Saturday 9 May 2020

Making Comfrey "Tea"

Comfrey Tea is the colloquial name for a highly nutritious plant food made from the stems and leaves of the Comfrey plant (Symphytum spp). There are several different types of Comfrey, but the most sought-after one is a cultivar called "Bocking 14", which is sterile (doesn't set seed) and therefore tends not to spread so much, and this is the one which I think I have. One of the best things about Comfrey is that it will grow practically anywhere, and is not fussy about soil type. I have a clump of it at the bottom of my garden, and this year it has put on some particularly luxuriant growth.


The stems of this plant can easily reach 5 feet tall.


My Comfrey was just coming into flower, and I believe this is the perfect time to make it into plant food because it contains the highest concentrations of nutrients. This next photo shows a few flower-buds, but it also shows how hairy the leaves and stems of this plant are, so it is advisable to wear gloves when handling it.


My method of making Comfrey Tea couldn't be easier. I cut down the tall leafy stems and roughly chop them into suitable containers, such as the lidded plastic tubs in which pelleted chicken manure is usually sold.


Pressing the Comfrey down firmly, I then add water to fill the containers to about the halfway point. I cover the containers to stop insects laying their eggs in the stagnant water - and to keep in the smell, because as the Comfrey rots it will become very smelly. For this reason it makes sense to put the maturing "tea" well away from your house if possible!


Once this is done you just leave the Comfrey to rot down in the water. This will probably take a month or so, depending on the weather. Warm weather will speed up the decomposition process. I like to check the progress once in a while, and I find that poking / stirring the mixture occasionally will help it to break down more rapidly. When it is ready it will be a foul-smelling dark green/brown murky liquid, full of fibres. At this point you decant it into a watering-can and apply it without further dilution to the plants you want to feed. Since I don't have a lot of Comfrey I can't make huge quantities of the tea, so I tend to reserve it for my top priority plants. Apparently the balance of nutrients (mainly Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus) in Comfrey tea is ideal for vegetables that produce fruit (if you know what I mean!) - like tomatoes, chillis, peppers, aubergines and cucumbers.

A month from now my tomatoes should be setting fruit, and at that point I'm sure they will appreciate a good dose of the Tea!

8 comments:

  1. Hi Mark, some good news on the smelly fertiliser front. Studies have shown that 3 to 5 days is the optimum for extraction. There's a link to a study in this Mother earth news article (The study is a .pdf download) That in turn refers to a university of Bonn study. It's worth a read: https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/gardening-techniques/liquid-fertilizers-zm0z11zhun Just for clarification - I have no connection with either.

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  2. Hello Mark, do you "top" the plant, which would cause new side growth, or take leaves with stems from the bottom up? Or does it matter? Topping would somewhat delay flowering and the bees do love it! As always, thanks for your guidance.

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    1. I cut mine at a few inches above ground level, leaving a little bit of stem, but I'm not sure it matters a lot. This plant is so vigorous it will grow back whatever you do to it!

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  3. Hi Mark, thanks for your post on Comfrey tea. I will try to find some comfrey seed/plants to grow and give it a try next Spring. It is Autumn here now in New Zealand, so too late to get it started I think. My veg patch could certainly do with some organic help!

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    1. My advice is: don't grow it from seed. The best variety is the Bocking-14, which is sterile, so it doesn't set seeds. Growing it from a cutting is preferable.

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  4. Hi Mark,
    Comfrey is great stuff.I'm lucky enough to have loads of it growing around the allotment site edge next to my plot which I cut for "tea making" and also for boosting the compost daleks and mulching between rows.At the moment I've got two tea trugs going with a mix of comfrey and nettles.At times it does smell like a pig farm but I can pretend that these odours emanate from farming activities in the surrounding fields.

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    1. Haha, yes, on a communal site you can always pretend that the smell is coming from elsewhere! Not so easy in a suburban residential area though...

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