Question
I live in 06119 in Connecticut.  I would love to try corn meal gluten on my crabgrass.  Where in my area might I find this?

Answer
Butler Garden Center at 416 Park Rd W (860-561-2148), Gledhill Nursery at 660 Mountain Rd (860-233-5692) and Moscarillo's Garden Shoppe at 2600 Albany Ave (860-236-5487), all in West Hartford, sell an organic line called 'Cockadoodle Doo' which includes a Corn Gluten Meal preemergent weedkiller.  You should probably call them before you drive over there to make sure they stock it.  The Cockadoodle Doo website has a search engine for locating dealers by zipcode:

http://www.purebarnyard.com/cockadoodledoo/wheretobuy.asp

Patrissi Nursery at 35 Ringgold St (sorry, I do not have their telephone number), and both Moscarillos and Butler Garden Center (see above) sell a Corn Gluten Meal product called 'Premerge' by St Gabriel Laboratories.

Timing is Everything here.  A month ago, you could have put this down to zap Autumn germinating Weeds.  When Spring comes, and you will by then I hope have this in the garage ready to go on cue, get the product down on DRY soil and then water it in; it should then be left to dry out over several days, so if it rains a lot in the meantime, you find diminished effectiveness.  But you get a similar balancing act with chemical preemergents, too.  Since you won't be using it 'til Spring, I recommend you over-seed right now to give the Grass a boost.  The CGM will have no effect on growing Grass, just on new Seeds that don't belong there.

I have to warn you that these products are not as well marketed (or well funded) as the lines sold by Scotts and Monsanto.  You can't walk into a garden center and ask for their Cornmeal Gluten or Corn Gluten Meal organic weedkiller -- they're not ready for that question yet.  You're better off knowing the brand you need and finding it there.  Let me know if you have any trouble finding this.  Thanks for writing.


The West Hartford Home Depot carries Preen's 'Concern' brand organic weedkiller, but note that several products Preen carries are poisonous and would change your soil's structure and quality by altering the flora and fauna in the soil.  Don't mix and match -- read the label.  There should be no Warning signs anywhere.