I was listening to NPR this morning in the car, a program called The
People's Pharmacy. They were discussing the pharmacological use of
cornmeal to treat fungal infections. The called who introduced the
topic mentioned that he also uses cornmeal worked into the soil around
his roses to prevent blackspot. Has anyone heard of this before?
What about cornmeal as a preventative to other fungal diseases?

Don't know about the cornmeal, but blended up banana peels
do wonders for roses. Banana peels don't seem to get rid of
black spot, but they do produce some healthy looking leaves
and flowers.

Still haven't figured out where black spot comes from, how it
gets to where it gets.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...946389907.html

Seems like most people report favorable results at that link.

Doing a search through google turns up quite a few links about it.
I searched:

cornmeal roses

Hope that helps. And thanks for the suggestion!

--
Jim Carlock
Please post replies to newsgroup.

"Jacqueline Cahoon" wrote:
I was listening to NPR this morning in the car, a program called The
People's Pharmacy. They were discussing the pharmacological use of
cornmeal to treat fungal infections. The called who introduced the
topic mentioned that he also uses cornmeal worked into the soil around
his roses to prevent blackspot. Has anyone heard of this before?
What about cornmeal as a preventative to other fungal diseases?

Jacqueline Cahoon wrote:
I was listening to NPR this morning in the car, a program called The
People's Pharmacy. They were discussing the pharmacological use of
cornmeal to treat fungal infections. The called who introduced the
topic mentioned that he also uses cornmeal worked into the soil
around
his roses to prevent blackspot. Has anyone heard of this before?


No. Why would it work?

Blackspot is spread by spores that overwinter on the plant as well as
in the ground.


J. Del Col

Jacqueline Cahoon wrote:
I was listening to NPR this morning in the car, a program called The
People's Pharmacy. They were discussing the pharmacological use of
cornmeal to treat fungal infections. The called who introduced the
topic mentioned that he also uses cornmeal worked into the soil
around his roses to prevent blackspot. Has anyone heard of this before?

replied:
No. Why would it work?
Blackspot is spread by spores that overwinter on the plant as well as
in the ground.

The research on cornmeal was done by the Texas A&M Research Station in
Stephenville. Dr. Joe McFarland headed that work before his retirement.
The discovery of cornmeal¹s fungal disease control came about by
noticing the peanut crops. Under research observation at the research
center these crops didn¹t have fungal diseases when they followed the
corn planting in rotation. Lab tests related to that later discovered
the beneficial organisms in cornmeal were as effective or more than
chemical fungicides at shutting down fungal diseases. That¹s why we now
recommend it for use on brown patch in St. Augustine grass, damping off
in seedlings, black spot on roses and many other fungal diseases.

Also Dr. Nick Christian¹s staff at Iowa State University discovered the
use of corn gluten meal for use as a natural weed and feed. Time to put
it out right now before weed seed germination, at 15-20 lbs. per 1,000
square feet.

[http://www.dirtdoctor.com/view_org_research.php?id=32]
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Jacqueline Cahoon wrote:
I was listening to NPR this morning in the car, a program called The
People's Pharmacy. They were discussing the pharmacological use of
cornmeal to treat fungal infections. The called who introduced the
topic mentioned that he also uses cornmeal worked into the soil
around
his roses to prevent blackspot. Has anyone heard of this before?

The Stephenville A&M Research & Extension Center discovered
fungus-fighting properties in cornmeal, but not for application directly
to any plant; rather it is applied to soil. Several additional studies
have extended this research, mainly for use in developing organic food
crops (peanuts, potatos, soybeans, cucumbers, etc) for fighting crop
pathogens without chemical intervention. Much of what has been discovered
has obvious applicability to ornamental gardening, though gardeners have
misunderstood some of it..

400 to 800 pounds of cornmeal is applied to each acre of soil (or ten to
twenty pounds per 1000 square feet). The cornmeal when wetted by normal
irrigation (or rainfall) begins to feed beneficial microorganisms &
especially helpful mycoparasite Trichoderma spp, which are mycoparasites,
meaning helpful fungi that parasitize & feed upon pathogenic fungi such as
Sclerotinia (Stalk Rot), Sclerotium (tropical stem rot), Aspergillis nigre
(black mold), & Rhizoctonia solani (black scurf, lower-stem decay, &
root-rot). Cornmeal application directly to leaves has no effect, but
changing the nutrient content of the soil to enhance positive
microorganisms does.

This method restrains harmful funguses from getting started & works best
in purely organic growing conditions, by encouraging beneficial funguses.
If fungicidal chemicals are also being applied to plants, that defeats the
value of the cornmeal since fungicides also discourage beneficial fungi.

Misunderstanding rumors of this research has led to many on-line
discussions of cornmeal to control blackspot or to be dusted over plants
afflicted with any kind of mildew or fungus. Mostly these discussions are
ill informed & come close to being garden myths. Yet there is good reason
to speculate that cornmeal added to the soil may help prevent ALL harmful
soil-born funguses, including such things as oak wilt & possibly blackspot
before it gets to the roses, even though the evidence isn't all in. It
certainly causes no harm to try it as a blackspot preventative in the
soil, since cornmeal has no negative side-effects & even functions as a
tepid fertilizer, & ANYthing that replaces the use of fungicides will help
beneficial funguses do their natural work of improving the overall health
of a garden.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
Get your Paghat the Ratgirl T-Shirt he
http://www.paghat.com/giftshop.html
"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden
people maintaining a free civil government." -Thomas Jefferson

well I found a source of the corn gluten meal at a local feed store. 12.25 per 50 lb
bag and have started putting it down as "weed and feed". It is a cheap and safe
alternative. but wowowoow the price they charge for it at places like steins... $11
bucks per 7-8 lbs. other garden stores are charging even more!!! Ingrid

Stephen Henning wrote:
Also Dr. Nick Christian¹s staff at Iowa State University discovered the
use of corn gluten meal for use as a natural weed and feed. Time to put
it out right now before weed seed germination, at 15-20 lbs. per 1,000
square feet.

[http://www.dirtdoctor.com/view_org_research.php?id=32]



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wrote in message ...
well I found a source of the corn gluten meal at a local feed store. 12.25 per 50 lb
bag and have started putting it down as "weed and feed". It is a cheap and safe
alternative. but wowowoow the price they charge for it at places like steins... $11
bucks per 7-8 lbs. other garden stores are charging even more!!! Ingrid


That's nice, Ingrid, but it takes 40-50 lb. of corn gluten per 1,000
square feet to control weeds, and the stuff is 11% nitrogen. Do you
really want 4 or 5 lbs of N on your lawn?

(Grif Nordling) expounded:


That's nice, Ingrid, but it takes 40-50 lb. of corn gluten per 1,000
square feet to control weeds, and the stuff is 11% nitrogen. Do you
really want 4 or 5 lbs of N on your lawn?

Slow release N. unlike what Scotts will deliver.....and my bag of corn
gluten said 9%.
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

Ann wrote:

(Grif Nordling) expounded:


That's nice, Ingrid, but it takes 40-50 lb. of corn gluten per 1,000
square feet to control weeds, and the stuff is 11% nitrogen. Do you
really want 4 or 5 lbs of N on your lawn?

Slow release N. unlike what Scotts will deliver.....and my bag of corn
gluten said 9%.

Actually looking at Scott's Turf builder... 30-3-3, an 18 pound bag
feeds up to 5,000 square feet. For 10,000 sq ft that's 10.8 pounds of
Nitrogen! Compared to just 4-5lbs for the corn. Corn is a moderate
amount compared to commercial ferts.

1,000 square feet is
10ft x 100ft or
20ft x 50ft or
30ft x 33ft


DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
2nd year gardener
http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalfrazier/