Quote:
Originally Posted by e.thad
Corn gluten meal might be an option. It won't allow seedlings to live. It's effective for about 5 weeks. Once the season is over and the garden is cleared, I spread it on the soil. By early spring there are only a few weeds.
Not sure if this will be cost effective for an area your size. I got a big bag from an Amway in horse country over in Jersey and it was pretty inexpensive.
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I base cost effectiveness by the amount of labor it takes to get rid of weeds, but from what I have heard is that unless you are someone that exclusively transplants started plants, corn gluten meal is not a good idea as it can affect the ability of seeds to germinate (which, yes it prevents weed seeds from germinating too). Maybe post season application like you suggest would not affect Spring seeds and only neutralize the weed/grass seed active in the ground after application (so, hmmm .... maybe it worth further investigation). Thanks for the input!
I found many different internet sources, one in particular is from Iowa State University which contains numerous links .. an important one to note is "Get The Real Thing", apparently most commonly sold Corn gluten meal is ineffective:
https://www.hort.iastate.edu/horticu...meal-research/