Sparky's Safe Lawn Tip - Suppress weed germination with corn gluten

April's here, so now we need to get into it. Early Spring is when early root activity begins on your lawn, so we need to think about suppressing weeds. Great thing about natural lawn care is that Mother Nature has a great way to take care of that: corn gluten.

Kelly Burke, a regular columnist on Lawn Care at About.com did a great profile on this yellow wonder. You can checkout his entire article here, but here's some highlights:

What is corn gluten?
It's a powdery byproduct of the corn milling process. It was accidentally discovered as having similar properties to preemergent herbicides. Thus, making it a perfect, natural alternative to chemical herbicides.

How does corn gluten work?
Corn gluten inhibits root formation of germinating seeds. Application timing is critical - right around this time is great, and before weed seed germination begins.

How much corn gluten should I use on my lawn?
Application rates vary depending on whether the gluten is powderized, pelletized or granulated. But, a good rule of thumb is 20 lbs/1,000 sq. ft.

There's much more to checkout on Kelly's article - check it out. Are you considering corn gluten this season?