years ago

    Whole ground corn meal is the entire corn kernel ground up. Corn gluten meal has much of the carbohydrate stripped off to make corn syrup so what you are left with is the gluten of the seed. It is mostly protein.

    Cracked corn is made of broken corn kernels that fall through a sifter. Some fully mature corn kernels are small enough to fall through the sifter. Those will sprout and die after they are mowed one time. I wish all weeds did that.

    Whether corn meal attracts or repels your ants remains to be seen. If they take a load of corn meal into their mound, the corn meal grows a fungus that kills other fungi. If the ants are the kind that farm organic material to allow it to rot in their mound, the predatory fungus that grows on the corn meal may destroy their food supply. There is a long standing rumor/urban legend that corn grits kills ants. There could be some truth to that rumor that has not been studied. Generally the cessation of synthetic fertilizers and chemicals and start of organic fertilizing means your entire garden gets more in the natural balance. Predators have healthier prey to eat and that attracts more of them to your yard. I had never seen a toad or lizard in my yard until I stopped using chemicals and began with corn meal.

  • viche
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Ok so we have:

    1. Whole ground corn meal
    2. Corn gluten meal
    3. Cracked corn

    Which is the best to use for lawn fertilization assuming you don't want a pre-emergent, but do want fungal control.

    Obviously #2 is going to be a pre-emergent.

    Since #1 & #3 can contain the entire kernel, do they also contain cgm and thus act as pre-emergents? Or does CGM only act as a pre-emergent when it is separated out from the whole kernel?

    Is one better for fungal control?

    Is one better as a fertilizer?

    Will these be clearly labeled as #1, 2, or 3 when I go to buy them or might someone sell CGM as "corn meal"?

    Thanks again

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