Corn Gluten Meal was found to have very good pre emergent herbicidal (growth suppressing) properties and that is what it should be used for. The turf grass guys at Iowa State found that it does contribute some Nitrogen, eventually, but that N is very expensive.
One year I wanted to see if it would work. I had two strawberry beds. One I didn't put anything on the other I put corn starch. I had herd that it would work as well. The corn starch did a very good job. There was still weeds but not as much.
I've done test patches on adjacent sections of lawn (corn gluten meal on one section, nothing on the next). I found noticeable reduction in weeds on the treated area. It won't green up as fast as commercial fertilizers, but it did green up within 3 weeks. The green-up lasted a long time too.
I pay about $12 a bag at the feed mill. I put it on pretty thick, so in the end it costs about the same as a commercial weed and feed. I find the performance more than acceptable, keep the chemicals off my lawn, create extra business for the local feedmill, and in a small way contribute to the income of local corn farmers. I'm sold on this stuff!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Zone 3 NW Wisconsin: Left the city in '98, hardly been back since!
