Comfrey
can be planted spring, summer or fall...anytime the soil can be worked.
Comfrey sales will begin again early Spring 2013 (next year).
If you would like to be notified when available again, please email us to be put on the list.
USING COMFREY
IN YOUR GARDEN OR FARM:
Good Nutrition for Farm Animals and
Your Soil Good
Eating for All Farm AnimalsWe
feed comfrey to our goats and chickens. They love it. We cut the comfrey leaves
and put them in a hay rack since goats don't like to eat leaves laying on the
ground.
For the chickens we just throw them on the ground and they eat
all of it. They get very excited when we feed it to them. We used to have pigs
and it was a great treat for them. Sheep, cattle and other farm animals like it
too.
Comfrey is especially good for animals you are milking. It gives
does, cows and ewes a nutritional boost. If you let the comfrey wilt a little
first, the animal can eat more of it at one time. But wilting is not necessary.
Some people say it improves milk production and increases the amount of cream
in the milk (from the protein probably). Of course, feed all food supplements
in moderation. Variety is always best.
Good
for Compost Pile, Fertilizer Tea, or Soil AmendmentComfrey
leaves are high in nitrogen (protein), potassium, calcium, iron and phosphate
with many trace minerals (micronutrients). They have 1.8-0.5-5.3 NPK (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium).
Kelp meal has an NPK of 1.0-0.5-2.5, and compost ranges from 0.5-0.5-0.5 to 4-4-4.
So it's better than kelp and some compost.
Comfrey has very long roots
(6-8 feet) so are able to bring up nutrients from deep in the soil (dynamic accumulator).
Its leaves have 2-3 times more potassium than farmyard manure.
Add comfrey
leaves to your compost pile to speed up the composting rate (compost activator)
and to add extra nutrients. You can put 3-5 inches of comfrey leaves on top of
brown compost material such as dead leaves (from other plants) or wood shavings.
Add a layer of food scraps from the kitchen and other green (fresh) material.
Put some dirt on all of this to help the composting process. The comfrey helps
heat up the pile.
Make a fertilizer tea with comfrey leaves. Fill a barrel
or bucket half with leaves. Then fill with water. Let them rot for 4–5 weeks.
You create comfrey tea. It can be used full strength or diluted 50:50 with water.
Use it to water your plants. Some research shows that comfrey tea sprays activate
natural defense mechanisms in seedlings, making them more resistant to disease.
You can also stack dry leaves under a weight such as rocks in a bucket with
a hole in the bottom. The leaves decompose and create a thick black comfrey concentrate
that oozes out of the hole. Dilute at 15:1 before using. The leaves are low in
fiber (low carbon) so over time they decompose into a thick black liquid.
 Improve
plant growth by adding comfrey leaves to the bottom of planting holes for potatoes,
tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, fruit trees/bushes and other potassium-loving plants.
Do not put flowering stalks in holes because they might root.
It will
not rob the soil of nitrogen because the Carbon:Nitrogen (C:N) ratio is lower
than that of well-rotted compost. This is unlike straw and dry leaves that take
nitrogen out of the soil while they decompose.
Use comfrey as a mulch
or side dressing (green manure) by putting 2-3 inches of leaves around plants.
The leaves slowly break down releasing the nutrients. But it is better to limit
mulching root crops and leafy greens with comfrey because they may go to seed
sooner.
This mulch is especially good for fruit trees. Or better yet grow
comfrey plants around fruit trees. You don't have to harvest the leaves, just
let them grow/die/decompose back into the soil. Or you can harvest the leaves
and throw them around the tree. But don't let any flowers grow on the comfrey.
 Fast
Growing, Bountiful Harvest Comfrey
leaves are fast growing. You get about 4-5 pounds of leaves from each cutting
of a mature plant (2 years old or older depending on growing conditions). You
should get about 4-5 cuttings a year, usually every 5 weeks.
Do not cut
the plants the first year but do remove the flowers the first year. Cut when leaves
are about 2 feet high. Harvest using scissors, a sickle or a scythe. Cut all of
the leaves from the plant at one time. It is best to wear gloves.
It is
best to harvest the leaves before they flower since flowering uses up a lot of
the plants energy. Harvest on a regular basis so that flowers do not form. Cut
the leaves 2 inches from the ground.
Stop cutting in late summer or early
fall so the plants have time to regain their energy for winter dormancy. Comfrey
plants can withstand temperatures as low as 40 degrees below zero without being
killed.
If you do not want the plant to spread, then do not rototill
or plow the plants. This will cut up the roots into many pieces. Many of the pieces
will then grow into a new plant. Of course, if you want more plants this can be
an advantage.
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