Suggestions on how to use comfrey

[Tang Tonic]

I have a few potted comfrey plants that are quite happy.  I've read about various ways to use comfrey but not sure what is the most effective.

Looking for any suggestions on how to use comfrey effectively.

I also have tons of stinging nettle on my property.  So my thought was to fill a 55 gallon barrel with drain spout on bottom.  I would fill the barrel with water and place comfrey, stinging nettle, sargasso, seaweed, etc and allow to sit for awhile.  Then drain the liquid from the drain spout and apply via watering can.  Or I could strain what comes out of the drain and add that to totes which I use for gravity drip irrigation during the dry season.  A bit labor intensive but sounds like a good idea right?

[MangoCountry]

Chop and drop it. It goes anaerobic quickly sitting in water. The soil life will eat it up.

[fruitlovers]

At first i thought you meant on how to use them in your diet. Stinging nettles can be boiled and then eaten. Comfrey is great as a medicinal. Used to make tea out of it. Great against arthritis and rheumatism. You will see many cautions against using confrey, but in tea you would have to drink many quarts per day for it to have any bad effects. Comfrey is also great to feed to livestock. If you have chickens or ducks they will lay great eggs if fed comfrey.
I think to feed to soil, your idea is good. The liquid could also be used as foliar feed for your plants. You could also just cut it and use it as mulch.

[Bush2Beach]

Great idea! Your plants will love you even more. Plant out those comfrey and let them spread , and their roots in the ground by crops is beneficial.

[Fygee]

I was gifted a couple and I had no idea what the heck to do with them. Good to know!

What do their roots do to the soil to make it better? Are they nitrogen fixers like legumes, or something else?

[barath]

I've seen lots of discussion about comfrey pulls minerals out of the soil -- that may be true, but perhaps no more than a lot of other plants.  I think the main things it has going for it as a cover crop is that it has thick roots that grow fast and wide, even in hard clay soil, and it produces a lot of biomass that can be turned into a compost tea or just mulch.  I used to grow a lot of it but found that it really wanted water in the summer or would wither (it would come back in the winter when we'd get rain).  Comfrey compost tea really helped the trees I gave it to, but making it was more effort than it was worth for me so I stopped.

[fruitlovers]

Great idea! Your plants will love you even more. Plant out those comfrey and let them spread , and their roots in the ground by crops is beneficial.

Be careful of where you plant comfrey. Make sure you get the right spotfirst time around, because if you try to move it, it will keep coming up from old spot from any tiny piece of root. In other words, it can become weedy if you're not careful.

[Bush2Beach]

I'm alright with super beneficial , medicinal weeds. It could out compete taller grasses or other useless weeds.

[Tang Tonic]

Great information everyone.

Comfrey is awesome stuff.  I have used it to heal a few injuries.  Now lets see what it can do for my trees!

[stuartdaly88]

I use it as a green pot mulch works great:) just roughly rip up by hand and spread over soil:)
It breaks down very fast

[fruitlovers]

Great information everyone.

Comfrey is awesome stuff.  I have used it to heal a few injuries.  Now lets see what it can do for my trees!

Confrey is also known as boneheal, for obvious reasons. It has very many medicinal properties.