Comfrey ???

[franklynn]

Hi advise on using comfrey as a liquid fertiliser please.

Can I grow in buckets to keep the roots under control
How many will I need Or rather how much will I get from one plant
where do I get them from.

answers on a post card etc, etc, etc

Frank  ;D

[franklynn]

[Lauren S]

Hi Franklynn,
You might be lucky and have a lottie neighbour who is willing to divide up some plants for you...(Flutter those eyelashes  ::)). I bought my plants off FleaBay. I'm hoping to be able to divide mine up this year.
I have NO IDEA how many plants you will need.

[Trevor_D]

On my plot it's a weed that spreads like bramble! Never tried growing it in buckets, but it does need some form of root control. (They go very deep - 2 or 3 spits!) I suggest you keep them in a bed on their own. And don't let them seed!!

As for using it, cut off the leaves, fill up a black bucket, top with a brick, or similar, and fill with water. Leave for a couple of weeks - your nose will tell you when it's ready. Then add about a pint per watering-can. Tip the soggy leaves onto the compost heap, or use them as a mulch round your tomatoes.

[Mr Smith]

If you can get hold of   'The Allotment Keepers Handbook' by Jane Perrone there is a section on 'Comfrey'(nipbone), it can produce leaves several times a year,  and it is available off e-bay :)

[calendula]

one plant will go a long way, can get big, bees etc love the flowers so when picking the leaves try and leave the flowers on for the insects, you can make small buckets up depending on how much you are wanting, or big bins as suggested, very stinky but very good for greenhouse feeding or fruit - just throw the leaves a round the base of bushes, trees

actually called 'knit bone' as it is used to mend/knit fractures

[saddad]

I remember my great Aunt using "Knit Bone" poultices on farm animals...
;D

[DeeBee]

I bought 2 chunks of Bocking 14 from ebay and it is definitely living up to the article I read on it, well the bits I can remember. Also have a chunk of 'normal' comfrey, acquired from a lovely day who opened her garden to the public a couple of years ago,  which I use under my maincrop cpuds - never ready for the earlies.
Would recommend you ask a friend or OH to check readiness of the evil brew! ;D Crikey its pungent. Brewed mine without  a lid in the greenhouse last year, door opens, me knocked back by stinkiness! I think I'm becoming more immune :D

[Mr Smith]

Calendula,
                  I stand corrected, on the subject of 'Knit bone' :)

[Uncle Joshua]

I "found" some Comfrey last year and planted it on the slope at the end of my allotment, it now covers the slope and seems to be blocking out the knotweed which is a bonus.

I was told that Comfrey was a good replacment for manure under potatoes anyone know if this is right?

[flowerlady]

Have just posted in another thread that I have a word doc - on the pluses and benefits of Comfrey  :D :D :D that I'd be happy to email to folk if they would like it!  ;)

Flower  :)

[Andy H]

http://www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/comfrey/index.php

This link is a good read on comfrey.

I was given some from A4A and now it is a huge plant! Grows like mad.
If you stand still and watch it you can see it grow!!! Well it seems that way.

I use a comfrey tube at home and on the plots.

I will see if there is a link as it was on here before

[shambasarfi]

Oops!

We've just got our allotment and it has comfrey growing next to the compost box and it's gone to seed!!  I had better cut them off!!

Don't take me literally because it would be a waste of expensive equipment, but I wonder what it would be like to ferment comfrey in a wine demijohn with one of those airlock defices that has water in its U-bend to stop ants getting into the wine.  This might stop the awful smell might it not, although I dread to think what would happen to anyone drinking the stuff!!

It might make them nice and comfrey!!

[Andy H]

It doesn`t smell in the tube, only when you release it out and only then untill you water it down in watering can.

Great stuff, better than tomatorite in all but one chemical.

Wife is doing a test this year with toms, one with nothing and one with tomatorite and one with comfrey....... :D

[STEVEB]

Excuse my thickness !!what do you mean by in the tube?

[Andy H]

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,26190.0.html

This links to pic of my comfrey pipe

Basically a gutter pipe with top of coke bottle on bottom with mesh in it to stop leaves blocking the cap. fill with comfrey leaves and I have a jam jar filled with lead to weight it down and a lid to stop rain getting in, the leaves rot down and the brown liquid sits at the bottom and you undo cap to release it into your watering can.

Better in most chemicals than tomotorite.

There was a link somewhere about the comparrisons between comfrey juice etc,(google it)

If you want any other help then just ask.

[hopalong]

My thoughtful and affectionate son bought me a Russian comfrey plant a few years ago because he read that it was helpful for soothing the agony of gout (I am a sufferer).  I haven't used it for that, but it is a fantastic plant feed and compost activator and I have "bred" half a dozen plants from the original one. Cut the leaves back hard and they grow back quickly. I make the liquid in a covered bin with a tap on the bottom and apply the liquid at a rate of one part comfrey juice to 10 parts water. ;)