concern corn gluten

[vegaenglit]

has anyone had any luck using corn gluten for weed control, specifically Concern brand (it is 82% corn gluten with bone meal, wheat middlings and something else as fertiliser).  im using it to control the grass burrs (sticker grass) around my property

Comments

[liminalia]

Mushroom compost would probably be a good addition to fluff up and enrich your soil.

"As a weed suppressant, corn gluten acts as a natural "pre-emergent" - it inhibits seed germination by drying out a seed as soon as it cracks open to sprout."
http://www.eartheasy.com/article_corn_gluten.htm

This page is from Iowa State, where corn gluten's action was discovered. Lots of info.
http://www.hort.iastate.edu/gluten/

[primsong]

To be honest, I tried corn gluten two years running and finally gave up on it - at least in my yard it didn't seem to do a darn thing except cost me money to buy. I had better results with a lemon-juice/vinegar spray in my backpack sprayer on young weed sprouts, but even that wasn't effective if they were older, established weeds. Argh - no wonder using chemicals is so tempting.

I agree with the mushroom compost concept - wonderful stuff, that.

[vegaenglit]

was it regular kitchen vinegar or horticultural grade?

and yeah. the corn gluten is more of a stop-gap until i can rip it all out and put down sod. how often did you put it down? the guide i got said it almost needs to be put down every 2-3 months, especially where im at as we get a second wind in the fall and it rarely gets cold enough long enough to truly kill things.

[primsong]

I put a big bottle of lemon juice and a gallon jug of regular white vinegar in along with a tablespoon of dish detergent. You have to be sure it won't be raining anytime soon after you put it on - the soil will revert to its natural ph after a bit, so no permanent harm is done. Works pretty good on young weeds, but the older ones mostly just wilt a bit then recover.