Re: [gardeners] corn meal

M T (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Fri, 18 Apr 2003 14:15:34 -0700 (PDT) 

Hi Margaret,

 I never tried it on mint. Always had that in large pots. Tried to keep
the different types seperated throughout the yard. Heard they had a
better chance of staying 'true' that way.

 The vinca minor had about 40 to 60 percent mortality and never did do
well in those spots for over a year.

 The ajuga had a 95 percent mortality over a period of a month! Had a
5x10 bed of jungle beauty and a 5x8 bed of tricolor. They melted out
within the month.
 Heavy spraying in an attempt to wash the soil wasn't effective.

 Since I used corn meal on every bed I had, washing the roots and
transplanting wasn't worth trying. It was also a busy summer otherwise,
so the garden wasn't as high a priority as normal.

 
 Corn gluten meal started being sold about 8 years ago as an organic
preemergent. It's a great one BTW.
 It was also priced astronomically high! I understand that testing was
time consuming and expensive, but corn gluten meal is a waste product!
(I think it's from the manufacture of corn syrup, the second ingredient
in most American foods...)

 IIRC, it was priced about 2 dollars a pound. Since it was a heavy bulk
product, shipping was also expensive.

 Regular corn meal is next to free at the local grocery store.
 I tried it at the recommended rate of the corn gluten meal. It works
great. Just be careful what you use it on.

 Go to the hardware store and read the plant precautions on a box of
Preen. The precautions are about the same for using corn meal. The
effectiveness is almost identical.

Matt


> ------------------------------
> 
> Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 08:34:06 -0600
> From: Margaret Lauterbach <melauter@earthlink.net>
> Subject: Re: [gardeners] The March of Time
> 
> Matt, I wonder if it will kill mint.  Did the corn gluten meal stop
> ajuga 
> and vinca in their tracks or actually kill them after being spread on
> 
> top?  Thanks, Margaret L
>
> 
> >  (Corn Meal will kill ajuga, vinca and I guess most other spreading
> >type ground covers. We know about the ajuga and vinca first hand...)
> >
> >  At least for me, the fact that they have a lot of smaller beds
> >makes
> >things go faster. I can tick them off the checklist fairly quickly
> >and
> >feel like I'm accomplishing something earlier in the day. <VBG>
> >
> >Stay cool,
> >Matt in Norfolk, Virginia - USDA zone 8
> 
>

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