Comfrey patch

[Ra_]

Five days ago I planted tiny root pieces that I sprouted.
They'll take a few months to get big.
Then you cut them to the ground and they grow back in about 5 weeks.
Maybe 6 harvests a year.

The Comfrey I grew last year never stopped growing, even down to 28 degrees.
I'm still harvesting them now.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Hello! What do you do with it all? Just for the chickens?

 

[AussieJen]

I have comfrey in pots next to my run, which they prune for me. It seems to wilt before the other plants, so if I see it starting to go a bit flat I know it's time to water all my pots

The chooks love the comfrey, though I'm a little wary as I've read reports that too much is bad for them (I think there's a low-grade accumulating toxin). Same with the red sorrel that grows here as a weed and my girls love.

 

[Ra_]

Hello! What do you do with it all? Just for the chickens?

The birds love it but I also make a salve from the roots and dried leaves.
It's great for bug bites, cuts, rashes and other skin ailments.

 

[Ra_]

The chooks love the comfrey, though I'm a little wary as I've read reports that too much is bad for them (I think there's a low-grade accumulating toxin)

A researcher devoted his life to comfrey and reported on studies where all kinds of livestock improved when fed comfrey.
I put some quotes from his book into this thread.

 

[Ra_]

Hopefully by the second or third harvest, they'll be big enough to touch each other.
By year's end, I hope to see a huge, solid green mat.
I put 18 more root cutting sprouts into small containers.
I'll probably sell those when they get bigger.
People can get a much faster start than with root cuttings.

I sharpened a shovel and chopped out some of that grass/weeds today.
I managed to trample a plant or two and while I was distracted, two of my sneaky chickens slipped in and pruned some of the poor baby Comfrey leaves.

 

[Banditschickens]

 

[Ra_]

These first Comfrey plants that I put into the ground struggled mightily.
About 8 of them went completely dormant for a month.
They're finally starting to kick in. They're two month old now.
My soil has a pH of 8.1.
Phosphate mining was done in this area and there are patches where only lichens can grow. There are some patches where not even the lichens can grow. The middle of Florida and there is a bare white patch, 15 paces from my property.
We also have harmful nematodes that kill a lot of things that seem like they are gonna survive here. The soil is also hydrophobic in many places.
You can spray the ground in some places for 15 minutes. you can then brush away the top 1/8th inch of soil and it's dry as a bone underneath.

These plants have been getting slammed with chicken manure.

 

[Ra_]

I decided to let them keep growing before their first harvest, to make sure they are as well established as possible in these poor soil conditions.
Comfrey doesn't normally have jagged edges. There were a number of unauthorized cases of breaking and entering.

Today I let them at it.

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

Whete did you get your comfrey root cuttings?