Organics Lounge

Some good info on Comfrey and the Bocking 14 cultivar in particular.
Comfrey - BELIEVE the HYPE! - The Permaculture Research Institute

 

Thanks man! That has all the yield info I was looking for! I bought 1000x seeds of Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) the super invasive species for ground cover and erosion control. Plus production for meal. Got about 1/5th of an acre set aside for comfrey so far. Just spent the last hour outside hacking away an overgrown part of the property. Need a dump truck load of manure lol

 

We had this conservation some years back when Coot was posting regulary.

The main upshot was; If it could be done and actually make a profit, someone would be doing it and been doing it long ago.

The other main thing was regulations/laws. In many jurisdictions comfrey is considered a medicinal plant and regulated as such and not as a fertilizer/additive, or even animal feed such as alfalfa. Indeed, one of the main gripes was only being able to find dried comfrey was in health food stores and labeled for human consumption. Whole different ball of wax when 'human consumption' enters the picture.

Anyway, that convo is still around, somewhere, but no real answers came from it, other than having your own patch was the best option at present.

Still, a great idea if you can make it work.

Wet

 

I think as long as I did all the work myself, didn’t have to buy land or hire people, could turn a small profit. Wouldn’t be retiring to the Tropics anytime soon but enough. Figure if 100x plants gives me 3lbs dried material each (the article shared said a lot more but we’ll shoot low for this.). 300lbs Comfrey meal at $2 a lb = $600. Only paid $50 for 1000x seeds.
Prolly spend
$40 in gas to get free manure,
$56 for 36lbs of green sand (high clay soil)
$40 Neem/Karanja meal top dress around each plant.
=$136 roughly. Long as I double my money then I’ll keep trucking along, lol.

If it doesn’t pan out, then at least I’ll have more high quality green manure than I’ll know what to do with, the erosion control, flowers for my bees, home for predatory wasps, green Lacewings, and a great learning experience!

 

If it doesn't pan out there is always "XXXX Quality, Comfrey based worm castings/VC"

Let the worms do the work. LOL

Whatever, something good should come of this and in time your direction will be clear.
Cheers

Wet

 

If you marketed it right, I'm sure you have a community of growers who'd buy it for amendments. I'd love to have it to add to my fert mix.
If this is the standard market price, you should be making a dollar. Plus they're shipping from Bulgaria...tsk tsk. -https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/products/comfrey-leaf/profile

Here's another plant from my area I want to look more into for composting/mulching/ferments. Arundo donax - Wikipedia
Would make a good meal as well I think - let's start a Giant Reed farm? Lol.
May also be a DA. Has loads of silica, grows fast, invasive species, and has alkaloids and nearly no predators - wondering if it has neem-like insecticidal qualities. Have been using for mulch for a number of years. Anybody else know more?

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You could also cut the cane into short pieces and make a bug hotel. I’m going to harvest some bamboo for the same purpose and compost material.

 

I read its the same plant as Phragmites australis. I gather IMO from them.

 

That's a good idea - except at my spot I'd have to find a way to keep the earwigs and spiders from claiming the whole thing lol




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Hmmm - maybe they're in the same family. I almost gathered some IMO from them too - I used to think it was a species of bamboo. Maybe I'll do it this summer. Seen some guys say it has DMT in it too haha


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Vermicomposted compost pile.

 

Glad to see ya back around man!

 

"It's Chunk!" Lol



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What @Chunk the Magnificent said - Don’t forget your IPM!

And good (Saturday) morning.

J

 

Hey my friend!