I've heard positive things about corn meal and its effectiveness in treating lawn fungus. I would like to try it. I was happy to find it at my local nursery here in Houston, but they sell it for close to $30 including tax for 50 pounds. Supply and demand I guess! I don't know where and which feed stores in Houston sell corn meal. Does anybody know where I can find it in Houston at a more reasonable price?

FYI: I have St Augustine that was overtaken by take all root the past couple summers. It started coming back in small patches a month ago. I used a fungicide containing thiophanate methyl at a curative rate to no avail. 2 weeks later with the hot evening thunderstorms lately it has gotten bigger and worse. From what I understand the fungicide that I used may have killed a majority of the beneficial Trichoderma fungi, but obviously not the fungi that is causing the root rot. So my plan of attack is to 1) mow more frequently and bag clippings to reduce thatch 2) apply a light layer of compost to restore microbial balance and further reduce thatch and re-introduce the beneficial fungi 3) apply corn meal to feed this predatorial fungi. Am i correct in my thinking? Let's see if this works.

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Here is a good start on finding some corn. I'd just pick up the phone and start with "A".

Good luck!

Hello and welcome to the forum. We're glad you're here.

Corn is very expensive this year. You'll have to bite the bullet and just do it. Still $30 for 50 pounds is more like corn GLUTEN meal prices. Look for corn meal in a plain brown bag at a feed store. Google 'feed store' in your area and call first.

Thatch is not a problem when you are watering correctly, mulch mowing at the highest setting, and fertilizing regularly. Here is the basic 1-2-3 of lawn care.

1. Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an hour in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds and prevent new (weed) seeds from germinating.
   
2. Mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. Bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses are the most dense when mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. Dense grass shades out weeds and uses less water when tall. Dense grass feeds the deep roots you're developing in 1 above.
   
3. Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 4 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above.

Are you doing all these?

How are you currently watering? (frequency and duration)
How high/low are you mowing?
When did you fertilize last, what product, and how much did you use?

Thanks for you replies. I found some corn meal at a more reasonable price of $13 / 50 lbs at a couple local feed stores.

David... I've been watering twice a week. 15 min at each station on the regular sprinklers, and 25 min a station on the rotating sprinklers. I accidentally programmed my sprinklers on when it rained two days in a row, and that's when the root rot got worse. I mow once every 2 weeks at 3.5" and mulch the clippings. The last time I fertilized was a couple weeks ago, using Scott's Turf Builder "Starter" fertilizer. I used a more phosphorus oriented fertilizer because I had a lot of bare patches from last year's damage that I wanted to regrow. 2 months ago my lawnmower guy also applied a weed & feed fertilizer, most likely Scott's Bonus S or something like that. Each application was one bag per 5,000 sq ft as recommended. I'm going to switch to a weekly watering (although I must admit I'm hesitant to water for an entire hour on my non-rotating sprinklers), increase my mowing to once a week for the summer, and fertilize again in July and September.

$13/50lbs seems to be the going rate locally for corn. If you can find chopped or cracked corn cheaper it will do the same job (this year they seem to be about the same price). Keep in mind that cornmeal works best as a preventative treatment by promoting healthy fungal growth. It doesn't work as well when there is heavy disease pressure or as a curative after-the-fact. As a fungal preventative, corn meal is also is best used as part of a comprehensive organic program - not as an afterthought along with a bag of weed-n-feed.

You also need to be sure to know what turf disease you're battling. If it really is take-all root rot, then cornmeal is even less useful - that's a tough disease to work with.

High corn prices are results of two things.
The ethanol hoax and the failing, err I mean falling USD value.

Watch your lawn while you increase the watering time. If you get runoff, stop immediately and let the soil soak it in. Give it 15-30 minutes to soak in and start again until you get to the time you want to go. Use tuna or cat food cans to measure the amount you are applying. It could be an hour is not enough and could be an hour is far too much. My sprinkler takes 8 hours to get an inch. Everyone is different even with the same sprinklers due to differences in hoses and water pressure.

Corn is also an organic fertilizer. If you want to really go for it (and I would), apply corn meal at 20-30 pounds per 1,000 square feet every month until Thanksgiving. That will work against the fungal disease and work for you as a fertilizer to 'densify' the turf.

If 3.5 inches is the highest your mower goes, then good. Otherwise I would take it all the way up. The longer it is the easier it will make it through the summer heat/drought. If you want to skip every other week of mowing, that's fine too.

UPDATE: David, I have been watering twice a week instead of the recommended once a week due to the local water restrictions that say i'm only allowed to water no more than 3 hours on any given morning and no more than 2 days a week. been mowing at 4.5 inches like u recommended but once a week to prevent cutting more than 1/3 per session (my grass grows fast!). spread the cracked corn meal at 20 lbs/1000 sq ft. noticed about 10-20 birds at a time just eating away all day every day. I couldn't even see my cracked corn any more after awhile. Seemed like I was feeding 100 different species of birds around the neighborhood. So I put down 20 lbs/1000 sq ft of Aunt Jemma's ground corn meal a week later. The fungal root rot is no longer spreading. I noticed an irregular brown patch remaining though, looked closer, and found chinch bugs! Great... Underwatering causes drought, overwatering causes thatch and fungus, fungicide, ant mound treatment, grub control, fertilizer applications, pre-emergent crabgrass preventer, post-emergent weed pulling, chinch bug control... does it ever end?! i should just move to arizona and have a backyard full of sand and two cacti.

looked a little closer at all the dead areas, and apparently there are chinch bugs everywhere! they were not visible before, so either they are opportunistic or i was mostly wrong about my problem being a fungus. the corn meal may been for naught. thanks for improving my lawn care practices anyways though. the healthy parts of my lawn have definitely gotten stronger.

I replied to the chinch bugs issue on your other topic. Beneficial nematodes should work fine.