Corn Gluten Meal and Vinca Minor

Hi Organic Gardeners,

I'm not an organic gardener, but I'm getting more organic all the time. I've been reading about corn gluten meal, and if I can find some, I'm going to start using it on my lawn.

This got me thinking about my huge bed of vinca. I have several places in my yard where I've used vinca as a living mulch around shrubs. The first place I planted it, I mistakenly thought it would choke out weeds. That bed is now a mess of weeds and vinca mixed together. I've weeded out most of the grass, but now I have another weed in there that has seeded all over the place. I thought about using Preen on it to prevent seeds from germinating, but Preen specifically lists vinca minor as something to not use it on. Has anyone used Corn Gluten Meal on vinca? Is there something about pre-emergent herbicides in general that is bad for vinca?

Thanks,
Rob

Hey Rob,

The corn gluten meal should not be bad for the vinca. It stops seeds from germinating, so it would stop vinca seed, too. I would go for it. Here are some links with good info.

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/view_question.php?id=17

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/view_question.php?id=1457

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6124&highlight=corn+gluten+meal

If you have time, browse the Dirt Doctor's site. It has loads of great info.
Good luck.

David

Thanks David,

I just picked up 150 lbs of the stuff. I'm planning to use it on my lawn and vinca, but I just had a disturbing thought. I'm going to dump 150 pounds of corn on my lawn. Deer like corn. Deer like to eat some of my other plants. Am I asking for trouble here?

Rob

Rob,

I'm no expert on the use of corn gluten meal, but I've had far too much experience trying to get rid of vinca minor. The problem with the plant is that it spreads rapidly by sending down roots from its vigorous runners--not necessarily by reseeding. Since corn gluten meal seems to function primarily as a seed suppressant, it might not have the effect you want on vinca.

Perhaps a flame-thrower instead . . .

Good luck.

No, I like the vinca! I want to keep the vinca. I don't have problems with it because I use it as sort of a living mulch around my shrubs. The problem is that in the first spot I planted it in my yard, I thought it would choke out the weeds. It didn't and now I have a mess of weeds and vinca mixed together. I've been trying for the last few years to get rid of the weeds, but they keep coming back. I'm hoping to just keep the weeds from starting from seed while I pull out the ones that are already there.

On another thread, someone said corn works as an aphrodisiac for worms. So you'll be doing the earth a favor in any case!

Hi JugglerGuy - At what type of store did you find your 150 lbs of cgm?? I would like to buy a bunch too and have only been able to find it by catalog (expensive).

It was a feed store for animals. It was $15 for 50 pounds. That's still pretty expensive since you're supposed to put it on twice a year. It's also just a powder form, I think (haven't opened the bag yet). It might be pretty difficult to spread on the lawn. The stuff that's made for lawns is granulated, I think.

Rob