A comfrey drive!!

So me and the smarter half went for a drive sunday afternoon to find a spot that I thought had some comfrey growing. Well it turns out there is so much comfrey at this place, I could pick as much as needed. Ended up picking about 1/3 of a garbage bag. Got out the clever and chopped most of it up to put in the 5 gallon bucket. Covered with rain water then a smaller lid to keep the comfrey under the water. Gonna give it a few stirs over the next couple weeks then strain it to make comfrey tea. Dilute it 10-1 and feed to my girls. With a never ending supply of comfrey, what would be the best usage for all of it? I added some to my worm bins yesterday. What about letting it dry out then blending it into a powder?

kkt3 said:

So me and the smarter half went for a drive sunday afternoon to find a spot that I thought had some comfrey growing. Well it turns out there is so much comfrey at this place, I could pick as much as needed. Ended up picking about 1/3 of a garbage bag. Got out the clever and chopped most of it up to put in the 5 gallon bucket. Covered with rain water then a smaller lid to keep the comfrey under the water. Gonna give it a few stirs over the next couple weeks then strain it to make comfrey tea. Dilute it 10-1 and feed to my girls. With a never ending supply of comfrey, what would be the best usage for all of it? I added some to my worm bins yesterday. What about letting it dry out then blending it into a powder?

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Honestly my favorite two things with comfrey is a fresh topdress, or a mix into the soil mix on it's own.
also kicks major ass as a "green" input in your compost
Oh, and I prefer it used fresh, I speculate it not only breaks down quicker that way, but probably is higher in macros before drying.

and it disappears so fast I don't even cut them up

Honestly my favorite two things with comfrey is a fresh topdress, or a mix into the soil mix on it's own.
also kicks major ass as a "green" input in your compost

Thanks once again Grease. Your limitless knowledge that you share so easily is very intriguing.

So how many inches do you topdress, and how often?
And would the same be said for the soil mix?

kkt3 said:

Honestly my favorite two things with comfrey is a fresh topdress, or a mix into the soil mix on it's own.
also kicks major ass as a "green" input in your compost

Thanks once again Grease. Your limitless knowledge that you share so easily is very intriguing.

So how many inches do you topdress, and how often?
And would the same be said for the soil mix?

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Thank you for the kind words, i'm flattered
so for a topdress I get usually 4 or 5 whole leaves, and I like to mix that or at least cover with fresh worm castings, I always urge people to use fresh castings with all topdresses, helps to smother the nutrients with the microbes in the castings, also the moisture and worms in the casting accelerate the breakdown.
and the soil mix it self I use a half leaf per gallon of media (totally not scientific)
its a great organic calcium rich nitrogen input, sorta akin to alfalfa plus calcium
I need to find a good area for it to take over, I don't grow enough for my compost. i'd LOVE to make a compost with leaves, grass, kelp and comfrey.
Shit that compost would do NICE for you veganic growers

Hmmm, we are heading to the island this week. I'm thinking I should get a few buckets full of kelp so I can give that compost a try Grease. Leaves, grass, comfrey, kelp and a bunch of worms, should produce a great compost to grow a plant in next year!!!

kkt3 said:

Hmmm, we are heading to the island this week. I'm thinking I should get a few buckets full of kelp so I can give that compost a try Grease. Leaves, grass, comfrey, kelp and a bunch of worms, should produce a great compost to grow a plant in next year!!!

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oh hell yea, BUT, speaking from experience i'd HIGHLY recommend getting kelp meal instead of fresh kelp.
fresh kelp takes a LONG ass time to breakdown, and is rather smelly in the process.. even buried it's smelly.
It took 6 months to breakdown the bullkelp I put in my pile last yr
but that being said, if you do use it, maybe run it through a lawnmower or something like that first, I threw mine in whole, and man I was sorry that I did, damn thing kept getting stuck in my compost fork

The 5 gallon bucket full of comfrey and rainwater will be smelling soon so some composting kelp will just add to the fragrances in the back yard. Here are some pics of a couple totes I did up with fresh grass, composting maple leaves, comfrey, dry grass and a mass of worms from the compost. When we get back I will add the fresh kelp to them.

I used to topdress my comfrey by putting it into my 'horticulture blender' 1st... layer that around my plantz then layer worm castings on top of that. Beautiful! (But then got lazy...)

Now i split my comfrey between the worm bin, compost bin, and my rain barrell (which holdz rain water, comfrey, fish and seaweed mix and sometimes i piss in it... )

Posted a bit here:
https://www.rollitup.org/t/recycled-organic-living-soil-rols-and-no-till-thread.636057/page-379

kkt3 said:

So me and the smarter half went for a drive sunday afternoon to find a spot that I thought had some comfrey growing. Well it turns out there is so much comfrey at this place, I could pick as much as needed. Ended up picking about 1/3 of a garbage bag. Got out the clever and chopped most of it up to put in the 5 gallon bucket. Covered with rain water then a smaller lid to keep the comfrey under the water. Gonna give it a few stirs over the next couple weeks then strain it to make comfrey tea. Dilute it 10-1 and feed to my girls. With a never ending supply of comfrey, what would be the best usage for all of it? I added some to my worm bins yesterday. What about letting it dry out then blending it into a powder?

Click to expand...

The real deal here is to get the volumes just right

you really need to weigh the contents of that trash bag

or even the mixture to get an idea on the correct dilution rates later

Comfrey I've used for years, and is getting popular, but the real deal is I don't use it in veg

(N) levels are just to low, but Comfrey does have high (P) and (K) ideal for bud

next visit at that spot ensure you grab some rootstock, and a large pot ...lol

the best tea to make is as you are doing with one minor change

and that is to add an airstone(from your DIY cloner bubbler) this keeps the good stuff alive

otherwise in the decaying C02 environment the bad shit will rule, the smell will let you know ...lol

of late I have been freezing any excess, to a coffee type jam jar

300ml about the right size to fill my 8 liter water can,

I simply drop into the filled watering can the night before

to thaw out for a nute feed in the morning

more on this in my blog: https://www.rollitup.org/Journal/Entry/foilar-tools-and-application.32101/

good luck

Well I got some kelp, but not as much as I had hoped. Will have to use some kelp meal. Any idea what the other sea weed is? Is it laminaria, and is it good for the compost?