This time of year can be tough on lawns. Intense heat and drought can leave the grass stressed and weak making it an ideal target for crabgrass infestations. That's why it's not a bad idea to hit the lawn with a repeated application of corn gluten meal.
Applied at the higher rates, another application of corn gluten will help keep the crabgrass at bay as well as provide slow release nitrogen to the soil.
Corn gluten works in a similar fashion to it's chemical cousins by inhibiting seed germination of not only crabgrass but all seeds lingering in the thatch area. While safer than chemicals, it doesn't last as long, hence the mid-season application.
Corn gluten also seems to be more effective as an organic weed control upon repeated use, so an application now should yield even better results after the spring application. However, I had very good results my very first time using the product.
There is a downside however. Corn gluten is only effective as a pre-emergent herbicide when used at the very high rate of 20lb/1000 sq ft. At this rate, a $40 bag doesn't go very far. For this reason, corn gluten is rarely even marketed as a pre-emergent herbicide and more as a natural fertilizer. Hopefully the prices come down in the future so more people can take advantage of corn gluten as an organic pre-emergent herbicide.
Read more:
Corn Gluten Meal as an Organic Herbicide
Comments
For the past 2 years I’ve been trying to rebuild a lawn that was in horrible shape, at least in the front lawn. Deep shade under 2/3rds, full sun under the remainder. I tried a lawn service right away, come spring next year, I’d swear it looked like nothing was done. So I took it as a DIY challenge. If I may be so humble, with a bit of internet research (such as your about.com articles, and others) I’ve been able to bring it back quite well. Yet it’s still a tad thin in parts, at least now when it gets long enough to mow you don’t see bare dirt from a distance.
So, I’m expecting to do some more overseeding this autumn though I did some overseeding this past spring. The bare spots have been attractive locations for weeds, I’ll tell you. Would a dose of corn gluten meal now (I’m in Minnesota) make autumn overseeding unsuccessful?
I’d go for it.
Corn gluten is said to provide 4-6 weeks of crabgrass suppression so you should be fine. Even waiting 8 weeks would bring you to late September which should give you plenty of time for germination.
Good luck, hope this helps.
Kelly