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C N Y

for all you fungicide and Mycorrhizae experts--

my intent is to use the appropriate amount (20 lbs. per 1000 sq. ft., per the Dear Dirt Doctor book) of plain old cornmeal as a natural fungicide this year, possibly for all my plants if the responses are good, to this post.
my main concern is:
will using cornmeal as a natural fungicide throughout the soil affect the growth of the Bio-Grow Endo-Plus (from Holland's Land o' Giants, with three types of Myco. as well as Trichoderma in it) that i am also intending to use at LEAST at the planting hole as well as in the vine-burying soil???
it may SEEM like a dum question, but there are some species of just about anything that are more tolerant of some chemicals or other potential hazards than others.
"if i use THIS, what'll happen to THIS?"
any responses or advice greatly appreciated. thanks----eric

4/7/2005 1:54:57 PM

Montoursville, PA

It is not a dumb question. Corn meal is not a fungicide nor does it act like one. It works in concert with your manures, compost and worm castings to provide a stronger positive total soil and consequently over several years a truely stronger plant that will or should better fight off the pathegons.

It will harm nothing. It carrys with it a minor insignificant amount of nitrogen which will be slow release when converted, by your inpatch biology. Your worms will snack on it too. The results will be casts containing mycro amounts, of the base material which have been found as deep as six feet below your main growing medium.

I just made a similar post on the Fertilizer pages.

The use of cornmeal, in our family gardens goes back at least three generations, in my family. I also read about it in Dear Dirt Doctor. Glad you have that book on your reading list.

4/7/2005 3:20:59 PM

C N Y

thank you for the info, doc! much-appreciated!
if anyone cares to inform me about the......
oh, i guess if it is not a fungicide then it will have no effect on the Mycorrhizae. thanks again!
i had thought-up an experiment earlier, though, that i would like to try.
i think it was:
a tablespoon of cornmeal for every gallon of
potting mix for house plants. SINCE i will be buying the cornmeal anyway, i can use the Germ-Buck to sprout some
Mycorrhizae, two pots with CM and two without, just for fun.
(i've done enough AG-sprouting for now!) eric

4/7/2005 5:06:37 PM

C N Y

PS--if anyone else has any comments plus or minus,
this is very interesting to me and there are many hours
in the day! 'pal2

4/7/2005 5:11:35 PM

Montoursville, PA

Experimenting is fun. Corn meal added to a non-soil potting mix does not relate well with the combination of manures, composts and wormcasts thought to be in concert with each other and corn meal to bring about improved growing mediums.

4/7/2005 10:42:59 PM

C N Y

ahhhh, well, i'm kinda bored at the moment, so i am
re-potting a seedling or two from my practice...
well, there is only one, but it is gonna be a neat experiment! nothing to do with the cornmeal; that'll be
a Sunday thing this weekend. this other thing i'm gonna try is......whoa! i'll report what it is, if it works! eric

4/8/2005 1:08:30 AM