Soil building with Dynamic Nutrient Accumulators - Comfrey
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- Опубліковано 3 лип 2024
- Today we talk about the importance of dynamic nutrient accumulators in your garden and we focus on my (any many people's) opinion of the best plant for the job: Comfrey, Symphytum officinale. Not to be confused with wild comfrey, Cynoglossum virginianum.
pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?Lati...
strictlymedicinalseeds.com/pr...
As discussed in the video, here is a research paper comparing nutrient values of various liquid manures made from 3 different plants, comfrey being one of them, and then comparing them to animal manures. www.researchgate.net/publicat...
Remember that the root zone/location of a plant performing this function is extremely important. Having a nutrient extraction zone farthest away from the root zone of other plants means that the nutrients taken to make the leaves of the accumulator is not from the same soil level that the other plants are taking theirs from. For this function we want DEEP TAPROOTED plants, and nothing can touch comfrey. Even if comfrey wasn't such a heavy accumulator of nutrients, it would still be valuable simply for the depth of it's roots. Combine that with a plant that dynamically accumulates critical nutrients like phosphorous, calcium, magnesium, zinc, etc, and you have a out-of-ballpark homerun addition to your garden and food forest.
For those "keyboard warriors" angrily typing how invasive this plant is, make sure you watch the last few minutes where I directly put these issues to rest. This is NOT wild comfrey, Cynoglossum virginianum. This is NOT other varieties of fertile-from-seed comfrey. This variety is STERILE, and will ONLY replicate via root cutting. So if you do not want them spreading, then simply do not sever the roots. It CANNOT spread without you consciously doing it. So put that anger away and join us in the peaceful garden, full of nutrient rich topsoil. (Can you tell I get that response a lot when I post about comfrey? lol)
One last thing...
There is debate on the edibility of comfrey. Some "studies" have shown it to be toxic, but the level of plant consumed in those studies was astronimical. If someone told you that eating a dumptruck full of iceberg lettuce made your tummy hurt, then isn't the conclusion rather to not eat quite that much, instead of concluding that the plant was toxic?
Now I'm not going to get into this, and I never recommend anyone to eat anything, ever, for any reason. Yes, just starve instead of eating anything so that I am not liable for your health. Never eat. Anything. That way you cannot possibly get sick.
Still, if you do choose to make actual beverage tea with comfrey, or you choose to add some into your salad, just be aware that there are concerns with the toxicity of this plant, ONLY when used internally.
More info from pfaf.org, make sure to check out the link above:
Comfrey is a commonly used herbal medicine with a long and proven history in the treatment of various complaints. Comfrey is especially useful in the external treatment of cuts, bruises, sprains, sores, eczema, varicose veins, broken bones etc, internally it is used in the treatment of a wide range of pulmonary complaints, internal bleeding etc[4, 238, K]. The plant contains a substance called 'allantoin', a cell proliferant that speeds up the healing process... I hit character limit of description on UA-cam... see more on their website...
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Excellent video. As a retired Educator, I can see in hindsight that this is the sort of information and values that we should be teaching in schools, over and over every year. Not just a 2 week unit in 2nd grade, or 6 week unit in 10th grade biology. No. This should be taught over and over so that it is just common knowledge and common sense. We have become so disconnected from Nature. (I dare say it was intentional.) Few people know this golden wisdom anymore. Bravo for everyone getting interested in these topics again! Let's have a gardening revolution, shall we?
Wonderful comment! Thank you kindly, we think very much alike you and I!
Agreed. That and real economics... just basic economics but real ones. A 16yo should know what fiat and inflation means
@BeautifulBlooms Seeds so true. In school my children are learning to make pizza instead of teaching them to grow vegetables.😢
Great plant. Originally from Russia, Comfrey is extreme-cold hardy, extreme-heat hardy, and drought resistant. In the heat of Summer, while the plants will survive, you need to water generously to get leaf production. In very dry soil it's tap roots can go down 70' until they hit water. Root growth is not just random. They seem to be able to find deep underground water streams where that kind of thing happens. Adobe clay layers do not choke them. Their leaves by themselves make a great and earthworm food, if you want to have a worm bed. I live in a city. I grow my garden vertically on steel wire shelves in "grow bags" with good quality composted soil in the grow bags. I put earthworms in the grow bags and feed them comfrey leaf from time to time. My soil in the grow bags gets more and more fertile over time without doing much else. After 5 or 6 years the grow bags have to be replaced but the soil is still good -- it is much better than when I started.
is the Russian one the invasive one with LOTS of seeds vs the other with few seeds? supposedly the better variety???
@@ardenpeters4386 Russian Comfrey is invasive but spreads by sending out surface roots, not by seed. I "contained" mine by planting it inside and surrounded by an 18" high barrier. The roots went deep but did not spread out horizontally.
Comfrey is also known as knitbone because it was wrapped around broken bones to help them heal faster. Amazing plant, thanks for the spotlight on it!
I personally experienced comfrey's ability to knit skin. I was chopping up comfrey and cut myself myself deeply, I should have gotten stitches but I just pulled the wound together and bandaged it up. In the morning the skin was already knit over the top of the wound. I was puzzled at the speed of the healing until I remembered that I had been using comfrey saturated clippers.
That was extremely informative. I don’t know that much yet about food forests. Videos like these really help pull things into perspective. Thank you!
Thanks for watching and commenting as always Devin :)
I have read about and seen video evidence of comfrey (one of the Bocking varieties) reproducing vegetatively when the proximal end of the leaf ( part emerging from the plant crown) is covered with soil. I have proof of this happening twice on my property where a chop and drop leaf ended up in the soil and a new comfrey plant emerged. This occurred with Bocking 14 type in both of my cases. What a resilient plant!
Greetings from the upper MissouriRiver Valley near Helena , MT, USA. Many thanks for your time and efforts in disseminating so much good information.
That is super interesting. I don't thing I've ever seen that before (and I chop and drop probably hundreds of pounds of it per year). But I also haven't been looking for it either. I will keep my eye out for that.
Toward the end of the video, I was about to ask how to keep it from spreading, and your answered the question. Thank you for being so thorough!
Awesome 👌
Some of the most useful information I’ve seen about Comfrey. Thank you!!
Good stuff! Thank you! Will buy some comfrey soon!
A lot of what is taught as common wisdom concerning the invasiveness of plants is in reference to preserving grass in a lawn, so that information must be discarded. This is why the presence of creeping charlie was kind of a shock to see. We have creeping charlie blanketing a shaded area in the back, past the fence where we never go, so we like that nothing needs to be done in that area, and it feels nice to step on with bare feet~
I know! I actually started out hating it, and only because of the lawn brainwashing. Now when I'm out there I see insects all over it, it grows really well, I can chop and drop it tons and it bounces back. And its quite beautiful in flower.
It takes some effort to de-program ourselves. Like you say, so much of our hatred for plants comes from this weird thing of trying to have a perfect monoculture of a useless lawn. So weird.
Exactly, there are two paths, Enforcement of Scarcity, and Celebration of abundance, and of all the things that civilization teaches us to hate, it's merely to cause us to destroy what will support us. It's time to unhinge the Engines of Malevolent Proxy~
Very helpful, thank you.
So glad I found your channel! I've been a big city gal TO then Calgary.
But now I'm on Grand Manan Island NB and I've got the bug. OCD on FFF Movement! I love the idea of your walking video it's very relaxing. Looking forward to seeing the progression. Love your property! I'm going to base mine on yours mini scaledown! Very excited to get my first season on its way. I have switched from hulgeculture garden beds to growing soil, a 7 layer forest! Built my compost station today and I have my 🌱 ready one of which is Comfrey. I'm not sure if it's a sterile seed. Enjoy your forest!
Good luck!
I just watched your Guild video. You must have chuckled when you read my comment about copying you! Lol I will be sure to study my environment and chose the right 🌿 especially Nitrogen fixers in my area.
I'm in zone 5b so that's great if I want to copy your guild!
Thank you for your videos!
Another informative video. Fantastic content. So clearly explained. Thank you!
Thanks! :)
Great tips thank you for sharing
Amazing. Thanks from Italy.
Thank you too!
have just discovered your channel, highly informative content, thank you!
Thanks 😊
What great information. You should really consider writing a book :)
I actually have a large text dump of various reddit posts i have made in the past. I get fairly detailed in many. I just dump it 9nto a word document that I can use as book material in the future. Its roughly 300 pages at the moment, which is probably good for about 40 pages or so after pruned. I may turn it into a book at some point.
Here is a guy who's excited about roots!
Thank you! Comfrey cuttings are coming in the mail to jumpstart next property! I’m a rollator gardener so anything that is permaculture will be a great investment!!!! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you.
I heard about comfry but never tried it yet, but i will deffenetly will try it. Thanks for your gardening input.
Thanks for watching 👀
Very enlightening video
Thanks for watching:)
Anyway your swimming pool looks awesome your boys are enjoying it for sure. And your garden landscaping are contoured beautifully. It is very soothing and very calming to watch. Thanks for sharing.👍
So kind, thank you
I dunno. I’m dubious about the tap root.
That looked like it was packed in with soil, not recently cracked. That tells me that, like a tap root on a tree, they all eventually start to die off as the more shallow roots are established. It’s a myth that trees need deep tap roots their whole lives, it’s really only when they are young, and I suspect it’s the same in this case with this plant. I’ll plant some this year and do the same test but try to get better samples of the tap root after a few years.
Thank you for making this!! 😁😁
Thanks for watching it!
Even though everyone says thanks, I also just want to say thanks.
Thanks cutie pie 🥧 LOL
Very informative! I am keen to divide my 1 year old comfrey this spring and spread it around to use it as a grass barrier, shader of roots and dynamic accumulator
In terms of building soil, I agree with the importance of accumulating organic matter and nutrients from the top. I now understand that, in addition, the growing plants (at least many of them) are pumping carbon into the soil through their roots, building soil from below.
Very informative, great presentation, thank you. I am waiting for my comfrey root cuttings to arrive in post. I just discovered comfrey and want to grow it. I am in Melbourne Australia and I am trying to improve a heavy clay soil in a small suburban garden. Only melaleucas & bottle brushes survived heavy water logging. We built several boxes to plant citrus trees. It worked but I want now to grow soil and do it sensibly, no more buying of potting mixes & fertilizing.
I have a bunch of Bocking 14 on order for this spring. I planted a few of the regular last year so will have to be diligent about killing them off.
Perfect. Yeah, just harvest the old ones CONSTANTLY, they will give up eventually.
I love this plant also and grow it in Northern BC, my goats and rabbits love it to in moderation, they would happily eat it out of existence if I gave them the chance. We are on a gravel river bed and it still does well and is one of the plants we are using to build a healthier soil that holds more water.
I will order my comfrey plants soon :)
Thank you for sharing this awesome video! Often people will make the assumption that Comfrey is extremely invasive, which then leads them to persuade other that this is true for all Comfrey.
Ah yes, the spreading of misinformation online. Its a real problem these days. People are just so lazy to look things up for themselves, we end up just believing what we read and then parroting that info to someone else.
I like to always try something myself before I make any decision on it. For comfrey specifically, it absolutely isn't invasive whatsoever, definitely not the sterile-from-seed varieties like Bocking 4 and 14.
Just got some confrey seeds in the mail! Can't wait to plant them
Are they seeds or root cuttings? Generally you want root cuttings of the sterile Bocking 4 or 14 variety.
If you get them from seed that is okay too, but just be aware that they will spread. And once they are somewhere they are there forever. You have maybe 2 months to dig them up before the root gets too large and deep.
If you do plant seeds and one day want to get rid of them, just cut them to the groubd every single day all summer long and they should eventually give up. It will be the only way to get rid of it.
I love comfrey though, so I enjoy it everywhere.
@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy i ordered seeds but im definitely going to look for some cuttings!
I love your handdug swimming pool. It seems like lots of work but
i goof
I laughed. This was great.
I have gardened at a limited amount for years, grew up on a farm. Now that I have retired , I’m trying things I’ve never done before. Making compost, started a leaf mould pile and have gathered what I need to try my hand at biochar for my garden. I really enjoyed this video about comfrey and would really like to add this to my arsenal for gardening. My question is, where can I purchase seed sterile comfrey roots. I live in southern Ontario and I see your a Canadian as well so thought you could inform me. Also when is it best to plant the roots. I live on a property that is adjacent to a River floodplain and was also wondering if comfrey can take a lot of water. I’ve lived here for over 30 years and the River flooded the worst ever and covered my garden in 2 feet of water for 2 days this past year after. 7 inch rain in 24 hours. I really enjoy you videos, keep them coming. Denis from near Windsor Ontario
I got mine from Richter's herbs. That's about the only place I could find.
@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy thanks
Conclusion: gets some sterile comphrey for chop and drop in your garden *don't severe the root*
Great video. I have planted comfrey seeds and have 3 growing now and am trying to figure out where to plant them. I have 1/4 of an acre in a small city inBC and want to use the leaves for fertilizer. I also am trying to grow nettles for fertilizer as well. I wish I had more land.
I’ve got a stinky batch working now. Should be ready soon.
Just remember to aerate it. Stinky means it's producing organic acids (mostly sulphates) which means it has gone anaerobic. If it's anaerobic, it's breeding anaerobic bacteria and many of those are pathogens for plants.
You can convert anerobes to aerobic bacteria by running a bubbler in the brew for a few hours. It will still have all the nutrients that the anaerobes broke down, but you'll kill any pathogens. You can get a cheap bubbler stone at an aquarium/fish store.
I have a bubbler but every video ive watched no one used it. And they all say it stinks. Doesn't the fermentation take care of that? Now I'm worried
Because none of them are microbiologist. I take my method from Dr Elainr Ingham who is adamant about aerating it to promote aerobic instead of pathogenic anaerobes. She is considered one of the world leading experts in soil microbiology, so when she says something I'm sure to listen! She has been a guest on various podcasts, she is fascinating to listen to. Her TED talk is fantastic also.
👍🏾
Love the music ! I am so glad I found your you tub! I have 23 root plants, I live in central Texas is it to late to put them in the ground,it is the 1st of oct. Nights 60* days 88* to 95*. Please help me.
Now is actually the best time. Now and for the next 2 months or so is ideal. The goal is to plant as far away from your "death season". For me it's February but for you it's August. So now is the farthest time from next August, so its a great time.
Hey brother, good video. One thing I do think was missing was a discussion of the ATMOSPHERIC contributions to NET soil BUILDING. All that Humus being built from plants growing, dying and decomposing contains carbon and nitrogen matter which was extracted and locked up by the plant FROM THE ATMOSPHERE.
My understanding is that all the root-mining of nutrients from existing soils (even deep subsoil layers) will never actually increase the mass of soil, it just moves existing nutrients matter from lower layers of existing soil back up into the topsoil. But the actual net-increase in soil mass / volume is driven by the extraction of carbon and nitrogen matter from the atmosphere which is then locked up into solid form as the plant grows, dies and decomposes. Would you agree?
Thats my understanding of it, yes.
Love comfrey, I feel like it supercharges the mycorrhizal fungi with all that root mass pumping exudates. Do you usually pull ground ivy for maintenance? chop and drop? Some definitely seemed to choke out my raspberries this year
I would have no problem chopping and dropping a fast spreading groundcover, no. Infact I think that's the best method for quickly growing soil. Anything that wants to grow super quickly and isn't used for harvest and will have no trouble regrowing should be chop and dropped as aggressively as you can manage with time in your day, without it becoming laborious. Just if you are out there, yank and drop.
Something that stood out to me in this video was your comment about creeping charlie being beneficial. I have fought it in my garden for years. I really didn’t know there are benefits to it. Do you have other videos that talk more about it?
Not really just here and there. Its not some super plant or anything, but bees will eat the flowers and it performs photosynthesis. That means it makes plant root exudates and feeds soil life also. Thats good enough for me.
Like all things, a plant is better than no plant. Green solar panels is better than none. Anything that feeds the insect biome is better than none.
People hate on it because we try to keep monoculture lawns and it shows up there, so it has become our enemy simply for existing. Well, that basically tells you more about the current human psyke than the plant, doesn't it? Lol
Canadian Permaculture Legacy thanks for your speedy reply. Yes, with Google help I found 1001+ ways to eliminate it. I did find that it is edible and high in vitamin C. May just have to make a Charlie salad today. I myself have a monoculture lawn. Most people refer to it as more-weeds-than-grass. 😊 No weed killers used here.
🥰🥰🥰🥰
I'm really tempted to guerilla plant some comfrey around my apartment. It seems like a plant that could outcompete a weed whacker.
For sure. Looks incredible too. I think half the reason I love the aesthetics of my place so much is that deep dark green of the comfrey, which always looks super healthy. It does need fertile soils though. It may struggle in poor soils for a bit, until it gets its roots established.
The only problem is if you were to guerilla plant some comfrey on the land of some mainstream person, when they realize the plant keeps growing back they would be fairly likely to resort to herbicide chemicals which would be really bad for the environment.
@janetwrightreadings The guys they had hired don't pay that much attention. Plus, they knew anywhere I put mulch, not to cut. They got chewed out the first time and I got paid for the damages.
When is long winter, voles will it everything. I have all small trees roots in net. This is how it is in my orchard 😀. Yes voles first eat all comfrey, and then all the trees roots. When trees will reach 5 m, then I think it will be not to much damage.
Do you grow Jerusalem Artichokes? If not, start immediately. Even now in September.
Remember, they aren't trying to be pests. They are trying to survive just like you and I. They don't want to eat roots of trees. They are doing that because there is nothing else for them.
So llant some Jerusalem Artichokes and they will have all the food they need forever, and you get food too, and beautiful flowers. They also function as deer food, they just love them, and will stop grazing trees as much, because they prefer the JAs.
What I always wanted to ask: if the area is mulched, can you still just chop&drop comfrey and leave it to decompose on the woodchips?
Second, related question: if an area is mulched and you need to plant something, you need to remove the woodchips (temporary?), right? Same goes for basically any activity that is done in a typical garden, where normally the woodchips would be a hindrance.
I guess I am interested in a video about mulching what do you then do differently compared to a "traditional" garden.
Yes just drop on the woodchips.
Yes when you plant you need to pull back the chips, plant into the soil, the recover with woodchips.
I talk about this in many videos, but you kay not have come across it yet. I'm pretty sure I said it in this video here and its a really good place to start: ua-cam.com/video/cFLyGVhu0bY/v-deo.html.
I also think I talked about it in this video here on garden tips for annuals: ua-cam.com/video/VOjsgqqV7tc/v-deo.html
Check those ones out and if you have any followup questions, don't hesitate to ask 😉
Oh, can you tell me, what is the name of the red flower with corn-like leaves at 0:36 in the upper right corner? I once had those in my former garden, but I don‘t know the name...
Thanks a lot, I enjoy watching your videos, so much to learn about soil health.
Those are my day lillies. Edible pods and flowers. The pods taste like a nasturtium flavored bean - they have that kick to them.
fascinating... i might have to ask this of someone else due to the nature of where you are located, but do you have an idea of whether comfrey and moringa or comfrey and tithonia diiversifolia would do well interplanted with each other or not due to competition in the same way you were talking about... I am not sure if tithonia has a deep tap root, but I know that moringa does. I have been working in pots for the past year and getting some more space soon to start planting and hopefully interplantting in a way that Im providing shade and cover and all that while growing support species... anyway, any thoughts you have on that one would be appreciated. love your stuff, thanks for sharing
I will let someone else answer. I cannot grow those here so I have no idea how they would pair with comfrey.
Are there plants that *don't* grow well with comfrey? How do annual food plants get along with it? I've got a lovely little Bocking 14 that I want to propogate but if it doesn't play well with things like runner beans and Cucurbita then I'll stick to under perennials.
Absolutely wonderful video, as always.
I haven't noticed any so far, but I mostly stick with perennials. For annuals I do some squash and tomatoes and peppers, not much else.
I would think it would shade out a lot of lower stuff like lettuces, but you can alwyas just chop and drop it as it does. There aren't any actual alleopathic concerns though.
Thyme can't handle the shade of comfry.
Many things will get out shaded by comfrey, but you can always cut the comfrey to release light, and drop it to build soil.
I grow lots of comfrey near lots of beans. Including scarlet runners. No problems at all, just remember the thickness of the comfrey root like he showed in the video.
Great and very interesting video! In a fruit orchard, how many Comfrey plants would you put near each tree and how far apart from the tree’s trunk? Is Borage also a useful plant?
Thank you so much for your help!
Borage is an amazing plant and one I keep meaning to add to my gardens. Great beneficial insect attractor. The leaves are edible but have a hairy feel, maybe better chopped small in salads. The flowers are great to eat, and the stems can be used for flavored water.
Wild comfrey is actually in the borage family.
For comfrey in the orchard I would give each tree a couple upwwrds of a ring of comfrey around the drip edge (possibly upwards of 8 to 50, depending on the size of the tree). As far as proximity to the tree it doesn't really matter. An argument could be made to keep them away from the trunk to allow air to keep the area drier, but also in nature stuff grows a quarter inch from trees and they do just fine.
I would recommend placing them at the tree drip edge though, and you will see many of mine situated in that range. In this way the comfrey leaves act as drip edge extention, drawing rain towards the tree as it hits the outside comfrey leaves.
Canadian Permaculture Legacy Thank you so much for your very knowledgeable answer, it makes totally sense your way of using comfrey around a fruit tree. I am in the process of planting a one acre apple orchard, i was asking about how far comfrey to be planted around a fruit tree because where I live bermuda grass and bindweed are truly aggressive, so I was thinking to use comfrey but also artichokes and cardoons and Borage then, to smother and outcompete them along the tree rows. Where I live woodchips are not readily available so I was thinking to use those plants instead of mulch even the horrific plastic mulch to prevent weeds competing with my trees......thank you again for your answer, dami.
Thats perfect then. As you see in the later parts of this video, the comfrey is an excellent grass blocker, both above the ground (via shade), and below the soil (giant root wall to block rhizomes).
Hi There- I just discovered you and I love your information. I was wondering if you sell comfrey leaves ?
I don't no, I just don't have the time.
Hi there, great video. I was wondering if you know the plant "snow in summer" or cerastium tomentosum we use it as a ground cover and was wondering about using it in our food forest. Do you know if it is a nitrogen fixer? thanks!
Purely and ornamental, and not a nitrogen fixer. I wouldn't include it in my food forest, but you do you. Don't let anyone tell you want to plant or not to plant (unless its terribly invasive of course).
I generally think your food forests should contain food, or medicine and anything that doesn't fit that narrative should bring in pollinators or pest predators. I couldn't find any info on what insects like to eat it, but there could be useful bugs this brings in.
The only caveat to all the above is that I think the groundcover layer is a really poor choice for a purely ornamental plant. Ground covers spread because they, well, cover the ground. Its kinda their modus operandi. So having a spreading ornamental isn't really a food forest thing.
So if you truly love this plant, maybe try to use it in spits that it can't spread like crazy. And make sure to get some bee loving clover or edible plants like strawberries and such in your groundcover layer.
Is there a website where I could purchase the sterile comfrey that you mentioned?
I got mine from Richter's Herbs in Uxbridge.
Hey, I have another question lol. I just ordered 17 cubic yards of compost and a load of woodchips to do a guerilla guild project where we plant fruit guilds in the food deserts of richmond. I was thinking comfrey, tulips, garlic, strawberries, clover black raspberries, elderberries, goji berries, herbs, fruit trees, etc as well as lots of natives, not all in one guild, but each guild would have all layers. My question is how to make these guilds as self sufficient as possible because we'd either have to do the maintenance ourselves, or recruit and train community members to take care of them, and the less work for them, and the easier it is to understand, the better. I wish I had biochar available, but my plan was to mix the compost into the native soil, which would be very compact urban dirt, with little to no biology, and then planting all the bulbs, root cuttings, bushes, trees etc in the fall, and then mulch heavily. I was thinking about how to get clover established in a fresh heavy mulch, so I was thinking of having a thin layer of compost around the heavily mulched area, and plant the clover into that, for it to hopefully spread into the mulch when it gets established and shade out any potential bermuda grass that tries to sneak in. I'm still deciding how dense I should plant everything though and trying to figure out what the maintenance is going to look like as it gets established and when it is established. Any advice you have on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!
First, can I just express how much I love the idea of the project 😍? This is basically what I would do if I ever won the lottery. Buy up abandoned gas stations and factory plots and tear it all down and put up food forests in food deserts. This is just so amazing.
As for your plan, it sounds perfect to be honest. For the clover, you can also make little cluster pockets of them in the food forest strip, where you use no woodchips, put a pocket of native soil and compost mix (like 90% native soil as clover have very little nitrogen needs), nd let the clover circle establish. Once it does, in the dormant season you can put a few inches of woodchips right on top of it and it will push up through it. It just needs a season to establish roots, and then it can be smothered a bit.
Your plant ideas are great. Those should all work.
@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy Awesome lol, well I definitely haven't won the lottery but I just got a new job canvassing for solar panel installation, so I have a bit of money to invest in plants. I very well might get arrested tho haha, or worse get someone else arrested, but hopefully the community will have my back and we'll be able to convince enough people to let us use their property, or find enough abandoned areas, and hope the cops don't harass us. I think when people see someone planting trees and such, their first thought isn't usually that they're a criminal lol
Hi Keith, I'd like to get some Comfrey growing this year. Would you recommend growing from seed or rootstock? Is there a specific variety I should look for?
I would recommend growing from rootstock and looking for bocking 4 or 14. Those varieties are sterile from seed, so you can control where it shows up a little more. As for where to find them, I'm not sure, I got mine from a nursery that is now out of business.
I have been meaning to put comfrey into the new food forest I installed this year. Your video was a nice reminder to get it done. Do yo know where to get the sterile comfrey seeds or plants?
I got mine from a local nursery.
I posted a link to a source in the description of the video. It looks like they still have some available.
Just a tip, you don't need more than 1 or 2 root fragments or crowns. I bought 10 when I got mine, and if I started fresh again I would buy just 1 or 2. Next season you can turn 1 plant into maybe 30 or 40.
Wow I totally bought 30. LOL. But we have 9 acres of forest.. and i want it in several places
That's good then. I mean, if money doesn't matter or you get a good deal, or have tons of space or just want to jump ahead quickly, then buying a bunch is totally fine.
It just propagates so easily, that once you have it established it will seem silly you ever bought more than 1, because you can dig one plant up and get 20 or 30 in a second lol.
But then again, most things are like that. You just need to get it established, then nature turns into a giant photocopying machine.
Note, 'sterile seeds' doesn't equate. Sterile = doesn't produce viable seed. That's why it's good fr the gardener, its spread is predictable as it's only asexual, via roots.
We consider horseradish to be somewhat comparable to comfrey, and now I'm wondering if horseradish is sterile like comfrey, as I've been trying to save seed from horseradish whenever possible, and that hasn't worked yet.
Horseradish is indeed another great plant to use for that function, and it duals as an edible. I don't think it dynamically accumulates as well, but it still will. All plant leaves have nutrients in them, its just a question of which ones and how much. But definitely use what you've got access to.
I got a new property with very hard clay soil... im gonna till (because it's not even diggable) and add organic matter... but I'm planning to use comfrey because I read that it tolerates clay soil.
Will the comfrey be able to handle clay soil that's hard to even dig with a shovel? I'm gonna try regardless but I'm curious if you know
I would personally do 1 or 2 seasons of daikon radishes. Leave them in the ground to rot at end of season.
Could you use comfrey to contain seabuckthorn? After watching your video about it, I'm re-thinking about where I want to plant my seabuckthorn. I would not want it to pop up in my neighborhoods yard without warning ;) .
It would be an interesting experiment. A ring of comfrey planted every inch to make annunderground root wall ring around the Sea buckthorn.
Timing may also matter. Yoy may need to get the confrey established first.
Namaskaram,
Does it matter which Comfrey variety as long as it is steril? Here in the area I can mainly find ornamental varieties and I am wondering whether they are as beneficial as the "originalis"?
Some of the varieties are "grandiflora", which sounds good, because of the huge solarpanel, or "azureum".
Namaste,
As long as it is sterile it would be okay. I mean, it's okay if it isn't sterile, but it just means it may spread a bit. It's not kudzu or anything. If it gets somewhere you don't want it, just keep harvesting it regularly and it will give up.
Wow so many videos lately- awesome! I didn't know you could propagate by root cuttings. Good to know! Do you ever use comfrey medicinally?
I used some yesterday to fight a wasp sting. It worked amazing. I also used it before for a "road rash" I got when I slipped on the driveway.
Its truly incredibly efficient.
@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy One of my sons was a D1 athlete who was struggling with an injury before a championship meet. In desperation, he made a quick trip home, downed some comfrey tea (not the kind you make as fertilizer, and probably not to be consumed regularly) and I set him up with a comfrey poultice, repeated a few times. Sounds woo-woo, but he pulled off a great race.
Honestly, 5 year ago me would probably laugh and think you are exaggerating, or start linking Wikipedia pages on placebos. But I have used it a bunch of times now, and honestly, short of curing cancer or any truly ridiculous claims like that, I would believe just about anything.
The most interesting thing is how quickly it acts. Its pretty hard to dispute that it doesn't work, or is "pseudo science", or naturopathy garbage, etc, if it didn't work with such potency and so quickly. The stuff is amazing.
@@formidableflora5951 So interesting! What kind of injury did he have?
@@why6246 Not sure if I'm remembering this part accurately, but I think (?) it was high hamstring--maybe a pull or the start of a bout of proximal hamstring tendonitis.
I wonder how non-sterile comfrey (symphytum officinalis) are not all over soils they can grow in... I try to find one for several month in nature where it is supposed to grow but I failed. I only find a dwarf specie but a lot of lungwort (same family as comfrey or borage).
Btw, are you happy with this shovel ? I see the same last week in a store and I hesitate to buy it (I'm not found of plastic handel but the spade shape intriguated me)...
That shovel is the best purchase I have ever made. Absolutely. Called a root buster for anyone else looking to get one.
@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy thx for the feedback.
We have very poor soil at our property, and I’m attempting to slowly improve it. I’m intending to plant comfrey by my apple trees, and would like to by my raspberries and gooseberries; however, my raspberries are very short and not growing much due to extremely poor soil. I’m wondering if you have suggestions for helping my raspberries thrive, even though they are very short (ranging from about 4 inches to 2 feet and about 1.5 years). I’m not sure they would get enough sun if I use comfrey. I have ideas, but I’d like to hear yours since I have no idea what I’m doing 🙂
It could be the variety, and it may also just not be enough time. Raspberries don't need much fertility in the soil. They should kind of grow in anything.
I would just give them a nice mulch this offsesson, maybe some compost or manure, but not much.
For companions, I really like short groundcovers like clover with them. Comfrey is good on the edges of the guild. Haskcaps work well also, as will strawberries on the edges.
A tree as a center part of the guild is a good idea, but raspberries can swallow up young trees and smother them out. Just make sure the tree gets sun until it gets up over them. A nice nitrogen fixing trre like black locust could work if you don't want an edible tree, and want to focus more on something that boosts the raspberries. Or a fruiting tree can work - i have apples, pears, hazelnuts and peaches with my raspberries. In those guilds I plant nitrogen fixing bushes like sesbuckthorn and autumn olive.
Basically, tons of options, get your creative hat out and have some fun!
My one year raspberries were amazing last year. Composted, mulch, lime, and put comfrey tea fertilizer on last fall. Be sure to use lime in your soil, they like that.
Have you had any disease problems from the strawberries that are companion planted with Creeping Charlie? I ask because I read that strawberries are susceptible to some certain disease when planted with mint and Creeping Charlie is in the mint family. I've been trying to decide where I want to plant wild strawberries but we have Creeping Charlie all over the place.
Nope none
When I first heard about comfrey a few years ago I jumped in and got some. But didn’t realize I needed to get a sterile variety. 🤦♀️ so now I just try to chop and drop as often as possible so it doesn’t have a chance to go to seed
Can you graft another plant on top of it so that all the comfrey root energy goes into something else? Maybe graft the sterile comfrey on top.
Thats the way to solve it for sure. It may take some time to drain it of all its energy, but in that time its giving you valuable nutrients.
It WILL give up eventually. Its impossible for a plant to survive over harvesting.
Canadian Permaculture Legacy would you recommend I try to get rid of it completely by over harvesting or just keep it to a small, manageable amount?
Put a bucket over the ones that stray the furthest from the area that you want it, and if you want to remove it completely from an area, bring a lot of soup cans~
No, I would still use it, ajd just harvest it a ton and drain it that way. I like getting value out of things as I phase them out.
I also like the suggestion of using buckets to smother them if you did want to get rid of them.
Does it matter when you harvest the roots to propagate? Winter vs summer? Also comfrey is a high protein animal fodder my poultry and rabbits eat it up I can’t seem to grow enough lol
Oh yeah, comfrey is amazing animal fodder. Just be careful using it for horses (I think).
You cab propagate it anytime, but the best time is spring and fall.
Is there a almost as good but more common replacement for places where this plant is hard to get?
Oh absolutely, there are tons of different plants that would fulfill this function. That being said, I wasn't aware of a place this is hard to get. I've seen people in Bulgaria using it, in Australia and New Zealand, in England, in South Africa, Peru, etc. But any plant that has a long deep taproot should do a decent job. You just want something that accesses the soil deep down, grows quickly, and responds from constant chopping well.
I was going to use comfrey for composting and tea but not sure now. I have some concerns about using comfrey. Since learning that it contains poisonous chemicals pyrrolizidine alkaloids.
I have found research papers talking about pa's in comfrey plants through drinking the tea mainly.
But can't find anything about composting it?
I guess my concern is yes there are pa's found in comfrey, but will these leach out once composted and so longer a problem.
Or would the crops absorb the pa's from the composted comfrey?
Thanks
I've done so much research on this, and I haven't found a single study that links PAs from the ground into the fruiting bodies of the plants, and into humans as a biological pathway. They also don't have a long residence time in soils.
Furthermore, humans have been using comfrey for literally 10,000 years or longer.
Also for directly eating it.... every human injury from eating comfrey or drinking tea has been from people who use RIDICULOUS amounts of it. You can die of drinking too much water. Every plant we consume can be lethal if we do stupid things with it, most notably spinach is a great example of this.
So as long as you aren't doing things like boiling comfrey tea then distilling it down into a concentrate to drink, then I think you are also completely fine actually injecting comfrey directly. Just be smart. Humans have actually been investing comfrey directly for thousands of years, safely.
Moderation in everything.
@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy Your misspelling is kinda funny, you meant ingesting, but wrote injecting and investing. Probably autocorrect though
Haha yeah, autocoorrect often even changes correct words!
@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy Autocorrect is such an over achiever XD
@@Paravetje LOL
Which season does comfrey die back? Spring just started here and my comfrey looks like it’s struggling to survive in my vegie patch. Any ideas?
Comfrey sometimes looks rough in the first season. Its focusing on roots. Don't worry, if the soil is any good at all it will be totally fine.
Is the garden mulched, or is it bare soil? If you have a bare soil garden that you fertilize every year then it may take a bit of time to build the soil back up, because your soil is probably very poor. If you have a mulched garden bed, like a thick wooodchip mulch, then just be patient and it will be totally fine.
Canadian Permaculture Legacy yup the soil is mulched and it’s only it’s first year so will be patient.. thanks for the reassurance! 👍🏽
Well, you are on the right path 👏 👍 👌 😉
Any "transition" plants to grow in areas that were hand sprayed with herbicides by previous occupants to fix up the soil for edible food plants in a few years time?
I thought one option might be to plant several male species of various plants there and have the fruit bearing ones somewhere else but am looking for a more terraforming action if possible.
Are you able to find out what was sprayed? As bad as glyphosate is, it only has a soil residence time of a few months to a year, so it may not be an issue. As far as what to put there to help get rid of it, mushrooms are the MVP there. If you can just dump woodchips on the area and let the mushroom mycelium grow, they are the worlds best bio-remediation species. Cat tails and reeds have also been known to work really well in this way.
@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy either roundup/glyphosate or something called dicamba? Glad to know it has a short half life though!
@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy cattails sound like a great idea for next to the creek that might have runoff! They grow naturally but have been mowed down a lot they aren't around much anymore
I wonder if Mullein is in the group?
Having huge leaves suggest that…
Mullein works for this also, not because of the leaf size but because of the deep taproot, so you wouldn't be mining your topsoil, but rather recycling nutrient from deep down below it.
I don't plant comfrey around trees anymore, because voles likes it's root. I plant comfrey away from trees, so voles stays there.
Well, if voles like the comfrey roots at least they aren't eating the tree roots? I actually really like planting stuff like this that act like sacrificial anodes.
For example, an astute observer may notice that my red Russian kale looks like it has a lot of insect damage on it. Some people may see that and then think that is a BAD thing. Thats a GOOD thing.
The bugs eating those perennial kales are now not eating my other plants as much. I can now establish a baseline of pests in a way to attract a baseline of their predators. The cost isn't my lettuces, but rsther my perennial kales, acting like a lightning rod for them.
I would consider the voles eating comfrey roots in a similar way. Having voles is actually a good thing. They create air and water pathways in the soil, and bring in the same predators that also eat rabbits. And if you can get voles in a way that they aren't eating valuable plants, and sustain them off those then that can actually be a very good thing for an ecosystem style design like a permaculture food forest.
@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy We have a HUGE vole population, and I find it difficult to appreciate them. While they do devour huge swaths of roots under the snow, I can live with that; my bigger concern is actually voles hosting ticks--chronic Lyme for me, and several infections/reinfections for family members. I watched with great satisfaction yesterday as a merlin took out a vole on the edge of the woods. Always happy to see fox tracks in the snow, snakes in the garden, hawks wheeling overhead.
Haha oh yes, I'm not really a fan of voles, but rather just trying to look on the bright side. They do have some benefits with tunneling. But its not like its something someone should try to bring to their land. :)
In the desert we have trees in wells and we flood the well when watering once every three weeks. The voles have done surprisingly little damage. They don't want to be flooded so they keep out of the wells and they dig channel's to the next tree. It provides us with an underground watering system linking tree wells. If we want to control the vole population we flood their tunnels and this drowns the young. In general I like having them around. They sometimes nibble on a pumpkin... nothing major.
I am in the Philippines and could not find comfrey here. I would like to buy comfrey from you and please let me know how much. If you have LBC there. They will pick up the package and say personal effect. I could arrange a pick up. Thank you and God bless.
I tried shipping some nuts to Sweden before and a small bag was $90. I think this would be more expensive than you think and also, I'm not sure how well they would survive. I would hate to have someone pay that much and open the package and the roots were dried out or rotten.
Hard to find these plants... I don't think they can be sold legally in Canada. Where do you suggest I get some?
They are legal, just rare and hard to find. I found mine at a place called Richters herbs in Ontario.
@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy Thank you. Also found pawpaw extremely hard to find. Can you plant from seed and if so... would you be willing to send some? :/
You can, but the seedlings are very unlikely to be any good. Does start bros not have paw paw? Check also Raintree. For Canadian sources, look up whiffletree and green barn nursery, as well as grimo nut nursery.
@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy Thank you, will do
enough chickens concentrated will kill it because they take every new leaf as it appear, I tried to establish a hedge of it in my chook yard and even though it had a mesh cover, they managed to destroy it !!!
And i bet if you got your eggs tested you would get some calls back asking "how the heck your eggs are so nutritious! What are you feeding them!?!?!?!"
I personally know someone who that exact thing happened to them. They got their eggs tested, and then someone called them and wanted to know his secret. His secret was comfrey.
Does your comfrey have babies next spring? I'm interested if you have any for sale! Tia
As usual, video is great, blablabla. But I want to focus on the digging with the root slayer while wearing flip flops. Actually, are those shower shoes?
LOL, pretty much. My covid shoes
Barely any blinking at all.
Cover the useless gmo grass with cardboard and help your boneknit, where are your beehives?
I actually have a bunch of hives designed to attract wild native bees. There are also a few people around me who keep honeybee hives.
I buy jars of honey from them to help support them. I would rather support them then do it myself. I really like them and want to help them out.