I bought some Bocking 14 about 10 years ago and planted it in different places at the edge of my garden and lawn. I just dug up 2 plants, replanted a piece in the original spaces and then planted 33 other pieces of those original plants at the edge of my gardens and the side of my house. I want it to stop the encroachment but I also will use it for chop and drop and Jadam fertilizer tea. The new planted areas will keep me from having to chop it and put it in a wheel barrow to spread it in my garden. I make Jadam (Korean) comfrey tea by chopping up a bunch of comfrey and stuffing it into a 32 gallon black garbage can. I pack the comfrey tight up to about 3/4 of the garbage can. I throw in some leaf mold and sea salt, wait about three months and mix the solution 1 part tea to 10 parts water. You can keep adding the comfrey and water. It's freeze proof over the winter. It works and you will never run out of the stuff. The Russian Bocking 14's NPK is 1.8 - 0.5 - 7. Buying it was one of the smartest things I've ever done for my garden and my back.
Thanks for taking the time to post the video! I grow the Bocking 14 Russian comfrey variety in a 6x4 metre (18x12 feet) plot. I use it as a fertiliser source both in solid and liquid form. In the solid form, cut and gather the leaves and stalks from about 50mm (2 inches) above ground level - the plant will grow back again very quickly. Place the leaves at the bottom of the potato trench and cover with about 25mm (1 inch) of soil before placing the seed potatoes on top. To make the concentrated liquid form that does not smell when producing, use a plastic dustbin with a lid. Drill a 6mm (1/4 inch) drain hole in the bottom centre of the bin. Scrunch up some chicken wire and place in the bottom of the bin to prevent the drain hole from being blocked. Place the bin on a stand so that a 5 litre clear or opaque plastic container can be placed underneath the drain hole. A small filler funnel in the top of the container better catches the drips of concentrate. Fill the bin completely with the comfrey leaves and stalks and place a flat stone on top to compress the leaves. DO NOT ADD ANY WATER! Put the lid on the bin. After about 14 days (here in the UK), a brown liquid concentrate will begin to drip from the drain hole into the container. Using a clear or opaque container lets you see when the container is getting full and needs to be replaced. Add more comfrey leaves to the top of the bin as the level drops to keep the process going as long as required. Dilute the concentrate about 1 to 40 (I use 100cc concentrate to 4.5 litre water) into a watering can. Use this as a liquid feed for all your plants and vegetables. Store the sealed concentrate in a cool, dark place and it will keep for at least 2 years. For further old-school info on organic gardening, read Lawrence D Hills book “Grow Your Own Fruit and Vegetables”. This was written at the time of the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA) which has now evolved into ‘Garden Organic’. Website link is: www.gardenorganic.org.uk
Your video was very very informative and delivered very nicely. I appreciate all this great information to start along our fences in Tennessee. I think I will encompass an area with it to keep the weeds out of our garden. I LOVE that idea! Thank you so much.
So glad I watched this. Am having my yard cleaned out today and there is one comfrey plant in the corner. Lots of wild grass growing along the fence. It would be a great place to make a comfrey patch. Just started making compost tea with the leaves for fertilizer.
Thank you! Putting up a deer fence around my orchard and have been mulling over how to deal with the grass at the base. I just got some comfrey root starts last week, so I am on my way with it!
Hi there---I am just seeing this video this morning and, like you, have ordered some comfrey possibly to use around my garden fence. But my concerns were that it might draw deer and rabbits, etc. which would be enticed to try to get into the garden once they were drawn close by the comfrey. Have you had any issues with pests in this regard? Thanks for your help if you have time to respond. Jesus bless.
I germinated comfrey seeds early spring and only two plants came up out of 6. I put the seeds in soil, into my fridge for a month or so and then out under plant lights. It is good to know I can get more plants from these two surviving plants next year.
this is such a good idea, we have planted a row of comfrey on the north side of our strawberry patch; i'm going to plant it around my other two parcels as well. i might even plant a row of it in one of my raised beds, i discovered the root will alleviate back pain; i'll use it in the garden, and our bodies. just subscribed, i always look at other videos available before subscribing; i like what i saw on your channel, i'll be hitting them up soon.
I have heard that borders are good protection against frost coming into an area. A border of comfrey if it is a tall variety might stop the frost from rolling further. Also serve as a slight wind break. And comfrey would serve to attract bees. Comfrey is great mulch. I would add lots of basalt rock dust. I found a place that sells it in bulk for as little as $65 a ton. That and some worms would make your comfrey accumulate minerals.
This looks like a great option for many reasons. I planted 3 small starts last summer and this year they are about 3 ft tall and 2ft diameter. They've grown amazing and I love this idea. It will solve many problems for me. Thanks for sharing!!
It’s known as “knit bone “ & healed my daughter’s broken fibula quickly (she didn’t need the prescribed surgery to brace it). She used my homemade infused Comfrey oil on it. A friend also used some of my Comfrey leaves on a badly bruised arm (from a fall down a stairway) & the pain & bruise left quickly.
I also used it as a poultice on my mother's broken toes and they wanted to do surgery on one. she ended up not needing the surgery and it healed much quicker.
I have comfrey everywhere. I think you are good to mention the conflicting science on it. If you've ever dug one up, you'll know that, yes they have a deep taproot, but they also have a LOT of lateral roots. That being said, if you keep building soil (which chop/drop comfrey is amazing at), then your only concern really is to maximize sunlight capture area, which comfrey is amazing at. Large green leaves capture a ton of sunlight, turn that into biomass, you can chop it 3-4 times a year, etc. YOu can really see that at the 4:11 mark. Killer plant, love it. We have it everywhere and will be doing extensive videos on it.
I agree it is a great plant for biomass, just seeing how much it grew in the last month or so of the growing season when we were getting a lot of rain. I'm pretty sure it will be in full growth by the end of next season and will be an effective garden barrier. It's easy to cut with a scythe too, so I'm looking forward to that chop and drop.
There are 2 types of comfrey. Common that needs to be planted. One I believe he is speaking of. And the wild comfrey which I believe you are speaking of.
I have done this too. … I am in a high snow area, my 6’ fences do very well in the snow, I used no climb close welded fen wire on T Posts. Som of the T posts I cut the fins off, welded rebar to the bottom, and drilled into the rock and ledge and put in a little concrete too. I have a long section going right up a stone wall, I pulled out the stones filled with concrete and gravel and put the stones back. ( the stone wall is a monument property line ). The point is good fences work, are worth the effort. I live on a steep slope. We have terraced much of it, and are still working on that. Each terrace is filled with have rotten wood, leaves, and hay we cut by hand with our scythes and also we mix in dirt we mine from old stumps in our woods. Then we plant daikon radish and/or turnips and other crops and let them rot into the forming soil. We keep adding green matter and leaves and just let it all rot down. We use our humanure/compost as a top dressing. Building soil is paramount for getting a healthy yield ( quantity and quality ). I am now planting permanent patches of comfrey and stinging nettle to use in making compost teas and the comfrey also for mulches around the fruit and nut trees. I have fruit and nut trees underplanted with alliums, garlic and regular chives, marigolds. I also have planted rows of black currants in the fruit and nut growing areas and in between we are going to intercrop with rye. Rye grows well here, I did test plots last Fall of Winter rye. Perfect! Rye can be eaten with minimal processing so for a grain crop that is good. De-hulling oats proved too difficult. We do all of the processing of food without power. As the state transitions to electric cars we expect to see increasing power outages as the grid cannot handle it. We did do the dirt work with excavator and some with our small tractor. Glad we did most of that before diesel shot up to over 6.00/ gallon.
Comfrey is really an amazing plant 🌱 Thanks for sharing!!! I’d really like to have some in my garden, but haven’t been able to find any seeds! Your plants look so healthy! They’re flourishing!!
It's easier to grow them from roots. Find someone with a plant and dig some roots from it. Once they are in the ground even if you try to get all the roots out the plant won't die. It's basically impossible to get all the root out and it will regrow from the tiniest root.
The Bocking 14 doesn't reproduce from seeds .. lol, (I was trying to find some...) I'm in Alabama, don't think I've ever seen comfrey.. but I ordered a different variety of comfrey seeds from Amazon... fingers crossed,..
I have a rusty old fence (for aesthetics) surrounding my cottage style garden bed. The deer will eat everything not inside a fence. So the fence is working great but the grass growing just at the edge is not attractive. I have decided to edge the entire fence with alternating rhubarb (which currently on its own covers 5 feet), my huge walking onions and comfrey. All useful plants that are attractive and I can easily access them when needed😉thanks for sharing this video!!
that sounds like a useful combo. I'd guess the walking onions won't smother the grass though. I usually have to dig mine up regularly and weed out the perennial grasses.
I am so glad you posted your comment of what you have growing together. I am wanting to start the comfrey around my garden and was afraid it would attract pests such as deer and rabbits. But I did read somewhere that onion repels both of them somewhat. So that might be the combo I need---what you have put together. Can you bring any thoughts to the table in that regard? Also, where do you get the kind of onions you have? Jesus bless.
@@sandrarichardson2713 I didn't know comfrey would attract rabbits and deer? Maybe they'd hide in it? The walking onions are something you could probably buy online somewhere. I just did a search and found them for sale everywhere if you search "walking onions".
Dynamic accumulators: Because they have deep roots, and feed from deeper more healthy soil, the leaves are supposed to also contain different nutrients than the topsoil may. It seems like there has to be some direct scientific proof of what they do...because the data is pretty detailed around what plant brings up what nutrient. But, you are right...we shoulld all be doing research around the "things we hear" to make sure it originally came from a proven source.
I'm more of a missouri girl. I believe what I see and know. When science says it isnt true, and truth says otherwise, what you choose to believe is up to you.
Sometimes people tell us something is true and we pass it along without question, even though we have no evidence it's true. This can be a problem, because people can make up whatever they want and tell someone it's true. We don't all have to test everything ourselves, but I believe it's good to trust in controlled experiments. Here's a link to a good video I watched yesterday that illustrates this. th-cam.com/video/ZQ--scjcAZ4/w-d-xo.html I'm not saying you shouldn't trust your eyes either, but sometimes it's hard to tell if a plant is actually bringing molecules of nutrients up through its roots without special instruments.
I think it is the Russian variety, but there may be many varieties of that. I got it unnamed from plants that were already growing at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage
Great idea. Yet another use for comfrey. An amazing plant. Am still curious about the established “ myth” that the plant brings up nutrients. I am not sure that it brings up anything besides what we are accustomed to getting, but it does bring up more of that, imo, and it makes the soil more friable. Again, my opinions. Thanks against n for the fence idea. I am going to use it!
I have been using it chopped into buckets of water to 'fertigate' and for me it works really well. Even if it does not have magical levels of nutrients it certainly is an amazing plant - like you said. I don't think I have any other useful plants that are impossible to kill. I chop on my plants relentlessly and it does not appear to harm them. I too like the fence idea. I will have to give that a try.
Absolutely. The great thing about comfrey is the moment it starts getting in the way, just chop it, drop it, build soil, release light to the plants it may be out competing. If you focus on constantly building soil this way, your garden soil will be so rich that you can overload it. There should never be bare space in a garden. Fill it right up. Lots of mulch, lots of plants, constant chop and drop. I even suggest using biochar. I have extensive videos on it if you wanted to check them out. Comfrey is an amazing plant, I have it absolutely everywhere, including right in garden beds.
In my experience, it doesn't really spread fast because I don't think it has anything like a runner. However, when I used to garden in community gardens, every year they would till the entire garden for us and comfrey was a huge weed pest. Its roots would get chopped up in the tiller and distributed into everyone's plots and it was impossible to get rid of. Given how prolific it is, it would take over and be impossible to remove. But tilling is the worst thing you could do to it if you don't want it to spread, because each tiny piece of root will form a new plant. If planted in one spot and not tilled, it will pretty much stay there, though the whole canopy can be 3-4 ft wide. Once it's there I imagine it could be difficult to get rid of, much like Jerusalem artichoke tubers.
The kind of comfrey I plant doesn't really move much. That being said, once you plant it somewhere, it's very difficult to get rid of it because each little piece of root will start a new plant. If you can't get the whole root out, it will probably start growing again.
That may be possible. I think the Russian is sterile or doesn't produce viable seed, so it is limited to vegetative propagation, and the roots don't spread unless disturbed.
@@HardcoreSustainable Bocking 14 is sterile and I think Bocking 8 is as well. I have Bocking 14 and you're right. It stays in place and doesn't seed unless you till or disc your soil.
Can comfrey also keep vines at bay? My yard is adjacent to a wild place overrun with wild grape, poison ivy and English ivy. I cut a lot of it back and I'm planning to edge it with comfrey.
I don't think it would keep back grapes, but poison ivy and others spread along the ground underground and the comfrey might help. The problem is that some of those weedy plants can send runner roots underground for long distances and just come up whenever they have enough light. You might do a couple rows of comfrey to make a wider barrier to smother them.
This is something I have been thinking on. Trying to put together pros and cons. It's July here in Texas and I just ordered a few roots to see if I can get it to grow in a container. If it comes through, I'll put it in the ground when it cools off a little. Does anyone know if it draws deer? Or rabbits? That would be a bad thing to plant something that would attract something that is going to eat your garden. Thanks for a great video. Surely helpful. Jesus bless.
Fortunately, it's July here too. Haha. I haven't noticed deer eating any of the comfrey I have. The rabbits might be attracted to it if it provides cover, but they don't want to eat it. I haven't seen anything eating my comfrey. And believe me, if rabbits and deer liked it I would notice.
@@HardcoreSustainable Thanks for your replies. This relieves me that I can move forward with some plans. Your videos are very good and encouraging. Jesus bless.
Yes they LOVE comfrey. I grow it feed fresh and then dried in the winter. Goats, cattle, horses, pigs and rabbits eat it. Teaching 3rd world countries to grow it as fodder.
Yes it brings up nutrients from however far down it roots, which is pretty far. All plants do that. The deeper the roots go, the deeper the nutrients will be from. This is why trees are so important, because they root very deeply and bring up all sorts of stuff from far down in the soil, which is why you should not blow your leaves away. When you do that you're basically just blowing away all the nutrients from your land, and then you just have to buy fertilizer, which is a total waste and an unnecessary expense.
There is no doubt that plants bring up some nutrients from the ground and put them into their leaves and stems. But comfrey is often attributed with doing this more, or better than any other plant, assuming because it has deeper roots? When they do studies on it, they find it isn't really special in the way it is rumored to be. That's all I was saying. I agree though, you shouldn't move the leaves, and as with grazing animals, when you mow regularly you encourage the plant to put on more vegetative mass, so you are adding more to the soil because more carbon is being fixed. If you don't mow, the plant will flower and go dormant. Flowers require more energy than leaves too, and have less mass, so you aren't getting as much good stuff from the plant.
How to make them so dense? I am planning to plant a long row of Russian comfrey this coming spring like you, but some say 1.5 ft apart whilst others say 3 ft apart is sufficient to achieve density without overcrowding. Which is correct in your experience?
I think 1.5 ft seems a little too close. One crown can spread 3-4 ft, so 3 ft seems more likely to cover the ground. You could plant closer and I'm sure they'd still be fine.
The idea of Comfrey bringing up minerals was attractive but I admit that since it sounded too good to be true I was wondering if it wasn't just wive's tales . So basically its a weed barrier through overshading and mulch choking ?
Andrew Gardener Comfrey has been used for 1000’s of years for healing sprains bruises fractures torn ligaments rashes etc. look up videos on making poultices, infusion oils & salves, tinctures, teas, toothpaste for regrowing teeth, remineralisation of teeth etc. See also a video titled “the truth about comfrey”. See comments section in that video. FDA CDC etc have banned this for internal consumption so that mass populace shouldn’t turn to Nature for healing. Our ancestors knew this. Indian Ayurveda recognizes these principles. There was no FDA CDC etc in ancient times & yet people thrived & the healthiest of tribes are those that depend on Nature & are least corrupted in body by ingesting the “modern medicine”. The Divine Intelligence that created us ensured to provide for our well-being in Nature itself. I’m currently trying to procure dried leaves & roots to heal my spine fracture. I’ve read great testimonies on wide section of platforms on comfrey. 🙏🏻🙏🏻✌🏻
what is the spacing between each planting you used and how big were the transplants you put in? also, how far did you plant it up against the fence line?
I planted them about 1.5-2 ft apart. I guess the bigger the transplants are, the faster they'll get established, but even a 2-3 piece of root can start a new plant if it has enough water when it's getting going. I planted about 1-1.5 ft away from the fence.
@@HardcoreSustainable also, i'm new to your channel, but live in kcmo. i'm from small farm town south of kc about an hour, originally. what part of the state are you guys in?
@@bkershaccount That's cool. So you are in the area. We are in Northeastern MO, NEMO, not too far from Kirksville. You should make the trip for one of our tours during the season.
That's a good question. I do believe it will continue to send up flower spikes as long as the season is long enough. I haven't paid close enough attention to verify that.
Hardcore Sustainable I hard cut the comfrey back to the base after it sent out all its beautiful blooming bells, and yes, it’s sending out tendrils of foliage. Looks like I’ll get a second flush. I love this plant, even in a container environment, it seems to love and flourish from change. Hardy. Hardy. Hardy.
I have Comfrey in our lower garden..it was there since the early fifties and is still there...Makes amazing rich black crumbly compost and you can't get rid of it....
Use as a compost activator by adding in layers to your compost pile. Or soak in a bucket of rain water for four weeks (kinda stinky) and dilute to one cup per gallon as a fertilizer. Tests have shown it to be far better than commerical products.
I set 5 gallon buckets of comfrey in water all over my garden and 'fertigate' all summer with it. I have a can screwed onto a stick that is my dipping can. You don't want to get too close to rotted comfrey. It smells just like manure. I even get hoards of flies on top of the buckets. Apparently they think it is manure too.
Dude that's a ton of comfrey! Seriously what percentage of that do you harvest and use? I've just a small 6x6 foot space and I harvest three times a year and it's way more than I need.
I don't need to harvest it because it's serving it's purpose in keeping back the weeds. But I can do chop and drop with it to add organic matter to the soil. All that comfrey was planted earlier that same season. It's really easy to grow.
never too much! lol I'm chopping mine up hopefully this week and transplanting a ton of roots. Some plants you just cant have too much of, lol. Especially if you're using it as mulch, compost, and other stuff. Ahhhh
@Becky Sollesa, as long as you plant the variety with sterile flowers, such as Bocking 14 Cultivar, you're fine. Otherwise it spreads via blown seeds and becomes a weedy nuisance. Search it online and you'll find the sterile variety; I bought mine online (in USA). You do still need to be aware that any root pieces will grow a new plant however!
This is an article that explains a lot of what I'm talking about. The numbers don't support that comfrey does any more than any other plant. I plan to do a separate video about this specifically. It has references for its information. www.gardenmyths.com/comfrey-dynamic-accumulator/
This guy is full of it. He must have looked hard for an article putting Comfrey down. Every other gardener on youtube says it is one of the most essential plants to have when SHTF.
Look it up. The stuff about "dynamic accumulation" in itself is not based in any kind of science. It's just permaculture mythology, and studies prove it's not true. I'm obviously not saying comfrey isn't useful. The entire video is about a great use for it. I just like to be honest about the reality and present evidence-based information. It does no good to tell people false information and have them waste time and effort on something that doesn't work the way the mythology says it does. But you seem pretty defensive about anyone saying anything bad about it.
Why is that? A better word for describing what we do? We aren't sustaining, we are regenerating? I don't know if I'd change now, but it is a good word and sort of the latest buzz word for sustainable practices.
Contrary to the title, it’s is obvious that you do not know the uses of comfrey in permaculture, nor in any other application. Great job adding to the digital pile of misinformation!
What a rude comment. Maybe you can read my mind? I'm guessing you don't like the part about saying the dynamic accumulator claim is not supported by scientific data. Given that permaculture is basically a school of thought where anyone can become a teacher expert after taking one permaculture certification, it's not surprising misinformation would be spread. It also claims ownership of just about every good idea that has been around for thousands of years. But I'm sure you are the true expert.
I bought some Bocking 14 about 10 years ago and planted it in different places at the edge of my garden and lawn. I just dug up 2 plants, replanted a piece in the original spaces and then planted 33 other pieces of those original plants at the edge of my gardens and the side of my house. I want it to stop the encroachment but I also will use it for chop and drop and Jadam fertilizer tea.
The new planted areas will keep me from having to chop it and put it in a wheel barrow to spread it in my garden.
I make Jadam (Korean) comfrey tea by chopping up a bunch of comfrey and stuffing it into a 32 gallon black garbage can. I pack the comfrey tight up to about 3/4 of the garbage can. I throw in some leaf mold and sea salt, wait about three months and mix the solution 1 part tea to 10 parts water. You can keep adding the comfrey and water. It's freeze proof over the winter. It works and you will never run out of the stuff.
The Russian Bocking 14's NPK is 1.8 - 0.5 - 7. Buying it was one of the smartest things I've ever done for my garden and my back.
Love your honest scepticism 😀👍🌼
Edible acres is a great permaculture channel. He used this method and it worked out great for him. I hope it works well for you, too.
Thanks for taking the time to post the video!
I grow the Bocking 14 Russian comfrey variety in a 6x4 metre (18x12 feet) plot.
I use it as a fertiliser source both in solid and liquid form.
In the solid form, cut and gather the leaves and stalks from about 50mm (2 inches) above ground level - the plant will grow back again very quickly.
Place the leaves at the bottom of the potato trench and cover with about 25mm (1 inch) of soil before placing the seed potatoes on top.
To make the concentrated liquid form that does not smell when producing, use a plastic dustbin with a lid.
Drill a 6mm (1/4 inch) drain hole in the bottom centre of the bin.
Scrunch up some chicken wire and place in the bottom of the bin to prevent the drain hole from being blocked.
Place the bin on a stand so that a 5 litre clear or opaque plastic container can be placed underneath the drain hole. A small filler funnel in the top of the container better catches the drips of concentrate.
Fill the bin completely with the comfrey leaves and stalks and place a flat stone on top to compress the leaves.
DO NOT ADD ANY WATER!
Put the lid on the bin.
After about 14 days (here in the UK), a brown liquid concentrate will begin to drip from the drain hole into the container.
Using a clear or opaque container lets you see when the container is getting full and needs to be replaced.
Add more comfrey leaves to the top of the bin as the level drops to keep the process going as long as required.
Dilute the concentrate about 1 to 40 (I use 100cc concentrate to 4.5 litre water) into a watering can.
Use this as a liquid feed for all your plants and vegetables.
Store the sealed concentrate in a cool, dark place and it will keep for at least 2 years.
For further old-school info on organic gardening, read Lawrence D Hills book “Grow Your Own Fruit and Vegetables”.
This was written at the time of the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA) which has now evolved into ‘Garden Organic’. Website link is:
www.gardenorganic.org.uk
Your video was very very informative and delivered very nicely. I appreciate all this great information to start along our fences in Tennessee. I think I will encompass an area with it to keep the weeds out of our garden. I LOVE that idea! Thank you so much.
I'm glad it was helpful.
So glad I watched this. Am having my yard cleaned out today and there is one comfrey plant in the corner. Lots of wild grass growing along the fence. It would be a great place to make a comfrey patch. Just started making compost tea with the leaves for fertilizer.
Thank you! Putting up a deer fence around my orchard and have been mulling over how to deal with the grass at the base. I just got some comfrey root starts last week, so I am on my way with it!
Hi there---I am just seeing this video this morning and, like you, have ordered some comfrey possibly to use around my garden fence. But my concerns were that it might draw deer and rabbits, etc. which would be enticed to try to get into the garden once they were drawn close by the comfrey. Have you had any issues with pests in this regard? Thanks for your help if you have time to respond. Jesus bless.
I germinated comfrey seeds early spring and only two plants came up out of 6. I put the seeds in soil, into my fridge for a month or so and then out under plant lights. It is good to know I can get more plants from these two surviving plants next year.
this is such a good idea, we have planted a row of comfrey on the north side of our strawberry patch; i'm going to plant it around my other two parcels as well. i might even plant a row of it in one of my raised beds, i discovered the root will alleviate back pain; i'll use it in the garden, and our bodies. just subscribed, i always look at other videos available before subscribing; i like what i saw on your channel, i'll be hitting them up soon.
Glad you enjoyed the video and subscribed. Welcome! Comfrey is a very useful plant.
I have heard that borders are good protection against frost coming into an area. A border of comfrey if it is a tall variety might stop the frost from rolling further. Also serve as a slight wind break. And comfrey would serve to attract bees. Comfrey is great mulch.
I would add lots of basalt rock dust. I found a place that sells it in bulk for as little as $65 a ton. That and some worms would make your comfrey accumulate minerals.
Good
That is very pretty all the comfree. I got one plant from a friend last season and now I am propogating lots
It's easy to propagate lots.
This looks like a great option for many reasons. I planted 3 small starts last summer and this year they are about 3 ft tall and 2ft diameter. They've grown amazing and I love this idea. It will solve many problems for me.
Thanks for sharing!!
It works like a charm. I'm using them everywhere for this now. Even as a living mulch in my vineyard.
great video and comfrey use! very glad to find your channel
Your comfry looks beautiful great job
Thanks! It's gotten even better since this video.
It’s known as “knit bone “ & healed my daughter’s broken fibula quickly (she didn’t need the prescribed surgery to brace it). She used my homemade infused Comfrey oil on it. A friend also used some of my Comfrey leaves on a badly bruised arm (from a fall down a stairway) & the pain & bruise left quickly.
I also used it as a poultice on my mother's broken toes and they wanted to do surgery on one. she ended up not needing the surgery and it healed much quicker.
I have comfrey everywhere. I think you are good to mention the conflicting science on it. If you've ever dug one up, you'll know that, yes they have a deep taproot, but they also have a LOT of lateral roots. That being said, if you keep building soil (which chop/drop comfrey is amazing at), then your only concern really is to maximize sunlight capture area, which comfrey is amazing at. Large green leaves capture a ton of sunlight, turn that into biomass, you can chop it 3-4 times a year, etc. YOu can really see that at the 4:11 mark. Killer plant, love it. We have it everywhere and will be doing extensive videos on it.
I agree it is a great plant for biomass, just seeing how much it grew in the last month or so of the growing season when we were getting a lot of rain. I'm pretty sure it will be in full growth by the end of next season and will be an effective garden barrier. It's easy to cut with a scythe too, so I'm looking forward to that chop and drop.
There are 2 types of comfrey. Common that needs to be planted. One I believe he is speaking of. And the wild comfrey which I believe you are speaking of.
I have done this too. … I am in a high snow area, my 6’ fences do very well in the snow, I used no climb close welded fen wire on T Posts. Som of the T posts I cut the fins off, welded rebar to the bottom, and drilled into the rock and ledge and put in a little concrete too. I have a long section going right up a stone wall, I pulled out the stones filled with concrete and gravel and put the stones back. ( the stone wall is a monument property line ). The point is good fences work, are worth the effort. I live on a steep slope. We have terraced much of it, and are still working on that. Each terrace is filled with have rotten wood, leaves, and hay we cut by hand with our scythes and also we mix in dirt we mine from old stumps in our woods. Then we plant daikon radish and/or turnips and other crops and let them rot into the forming soil. We keep adding green matter and leaves and just let it all rot down. We use our humanure/compost as a top dressing. Building soil is paramount for getting a healthy yield ( quantity and quality ). I am now planting permanent patches of comfrey and stinging nettle to use in making compost teas and the comfrey also for mulches around the fruit and nut trees. I have fruit and nut trees underplanted with alliums, garlic and regular chives, marigolds. I also have planted rows of black currants in the fruit and nut growing areas and in between we are going to intercrop with rye. Rye grows well here, I did test plots last Fall of Winter rye. Perfect! Rye can be eaten with minimal processing so for a grain crop that is good. De-hulling oats proved too difficult. We do all of the processing of food without power. As the state transitions to electric cars we expect to see increasing power outages as the grid cannot handle it. We did do the dirt work with excavator and some with our small tractor. Glad we did most of that before diesel shot up to over 6.00/ gallon.
Loved the idea! Thanks for uploading
Comfrey is good to help bruises no hurt as bad. It’s know also as knit bone
thanks for sharing
Comfrey is really an amazing plant 🌱
Thanks for sharing!!! I’d really like to have some in my garden, but haven’t been able to find any seeds! Your plants look so healthy! They’re flourishing!!
It's easier to grow them from roots. Find someone with a plant and dig some roots from it. Once they are in the ground even if you try to get all the roots out the plant won't die. It's basically impossible to get all the root out and it will regrow from the tiniest root.
The Bocking 14 doesn't reproduce from seeds .. lol, (I was trying to find some...) I'm in Alabama, don't think I've ever seen comfrey.. but I ordered a different variety of comfrey seeds from Amazon... fingers crossed,..
I have a rusty old fence (for aesthetics) surrounding my cottage style garden bed. The deer will eat everything not inside a fence. So the fence is working great but the grass growing just at the edge is not attractive. I have decided to edge the entire fence with alternating rhubarb (which currently on its own covers 5 feet), my huge walking onions and comfrey. All useful plants that are attractive and I can easily access them when needed😉thanks for sharing this video!!
that sounds like a useful combo. I'd guess the walking onions won't smother the grass though. I usually have to dig mine up regularly and weed out the perennial grasses.
I am so glad you posted your comment of what you have growing together. I am wanting to start the comfrey around my garden and was afraid it would attract pests such as deer and rabbits. But I did read somewhere that onion repels both of them somewhat. So that might be the combo I need---what you have put together.
Can you bring any thoughts to the table in that regard? Also, where do you get the kind of onions you have? Jesus bless.
@@sandrarichardson2713 I didn't know comfrey would attract rabbits and deer? Maybe they'd hide in it?
The walking onions are something you could probably buy online somewhere. I just did a search and found them for sale everywhere if you search "walking onions".
Dynamic accumulators: Because they have deep roots, and feed from deeper more healthy soil, the leaves are supposed to also contain different nutrients than the topsoil may. It seems like there has to be some direct scientific proof of what they do...because the data is pretty detailed around what plant brings up what nutrient. But, you are right...we shoulld all be doing research around the "things we hear" to make sure it originally came from a proven source.
I'm more of a missouri girl. I believe what I see and know. When science says it isnt true, and truth says otherwise, what you choose to believe is up to you.
Sometimes people tell us something is true and we pass it along without question, even though we have no evidence it's true. This can be a problem, because people can make up whatever they want and tell someone it's true. We don't all have to test everything ourselves, but I believe it's good to trust in controlled experiments. Here's a link to a good video I watched yesterday that illustrates this.
th-cam.com/video/ZQ--scjcAZ4/w-d-xo.html
I'm not saying you shouldn't trust your eyes either, but sometimes it's hard to tell if a plant is actually bringing molecules of nutrients up through its roots without special instruments.
😊 Good to know.
Just found you.....
yes...yes..yes...excellent mulch !
Love the uses of this plant and what a wonderful idea as an edging...do you know which type of. Comfrey this is.. ?
I think it is the Russian variety, but there may be many varieties of that. I got it unnamed from plants that were already growing at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage
Great idea. Yet another use for comfrey. An amazing plant. Am still curious about the established “ myth” that the plant brings up nutrients. I am not sure that it brings up anything besides what we are accustomed to getting, but it does bring up more of that, imo, and it makes the soil more friable. Again, my opinions. Thanks against n for the fence idea. I am going to use it!
I have been using it chopped into buckets of water to 'fertigate' and for me it works really well. Even if it does not have magical levels of nutrients it certainly is an amazing plant - like you said. I don't think I have any other useful plants that are impossible to kill. I chop on my plants relentlessly and it does not appear to harm them. I too like the fence idea. I will have to give that a try.
Comfrey had SIGNIFICANT amounts of calcium in it.
Other stuff on par with other green fertilizers.
Do you have a site from where we can buy starts?
I don't currently but I am about to start selling iris bulbs and could potentially sell comfrey as well. I'll let people know if I do.
GREAT idea! Thanks!
Do you know if anyone who has used it over several years has had any issues of it growing into the garden itself?
Absolutely. The great thing about comfrey is the moment it starts getting in the way, just chop it, drop it, build soil, release light to the plants it may be out competing. If you focus on constantly building soil this way, your garden soil will be so rich that you can overload it. There should never be bare space in a garden. Fill it right up. Lots of mulch, lots of plants, constant chop and drop. I even suggest using biochar. I have extensive videos on it if you wanted to check them out. Comfrey is an amazing plant, I have it absolutely everywhere, including right in garden beds.
In my experience, it doesn't really spread fast because I don't think it has anything like a runner. However, when I used to garden in community gardens, every year they would till the entire garden for us and comfrey was a huge weed pest. Its roots would get chopped up in the tiller and distributed into everyone's plots and it was impossible to get rid of. Given how prolific it is, it would take over and be impossible to remove. But tilling is the worst thing you could do to it if you don't want it to spread, because each tiny piece of root will form a new plant. If planted in one spot and not tilled, it will pretty much stay there, though the whole canopy can be 3-4 ft wide. Once it's there I imagine it could be difficult to get rid of, much like Jerusalem artichoke tubers.
Use blocking 14 it will not self seed if not sure what you have just remember to take flowers off hope this helps 👍👍
Does Comfrey roots grow around water tanks or pipes?
Do you mean can they?
@ can they and how common is that?
@ They can grow anywhere.
What do you do when comfrey starts to move into areas where you don't want it??
The kind of comfrey I plant doesn't really move much. That being said, once you plant it somewhere, it's very difficult to get rid of it because each little piece of root will start a new plant. If you can't get the whole root out, it will probably start growing again.
I've read that some types of comfrey are quite invasive and that Russian comfrey is less so. Do you know if that's the case?
That may be possible. I think the Russian is sterile or doesn't produce viable seed, so it is limited to vegetative propagation, and the roots don't spread unless disturbed.
@@HardcoreSustainable Bocking 14 is sterile and I think Bocking 8 is as well. I have Bocking 14 and you're right. It stays in place and doesn't seed unless you till or disc your soil.
Do you sell Comfrey roots?
Can comfrey also keep vines at bay? My yard is adjacent to a wild place overrun with wild grape, poison ivy and English ivy. I cut a lot of it back and I'm planning to edge it with comfrey.
I don't think it would keep back grapes, but poison ivy and others spread along the ground underground and the comfrey might help. The problem is that some of those weedy plants can send runner roots underground for long distances and just come up whenever they have enough light. You might do a couple rows of comfrey to make a wider barrier to smother them.
This is something I have been thinking on. Trying to put together pros and cons. It's July here in Texas and I just ordered a few roots to see if I can get it to grow in a container. If it comes through, I'll put it in the ground when it cools off a little.
Does anyone know if it draws deer? Or rabbits? That would be a bad thing to plant something that would attract something that is going to eat your garden.
Thanks for a great video. Surely helpful. Jesus bless.
Fortunately, it's July here too. Haha. I haven't noticed deer eating any of the comfrey I have. The rabbits might be attracted to it if it provides cover, but they don't want to eat it. I haven't seen anything eating my comfrey. And believe me, if rabbits and deer liked it I would notice.
@@HardcoreSustainable Thanks for your replies. This relieves me that I can move forward with some plans. Your videos are very good and encouraging. Jesus bless.
Hey there, just subbed to you from the Sth. Australian outback. Question.. Do chickens and ducks like Comfrey ? Cheers. :)
Not that I know of, but I don't remember testing it out. I've raised chickens before but never with comfrey in their pasture.
Yes they do.....search the Edible Acres channel and see his comfrey videos...one specifically for feeding his chickens! Good luck
Sundancer th-cam.com/video/qEFDlclRq2w/w-d-xo.html 😋
Yes they LOVE comfrey. I grow it feed fresh and then dried in the winter. Goats, cattle, horses, pigs and rabbits eat it.
Teaching 3rd world countries to grow it as fodder.
Yes it brings up nutrients from however far down it roots, which is pretty far. All plants do that. The deeper the roots go, the deeper the nutrients will be from. This is why trees are so important, because they root very deeply and bring up all sorts of stuff from far down in the soil, which is why you should not blow your leaves away. When you do that you're basically just blowing away all the nutrients from your land, and then you just have to buy fertilizer, which is a total waste and an unnecessary expense.
There is no doubt that plants bring up some nutrients from the ground and put them into their leaves and stems. But comfrey is often attributed with doing this more, or better than any other plant, assuming because it has deeper roots? When they do studies on it, they find it isn't really special in the way it is rumored to be. That's all I was saying. I agree though, you shouldn't move the leaves, and as with grazing animals, when you mow regularly you encourage the plant to put on more vegetative mass, so you are adding more to the soil because more carbon is being fixed. If you don't mow, the plant will flower and go dormant. Flowers require more energy than leaves too, and have less mass, so you aren't getting as much good stuff from the plant.
How to make them so dense? I am planning to plant a long row of Russian comfrey this coming spring like you, but some say 1.5 ft apart whilst others say 3 ft apart is sufficient to achieve density without overcrowding. Which is correct in your experience?
I think 1.5 ft seems a little too close. One crown can spread 3-4 ft, so 3 ft seems more likely to cover the ground. You could plant closer and I'm sure they'd still be fine.
@@HardcoreSustainable 🙏😊👍TQVM.
The idea of Comfrey bringing up minerals was attractive but I admit that since it sounded too good to be true I was wondering if it wasn't just wive's tales . So basically its a weed barrier through overshading and mulch choking ?
Andrew Gardener Comfrey has been used for 1000’s of years for healing sprains bruises fractures torn ligaments rashes etc. look up videos on making poultices, infusion oils & salves, tinctures, teas, toothpaste for regrowing teeth, remineralisation of teeth etc.
See also a video titled “the truth about comfrey”. See comments section in that video.
FDA CDC etc have banned this for internal consumption so that mass populace shouldn’t turn to Nature for healing.
Our ancestors knew this. Indian Ayurveda recognizes these principles. There was no FDA CDC etc in ancient times & yet people thrived & the healthiest of tribes are those that depend on Nature & are least corrupted in body by ingesting the “modern medicine”.
The Divine Intelligence that created us ensured to provide for our well-being in Nature itself.
I’m currently trying to procure dried leaves & roots to heal my spine fracture. I’ve read great testimonies on wide section of platforms on comfrey.
🙏🏻🙏🏻✌🏻
what is the spacing between each planting you used and how big were the transplants you put in? also, how far did you plant it up against the fence line?
I planted them about 1.5-2 ft apart. I guess the bigger the transplants are, the faster they'll get established, but even a 2-3 piece of root can start a new plant if it has enough water when it's getting going. I planted about 1-1.5 ft away from the fence.
@@HardcoreSustainable thank you!
@@HardcoreSustainable also, i'm new to your channel, but live in kcmo. i'm from small farm town south of kc about an hour, originally. what part of the state are you guys in?
@@bkershaccount That's cool. So you are in the area. We are in Northeastern MO, NEMO, not too far from Kirksville. You should make the trip for one of our tours during the season.
Will the comfrey spread under and onto the other side of the fence?
Nope this comfrey doesn't spread on its own.
Can you cut it back to the ground after it blooms to make it bloom again?
That's a good question. I do believe it will continue to send up flower spikes as long as the season is long enough. I haven't paid close enough attention to verify that.
Hardcore Sustainable I hard cut the comfrey back to the base after it sent out all its beautiful blooming bells, and yes, it’s sending out tendrils of foliage. Looks like I’ll get a second flush. I love this plant, even in a container environment, it seems to love and flourish from change. Hardy. Hardy. Hardy.
I have Comfrey in our lower garden..it was there since the early fifties and is still there...Makes amazing rich black crumbly compost and you can't get rid of it....
@@WGaw That's an amazing amount of time to be there, but you are right, it's impossible to get rid of.
So is it worth using Comfrey as a garden fertilizer?
I would think it would be a good garden fertilizer. I think composting the leaves would be good too before applying them to the garden.
Use as a compost activator by adding in layers to your compost pile.
Or soak in a bucket of rain water for four weeks (kinda stinky) and dilute to one cup per gallon as a fertilizer.
Tests have shown it to be far better than commerical products.
I set 5 gallon buckets of comfrey in water all over my garden and 'fertigate' all summer with it. I have a can screwed onto a stick that is my dipping can. You don't want to get too close to rotted comfrey. It smells just like manure. I even get hoards of flies on top of the buckets. Apparently they think it is manure too.
Dude that's a ton of comfrey!
Seriously what percentage of that do you harvest and use?
I've just a small 6x6 foot space and I harvest three times a year and it's way more than I need.
I don't need to harvest it because it's serving it's purpose in keeping back the weeds. But I can do chop and drop with it to add organic matter to the soil. All that comfrey was planted earlier that same season. It's really easy to grow.
I have literally hundreds of plants and I never think "I've got too much comfrey". I seem to be able to compost unlimited quantities. I love it.
never too much! lol I'm chopping mine up hopefully this week and transplanting a ton of roots. Some plants you just cant have too much of, lol. Especially if you're using it as mulch, compost, and other stuff. Ahhhh
@@ShotgunAndAShovel I agree. I plant it in areas that are marginal and not going to be under cultivation- let the bad lands feed the garden soil.
where do you buy comfrey these days? google lists it as banned in USA and Canada and Australia.
I've found sources online. I didn't know it was banned. I wonder why? I got mine from friends. It is grown everywhere in my village.
@Becky Sollesa, as long as you plant the variety with sterile flowers, such as Bocking 14 Cultivar, you're fine. Otherwise it spreads via blown seeds and becomes a weedy nuisance. Search it online and you'll find the sterile variety; I bought mine online (in USA). You do still need to be aware that any root pieces will grow a new plant however!
What is the science you are quoting?
This is an article that explains a lot of what I'm talking about. The numbers don't support that comfrey does any more than any other plant. I plan to do a separate video about this specifically. It has references for its information. www.gardenmyths.com/comfrey-dynamic-accumulator/
This guy is full of it. He must have looked hard for an article putting Comfrey down. Every other gardener on youtube says it is one of the most essential plants to have when SHTF.
Look it up. The stuff about "dynamic accumulation" in itself is not based in any kind of science. It's just permaculture mythology, and studies prove it's not true.
I'm obviously not saying comfrey isn't useful. The entire video is about a great use for it. I just like to be honest about the reality and present evidence-based information. It does no good to tell people false information and have them waste time and effort on something that doesn't work the way the mythology says it does. But you seem pretty defensive about anyone saying anything bad about it.
can you send me a plant please
Whatever minerals it has, of course it’s pulling from the soil. That’s what plants do.
Every plant does this and there is evidence comfrey does it no more than any other plant. So it's reputation as being special for this is undeserved.
I suggest you change your name from Sustainable to Regenerative ...
Why is that? A better word for describing what we do? We aren't sustaining, we are regenerating? I don't know if I'd change now, but it is a good word and sort of the latest buzz word for sustainable practices.
Contrary to the title, it’s is obvious that you do not know the uses of comfrey in permaculture, nor in any other application. Great job adding to the digital pile of misinformation!
What a rude comment. Maybe you can read my mind? I'm guessing you don't like the part about saying the dynamic accumulator claim is not supported by scientific data. Given that permaculture is basically a school of thought where anyone can become a teacher expert after taking one permaculture certification, it's not surprising misinformation would be spread. It also claims ownership of just about every good idea that has been around for thousands of years. But I'm sure you are the true expert.