I'm going to try the cornmeal this weekend and post a follow-up in a few weeks. I've also heard good things about a fungucide called Daconil...but I'd like to try the cornmeal first.

Well I am not the expert on corn meal, but I know it works on most fungal problems, but note not all. Hopefully someone with more knowledge like Dave or Andy will chime in and give a list of what it is effective and not effective on

Corn meal either carries or attracts a fungus called Trichoderma which is a predator fungus that eats other bad fungus. That is about all I know.

The only drawback I know of is it takes a few weeks for corn meal to do its magic. Also note some think corn meal is a mild fertilizer. While that is true, it is really too mild to count as a fertilizer on Bermuda grass IMO. You would have to apply cornmeal at a rate of 35 pounds per 1000/ft2 to count as a fertilizer.

But hey give it a try, you got nothing to loose except a little money and time invested. No way can it do any harm, only help.

FWIW on my personal lawn, the Tifway 419 portion that is, I only use Corn Gluten Meal as a fertilizer. I donÂt really suggest that for most folks who want to go organic because of the expense and difficulty using it. However Soy Bean Meal is excellent, easy to use, and economical for the grains b/c it only takes 15 pounds per 1000/ft2.

Thanks, Tex. This is for my Rye front yard. So far I've experienced no disease with the Bermuda. The Rye is a real struggle in the summer. Along with bent, Rye has to be one of the most disease prone grasses around.

Texas A&M at Stephenville did the original research on corn meal to cure diseases in peanut fields. Here's what they said:

Biological Control of Soilborne Fungi

It is known that certain fungal species in the genus Trichoderma feed on mycelium and sclerotia of Sclerotinia minor. Sclerotium rolfsii and Rhizoctonia sp. All peanut fields in Texas tested to date have a natural population of Trichoderma. For several years, tests have been conducted in Texas using corn meal to stimulate Trichoderma development as a way to control the major soilborne disease fungi. When yellow corn meal is applied to fields in the presence of moist surface soil, Trichoderma builds up very rapidly over a 5 to 10 day period. The resulting high Trichoderma population can destroy vast amounts of Sclerotinia, Sclerotium and Rhizoctonia. This enhanced, natural biological control process is almost identical to the processes that occur when crop rotation is practiced. The level of control with corn meal is influenced by: 1) organic matter source 2) soil moisture, 3) temperature, and 4) pesticides used. Seasonal applications of certain fungicides may inhibit Trichoderma. Testing will continue to determine the rates and application methods that will give consistent, economical control.

What that means is if they use corn meal, the soil is completely free of these diseases and can be used for peanuts season after season without having to rotate in non-cash crops on an alternating basis. The diseases mentioned seem to be the tip of a small iceberg. Corn meal seems to work on all the lawn diseases except red thread and rust. So if your disease does not look reddish, try corn meal on it first before trying any chemicals. The chemicals seem to readily affect the Trichoderma.

I use corn meal nearly exclusively as a fertilizer on my St Augustine lawn. It works well for me and is very inexpensive down here.

Thanks for the info DCHALL. I've researched this for most of the morning, and the only evidence I can find when applied to turfgrasses seems to be anecdotal. If anything, I am more convinced that it's positive results can be attributed to better turf care practices in general. Most folks who post questions about disease seem to be frantic/clueless homeowners who want an answer to why their lawn is dying. They are not interested in golf course/sports field quality turf. They are immediately hit with guidelines and advice from the organic crowd. The first thing they are told is to practice correct watering techniques, raise their cutting height and to stop using synthetic fertilizers. Then they are advised to apply the cornmeal to "eliminate the fungus". I'm not so sure that's whats happening. I think the application of more sound turf care based on the advice given has taken away the conditions in which their disease has thrived..ie: Too much moisture, free Nitrogen, etc. To me, diseases like Brown patch, Necrotic Ring, Take all patch, and Pythium are far too serious to try an organic approach to cure. Pythium can destroy an entire lawn in 24 hours.
However, I am admittedly not the normal homeowner who wants an "acceptable" lawn, and furthermore, many of these lawn and garden forums are predisposed to organics and anti pro-chemical.
I would imagine that if corn meal was an effective curative, golf course managers and superintendents across the country would use it, instead of spending thousands of dollars per fairway every 7-14 days.

I do like a good debate however, and commend you guys for your "green" practices. I would be interested to see a real turfgrass study as it relates to cornmeal, if anyone can find one.

'I've researched this for most of the morning, and the only evidence I can find when applied to turfgrasses seems to be anecdotal. ... I would be interested to see a real turfgrass study as it relates to cornmeal, if anyone can find one.

Might want to brush up on your researching skills :)

See the link below. The discovery of Corn Gluten Meal as a pre-emergent started out as research into the use of natural methods to control Pythium in golf course greens. The Pythium didn't establish in the cornmeal treated plots. They also noticed that the fresh cornmeal plot had poorer germination which later research revealed corn gluten was

'The Pythium was cultured in the
laboratory for several weeks on the
commeal and then taken to the field
area where it was placed on the surface
and tilled 3 to 4 inches deep. Along with
the inoculated cornmeal plots, plots of the
same size were treated with fresh cornmeal
that had not been treated with Pythium.
The same total amount of cornmeal was
used in the two separate treatments. In
addition. a third control plot to which no
cornmeal had been applied was
established. Three cultivars of creeping
bentgrass then were seeded in strips over
the top of the plots.
The attempt ro establish Pythium in
the treated plots was a failure, and normal
germination occurred in those areas.
Normal germination also was observed in
the control plots. However, in the plots
that had received the fresh cornmeal,
establishment was reduced greatly.'

Here's a study on cornstarch against brown patch in st augustine with favorable results.

http://agfacts.tamu.edu/D11/Victoria/AG/HomeHort/LANDSCAP/nbrwnpch.htm

'The cornmeal is claimed to provide food (starch) for the good bacteria in the turfgrass which themselves feed on the Brown Patch disease organisms. There was a trend for the cornmeal treated turfgrass to look better than the untreated check and even better than the terrachlor plots.'

If you regularly treat your lawn with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, it is possible that the bacteria cornmeal feeds won't be present?

Here is a link that might be useful: Corn Gluten Meal Discover

Reelfanatic, I think what you might be up against is a time element. Today everyone wants a quick fix. Organic methods are good, but it takes time. Converting over from synthetic to organic can take a whole season, especially a high nitrogen input grass like Bermuda.

If you want to give it a try, go into it in a hybrid approach weaning the grass off urea, and allow the time for the soil to build up microbes to digest the meals used like Soy Bean Meal.

As for corn meal it does take a few weeks to work unlike some of the commercial fungicides. I believe there are some fungicides that are accepted in organic crops containing copper sulfate.

Thanks fellas'. Good study, BTW, thanks for finding it.

Another anecdote here....

I had fungal problems with a variety of plants - fescue, tomatoes, Daisy, etc. It is quite warm and humid here most of the year, so the diseases are hard to prevent. I've used cornmeal some years and skipped it others. While cornmeal didn't prevent every fungus problem, I've noticed a distinct reduction when I use cornmeal. It could be a coincidence, but I've become a believer.

Woodycrest, a golf course manager in Canada who used to post here, used cracked corn to solve his snow mold problems. He used corn on some of his greens and no corn on others. At the same time he changed his mowing practices and stopped using herbicide and insecticide. You could call his an organic approach but in the end, he stopped using fertilizer altogether. He used to have a hardpan surface full of dandelions that would bounce a golf ball 40 feet further than the original drive. Now he has a bent/clover mix (even on the greens) and soil soft enough that it holds the ball when it lands. His course is not used during the week so he lets the grass grow tall. Then on Friday he mows the course down to regulation heights for the weekend and mows the greens again on Saturday and Sunday.