Incorporating comfrey into my mulch

Simple question......how are people topdressing/mulching with comfrey?

It's pretty nasty stuff if it decomposes in damp conditions, so, do you dry it out first then cut up before topdressing?

My current mulch is EWC, then compost, then composted bark..........should I pull the bark back and topdress fresh shredded leaves and re-cover?

DonBrennon said:

Simple question......how are people topdressing/mulching with comfrey?

It's pretty nasty stuff if it decomposes in damp conditions, so, do you dry it out first then cut up before topdressing?

My current mulch is EWC, then compost, then composted bark..........should I pull the bark back and topdress fresh shredded leaves and re-cover?
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I use it has a feed along with nettle's on my out door summer plant's.I Water it down though but for vegging plants its ideal full of nitrogen,Never used it has a mulch,but one thing's for sure one of the best plant feed's around.

Another thing that has surprised me this year is a feed that i got from the pound shops just to try,its from the pound shop's and its brilliant the charlie dimock's feed,its a pellet,it's brilliant

DonBrennon said:

Simple question......how are people topdressing/mulching with comfrey?

It's pretty nasty stuff if it decomposes in damp conditions, so, do you dry it out first then cut up before topdressing?

My current mulch is EWC, then compost, then composted bark..........should I pull the bark back and topdress fresh shredded leaves and re-cover?
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straight into the soil man!
no need to compost at all, the nitrogen/carbon level is PERFECT as it is.
use it when fresh, and use it when green.
perfect amendment.
also ask @Wetdog
I've used when dried, and when fresh, and I prefer it fresh.
dried is good too, but you need to treat it like flowers, dry in the cool and dark, or it shrivels and turns yellowish brown quickly, and I speculate it's higher in it's macro/micro values when fresh.

I just add it to my out door tank's collect it in bulk,and mix into water then just dilute they love the stuff,but i may be doing that my self,for the plants away from my yard,Nice one for the info dude never used it has a mulch

Well in the outdoor garden I do chop and drop with everything, and comfrey is just one of the many different greenstuffs. So it gets chopped and dropped fresh, but mixed with other stuff - also, I've gotten the feeling the outdoors is much more forgiving when it comes to mulch - there's so much at it all the time it never gets a chance to sit and go hot!

I DID use a layer of about 5cm of freshly chopped comfrey once as mulch on a pot of freshly recycled soil.
I had added too much neem meal to the mix, so that may also be a factor. What happened was it dried out a bit over a few days, then I added clovergrass cuttings on top of it and THEN the whole thing went so hot all my worms fled the soil overnight when I wasn't looking . But the comfrey was gone too haha

So yes, it's HOT, especially when fresh! but also decomposes really fast.
From what I saw I'd say for mulch, indoors, when plants are already in the soil: mix it with other stuff so it's not so strong, or use thinner layers of it at a time.

So yeah, from this perspective it shouldn't be a problem to mix it/layer it under the bark mulch you've got in there either.
Especially as the bark will be quite the yin to the comfrey's yang haha

keep in mind comfrey will have what ever you feed it not just nitrogen. it's a bio accumulator. I just feed it to the worms

It's also a great plant to make oil from for gout also rashes bruises ext

tyke1973 said:

It's also a great plant to make oil from for gout also rashes bruises ext

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Damn good point, one of it's 'nick names' is knit-bone, because of it's healing properties. Last summer, a my dog got in a fight with a staffie which wasn't on a lead and I had to boot my dog to stop him from killing it (I've got a chunky american bulldog), anyway, I caught him right in the head and it honestly felt like I'd broke my foot. When I got home it'd already started to swell up and I'd just been reading about comfreys' healing properties and decided to try it out. I wrapped a whole leaf around my foot and then wrapped that with some cling film. It' obvious my foot was never broken, but I do think it was sprained, when I woke up the next day, it was bruised, but the swelling had gone and there was very little pain. My dog was fine by the way, he had the staffie pinned on the floor by it's neck again within seconds, so I had to wrestle him of..............not good, I was very lucky not to get bit and I really wanted to punch the other dog owners lights out

greasemonkeymann said:

straight into the soil man!
no need to compost at all, the nitrogen/carbon level is PERFECT as it is.
use it when fresh, and use it when green.
perfect amendment.
also ask @Wetdog
I've used when dried, and when fresh, and I prefer it fresh.
dried is good too, but you need to treat it like flowers, dry in the cool and dark, or it shrivels and turns yellowish brown quickly, and I speculate it's higher in it's macro/micro values when fresh.

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I'm really lazy when it comes to comfrey, about the most I'll do is *filet* the leaves, cutting the stem off just below the leafy part. Those get left in the comfrey bed along with partially broken down leaves and anything I've missed. Mostly, the green fresh leaves get stuffed in a plastic food bag, frozen, then fed to the worms.

Adding it straight to the soil works a treat as GMM mentions and like him, I also prefer fresh leaves over dried. Also, very seldom chop the leaves up. RA in the hands and the worms don't seem to care. I will say that a 4" layer of fresh/frozen leaves in the worm bin break down to ~ a 1/2" layer of goo in just days and is gone shortly after that. Repeat that several times before adding any bedding, then do it all again. Using fresh with no freezing takes a little longer, a week or so.

The VC from this is not to be believed.

Play around and see which method suits you best, it's all good.

Wet

DonBrennon said:

Damn good point, one of it's 'nick names' is knit-bone, because of it's healing properties. Last summer, a my dog got in a fight with a staffie which wasn't on a lead and I had to boot my dog to stop him from killing it (I've got a chunky american bulldog), anyway, I caught him right in the head and it honestly felt like I'd broke my foot. When I got home it'd already started to swell up and I'd just been reading about comfreys' healing properties and decided to try it out. I wrapped a whole leaf around my foot and then wrapped that with some cling film. It' obvious my foot was never broken, but I do think it was sprained, when I woke up the next day, it was bruised, but the swelling had gone and there was very little pain. My dog was fine by the way, he had the staffie pinned on the floor by it's neck again within seconds, so I had to wrestle him of..............not good, I was very lucky not to get bit and I really wanted to punch the other dog owners lights out

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if that EVER happens again, I got a foolproof method for busting up pitbull dog fights...
pull their tail.
works like magic. and waaaay safer.

DonBrennon said:

Damn good point, one of it's 'nick names' is knit-bone, because of it's healing properties. Last summer, a my dog got in a fight with a staffie which wasn't on a lead and I had to boot my dog to stop him from killing it (I've got a chunky american bulldog), anyway, I caught him right in the head and it honestly felt like I'd broke my foot. When I got home it'd already started to swell up and I'd just been reading about comfreys' healing properties and decided to try it out. I wrapped a whole leaf around my foot and then wrapped that with some cling film. It' obvious my foot was never broken, but I do think it was sprained, when I woke up the next day, it was bruised, but the swelling had gone and there was very little pain. My dog was fine by the way, he had the staffie pinned on the floor by it's neck again within seconds, so I had to wrestle him of..............not good, I was very lucky not to get bit and I really wanted to punch the other dog owners lights out

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You will find that nature all ways finds a way,if you gain plenty of know how then there is all ways something you can use,I all so make my own oil from poppie head's for when the pain is really bad,I may only use it a couple of times a year,but i think knowing whats in my medication is important thats why i make my own oil from the head's 60 poppie head's makes oil that will last a few year.

I grow every herb that i can get my hands on ,my own grapes for wine,mainly for family i don't drink alcohol my self,but make what ever i can from what i grow melon's grapes strawberrys,nettle soap,collect sea weed for wrapping fish i catch my self fly fishing,i am a person that thinks in the way that nature will provide me with everthing i need.

At our garden center we grow lemon's lime's under lighting these go into lemonade/lime,that we give the kid's when people come to buy our good's.

I tuck it under the straw or other mulch Im using or often just mulch with it, gets all moldy and gross looking, I like it.

Cant remember where I got this from but the potassium is not held in plant tissue and the minute you water your comfrey mulch it starts leaching potassium.

you can also make a comfrey ferment using labs

Man so stoked to harvest my 3 comfrey plants. I got 3 crowns online and planted them in my back yard. Two are getting pretty big a few months later and one just started to surface.

When do you guys feel comfortable harvesting some leaves? Do you take them all at once or just half or what? The bigger plants have about 6 or 7 shoots already, I'm guessing i'm pretty far from being able to cut a few leaves.

bizfactory said:

Man so stoked to harvest my 3 comfrey plants. I got 3 crowns online and planted them in my back yard. Two are getting pretty big a few months later and one just started to surface.

When do you guys feel comfortable harvesting some leaves? Do you take them all at once or just half or what? The bigger plants have about 6 or 7 shoots already, I'm guessing i'm pretty far from being able to cut a few leaves.

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I've just cut my whole plants pretty much, at the base, leaving a few small leaves on each stump. That was a few days ago and there are already new leaves growing. I must state that the plants were well established last year though. I wouldn't recommend doing that to an unestablished plant

...........and here they are now

On a side note, I found a new comfrey bush while walking a slightly different route with my dog this morning. It felt a little bit like being a kid a Christmas, lol. It's in full bloom at the moment, so I don't wanna touch it. I'm thinking I'll let it go to seed and try and make a load of clay seed balls up..........there'll be comfrey growing everywhere around here soon, pmsl...............I'll walk the same route later with my camera, take a few snaps.

.........just been

Great thread. I was wondering how I could use some leaves from my new comfrey plant. I'm gonna prune a few off and chop them up and top dress a few plants. Would it be to much for my girls since they are already thriving quite well in my living soil?