Corn Gluten Meal
Fertilizer or Pre-Emergent?Answer. Corn Gluten Meal (CGM) is both a fertilizer and a pre-emergent. It has been used for years as a staple ingredient of dog food and other pet feeds. Trough a technique called, ‘wet milling‘ corn is processed and the liquids are extracted. As you can see in my hand above, it has a consistency of "Grape Nuts" cereal and not an unpleasant smell at all. I have used CGM for for over two years. I start applying it in the Summer, then again in the Fall and Winter. I skip it in the Spring. I can tell you first hand that it is a great fertilizer for organic gardens and lawns.CGM is a perfect 9-0-0 fertilizer that is 100% organic. Total Nitrogen is .077% Water soluble Nitrogen and 8.23% water insoluble Nitrogen. Forget the claims of chemical fertilizer This stuff really is slow release!
It will start to break down as soon as it is exposed to moisture, so you want to keep it DRY until ready to apply. You can use a regular old spreader, just dump it in and start walking. It doesn’t get much more simple. Again this is NOT a food grade product, so no nibbling! Seriously, it comes out of a factory processing facility and dumped into trucks. I use a paper respirator mask so I’m not inhaling any kind of dust. There is no odor, only a faint smell of corn, quite refreshing considering the nauseating smell of chemical fertilizer. ( And you’re not going to glow green at night and your kids aren't going to get some weird disease either) I guess the way it could be a problem is if you are allergic to it. Then you get the kid up the street to spread it. No problem. Does it work? You are going to have to apply at least one full season of CGM to build your soil. Whether you see it as a pre-emergent or a fertilizer that grows your turf so thick that weed seeds can't get any sun to germinate the choice is yours.
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