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Weeding or Harvesting Fertility? - Printable Version

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RE: Weeding or Harvesting Fertility? - Veggie - 31-05-2022

Thanks Moth. I'm a fan of Aranya.Smile
I've tried the comfrey in a drain pipe technique previously - forgotten I had until I saw this video. That worked too but only for small quantities of leaves at a time


RE: Weeding or Harvesting Fertility? - Veggie - 03-06-2022

I've had a thought - about an easier way to make smell-less comfrey feed on a smaller scale than using a water butt, without drilling holes - in fact, using things I have - and you probably do too. Big Grin

I'm going to use 30 litre plant pots - https://www.oaklandgardens.co.uk/heavy-duty-containers--30---130-litre-35881-p.asp but any big pots of the same size and design would do. They just need to fit inside the other one.

This is the plan :-
Find a tray or container that the pot can stand in.
Put some sticks/stones in the tray to act as pot feet.
Sit one pot on the "feet" so that the liquid can drain out of the pot and into the tray.
Fill pot with comfrey/nettle/ whatever.
Sprinkle with water.
Put second pot on top of weeds and weight it down with a container of water or bag of compost.

Sit back and see what happens.

If it works, I may set up a few of these around the garden near a source of weeds so that I can chuck them straight into the bottom bucket.


RE: Weeding or Harvesting Fertility? - JJB - 04-06-2022

You'll still have to deal with the smelly resultant liquid oozing into the tray somehow, have you got a plan for getting the juice from the tray? I've got a few lidded buckets (leftover poultry pellets tubs) for weeds around the place and use an old soup ladle to decant the juice to a watering can, only smells when I open them. BTW does the juice go off, I found some really old stuff the other day, shall I use it?


RE: Weeding or Harvesting Fertility? - PyreneesPlot - 04-06-2022

I've been using comfrey tea made in 2020 that didn't get used last year. Still smells potent and is a spectacular deep burgundy colour. Nothing has died yet!!


RE: Weeding or Harvesting Fertility? - JJB - 04-06-2022

(04-06-2022, 09:29 AM)PyreneesPlot Wrote: I've been using comfrey tea made in 2020 that didn't get used last year. Still smells potent and is a spectacular deep burgundy colour. Nothing has died yet!!
Thanks PP
I agree, the question was almost rhetorical, it would have got used somewhere, waste not want not Smile the rotting rotting gunk at the bottom will have to go way up the garden and buried in the compost or perhaps as a mulch in an out of the way place.  'I ain't afraid of no smells' to paraphrase Smile


RE: Weeding or Harvesting Fertility? - Veggie - 04-06-2022

(04-06-2022, 09:07 AM)JJB Wrote: You'll still have to deal with the smelly resultant liquid oozing into the tray somehow, have you got a plan for getting the juice from the tray? I've got a few lidded buckets (leftover poultry pellets tubs) for weeds around the place and use an old soup ladle to decant the juice to a watering can, only smells when I open them. BTW does the juice go off, I found some really old stuff the other day, shall I use it?
Yes, I have a plan - it involves delegation.  Rolleyes
Still working on the design at the moment!
Mr Greedy produces plenty of liquid but its not objectionably smelly. This is bottled and used in the GHs. I never feed the courgettes, beans etc because I rarely water them and feeding just doesn't cross my tiny mind. Maybe if I kept some bottled feed down amongst the veg I'd remember!............Plan for today.


RE: Weeding or Harvesting Fertility? - PyreneesPlot - 04-06-2022

(04-06-2022, 10:21 AM)JJB Wrote:
(04-06-2022, 09:29 AM)PyreneesPlot Wrote: I've been using comfrey tea made in 2020 that didn't get used last year. Still smells potent and is a spectacular deep burgundy colour. Nothing has died yet!!
Thanks PP
I agree, the question was almost rhetorical, it would have got used somewhere, waste not want not Smile the rotting rotting gunk at the bottom will have to go way up the garden and buried in the compost or perhaps as a mulch in an out of the way place.  'I ain't afraid of no smells' to paraphrase Smile

Ah, I pour mine off the rotting gunk after about ten days and store it in plastic (5*) wine bottles. Rotting gunk feeds the compost heap Wink


RE: Weeding or Harvesting Fertility? - Bren - 04-06-2022

I make my comfrey tea in an old cistern that used to be a pond filter, the comfrey goes into one of those pond planter baskets with all the holes then once its broken down to mush its easy to lift out and tipped into a dalek.


RE: Weeding or Harvesting Fertility? - JJB - 05-06-2022

I think I might consign my one year old gunk and mush to the compost and start again, the comfrey is looking just right for harvesting.


RE: Weeding or Harvesting Fertility? - PyreneesPlot - 05-06-2022

(04-06-2022, 07:45 PM)Bren Wrote: I make my comfrey tea in an old cistern that used to be a pond filter, the comfrey goes into one of those pond planter baskets with all the holes then once its broken down to mush its easy to lift out and tipped into a dalek.

Brilliant idea - I have an old pond plant basket too. Sounds much easier than pouring the stinky liquid through a sieve lined with a net curtain which I do at the moment!