Living organic soil from start through recycling

[SilverSurfer_OG]

I planted my weed plants and potatoes with fresh comfrey leaves in the bottom of the hole/trench. They loved it.

Invasive can be good when surrounded by ever encroaching blackberry, couch grass, spreading buttercup, oxalis, thistles, gorse and other assorted rampant weeds.

Got a comfrey soak happening now with a nice heavy weight on top and some to cut down for mulch etc. My girls outdoors are now in early flower and might like a wee dram or two.

Should go well with the 30kg or so of dry kelp i smashed up today

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Vonforne

In the photo below you'll see pink flowers - whack 'em! That will force the plant to create more leaves (biomass) which is what you want to harvest so it's a win-win deal. Even though I'm growing the sterile version I do this for the same reasons - increase in the number and size of the leaves.

Do that and you'll be fine!

CC

EDIT: The color of the flowers can range from pink to blue and on to purple. Just cut them at the first sign

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Here's what you'll end up with......

 

[vonforne]

Coot I also want to produce seed for next year or so I bother and let them flower wild. I will ´whack´most of the flowers as you say but would like it to continue from year to year.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

It will continue just you try and stop it!

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Good advice!!!!

You cannot kill this plant......

Good overview on Comfrey - growing, using, etc.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Comfrey: Past, Present & Future - by Lawrence D. Hills

Available in ebook for $10.41

Just something to consider and that is that this is not a 'how to' book at all. It was written to be a comprehensive study of the properties and cultivation of this plant and to that end Mr. Hills did his job very well.

CC

 

[BlueJayWay]

Oh cool its on kindle! Haven't used the kindle app yet...

Comfrey mulch is probably the only (whole) material I've mulched with that is 100% irrecognizable at the end of a 60 day flowering cycle - black topsoil - which tells us that the benefits are indeed utilized during that initial cycle, and fully utilized in the 2nd cycle.

Cannabis leaves takes two full cycles and even a tad more.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Blue Jay

I don't know how to convert ppm to a percentage so perhaps you do - 290,000 ppm

Or am I completely off-base that there is a relationship between these 2 methods of measuring?

CC

EDIT: Not that it matters much to many of us but according to the research cited in 'da book' the NPK on Bocking 14 is 3-1-7

 

[W89]

1 ppm 0.0001 percentage 1 percentage 10000 ppm
2 ppm 0.0002 percentage 2 percentage 20000 ppm

290000 = 29%

 

[BlueJayWay]

That's the saponin level isn't it Coot? Maybe I have that wrong, but I remember that astronomical number.

I think w89 has it right. 290,000/1,000,000 is how I read ppms.

Edit: Mucilage, not saponin, and in the root...

Wow mucopolysaccharides to the rescue.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Blue Jay

Pretty amazing isn't it?

Back to the NPK mythology for a second - in most cases to hit 7% Potassium you have to look to the Potassium sulfates - Sulfate of Potash Magnesia (aka K-MAG, Sul-Po-Mag, Langbienite, et al), Sulfate of Potash (no Magnesium) and probably a couple of others I can't recall.

Then consider that once your comfrey plants are well established which is typically 2 years, you can expect to harvest .75 cubic yards per plant each year. That's equal to 21 bags of fertilizer.

When you get ready to take root cuttings to propagate more plants you'll want to use a clean, sharp wire cutter. You want a clean cut.

You only need about 1" of root section to start a new plant. Just plant them in a #1 nursery container with your soil mix and in about 10 days you'll have 'green' pushing through the soil. Keep them in the containers until they're about 12" tall and you're good to go.

HTH

CC

 

[ClackamasCootz]

290000 = 29%

So that's the conversion - thanks! So that means the Saponin levels in Horse Chestnuts is 16% - wow!

That's a huge amount of anything in a plant other than water.

 

[W89]

yeah this Autumn going to stock up on horse chestnuts shit loads of them around this way

 

[BlueJayWay]

Lets play some Conkers dude!

 

[2 Legal Co]

- and a sprinkle of clover seed around the perimeter.

Curious as to how much your water requirements increased when you started growing clover in your pots?

 

[LITHOS]

Thought I might point out that buckeyes are very similar to horse chestnuts.They are different species but in the same genus,Aesculus, in the soap berry family,Sapindaceae.Buckeyes are often called horse chestnuts.I don't know the saponin levels but they have been used for the same purposes.Being a native buckeye I think I'll be gathering & drying some next fall.

 

[rrog]

I personally didn't notice any difference, but I wasn't looking for a change, either.

 

[Microbeman]

Good advice!!!!

You cannot kill this plant......

Good overview on Comfrey - growing, using, etc.

I see some growing by the railway tracks. Am I tempting a horror show if I transplant a bit to my yard? I don't wish to harvest it from that location for fear that it might get sprayed by the railway maintenance.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

MM

Keep the flowers from developing and you'll have no problems whatsoever. You can get several years from each plant with increased yields from this year over last year up to a point.

It's a lot that's for sure - LOL