My cornmeal gluten has bugs in it. Is this "normal"? If not how do I prevent this from occurring when I purchase more? Also, when I've put cornmeal gluten around my plants, one of my dogs loves to eat it. Can it harm her, other than she vomits it back up.

Thanks,
SB

I think you are talking about the high protein product ground into meal from corn hearts - corn gluten? So if that's what you're talking about, yes, it can harm dogs. I have heard of dogs becoming disoriented and vomiting too.

To avoid this problem, water in the corn gluten meal right away when you apply it. Or work it into the soil and then water it in. Don't leave it lying on the ground in a dry state. Finishing the job with a covering of mulch will settle the problem for certain. Half the time I see corn gluten meal it has bugs in it. It gets applied, and the bugs either get eaten by birds or bigger bugs or fly/crawl away. It's not a big deal unless you have it in your house and the bugs get into your grain products in the cabinet.

Just in case you don't know this yet, use corn gluten for pre-emergent control and/or high quality nitrogen fertilizer and horticultural cornmeal for fungus control. Cheers!
Kathe

Kathe,

The corn meal gluten I have is granules not ground. I had no idea the effects that it could have for my pets! I don't know how to thank you!


SB

Corn gluten is used in virtually every dry dog food on the market, so don't start thinking it's poison. Just don't let him get sick by eating too much.

The bugs are normal. If you really don't like them, put the entire sack in your chest freezer for three days and the bugs will die a natural freezing death. If you don't have a chest freezer, you could designate a container to move the stuff into. Then fill a gallon container with the corn gluten and put it in your regular freezer for three days. After it's finished, dump it into the new container and cover. Work your way through the entire bag that way and you should have no more bugs.

Thank you for the information. The bugs don't really bother me, I keep the corn meal outside in a closed container, but I never thought of freezing the little buggers.

SB