|
| 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! |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Mon, Aug 24, 09 at 17:31
| 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. |
|
| Ok so we have: 1. Whole ground corn meal 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 |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Organic Lawn Care Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.