homemade liquid feeds

[Johnboy]

Hi Lyn,
I rather think that the concoction you make is very anti-social. Do you have neighbours and if so do you advise them when you are going to give this brew a stir.
Regrettably their are some gardeners who believe that unless something stinks to high heaven it doesn't do any good. How wrong they are!
A brew like Lyn's can cause real trouble in a confined neighbourhood so unless you are well away from everybody my advice is to give it a miss.
JB.

[Lyn]

Oh dear, Johnboy - you'll be writing in capital letters next!! Yes, it would indeed be antisocial if it were quite so strong as you imagine (are there [i]really[i] people out there who regard high pungency as being directly proportional to efficacy?). However, you only have to be within a couple of metres of it to be able to smell it when the lid is off, and the smell rapidly disperses. There is certainly no danger of upsetting the neighbours, and I think it is worth having a go if you have a reasonably sized container and wish to make good use of free resources.

Lyn

[Johnboy]

Hi Lyn,
I take it that you actually make a very weak solution because I have been working with Comfrey for over 50 years and I am well aware of the pungency if made into a proper strong solution. I live more than 3/4 of a mile from my nearest neighbour and with one lot I made I had complaints from those people when the lid was off for about an hour whilst I was making up watering solutions.
JB.

[Stephen]

I am bringing this BTTT for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, I think the liquid from my wormery has given great benefit to the rhubarb at home.
Secondly, nettles or comfrey for liquid feed for the allotment (next year)? The nettles are around in profusion but I could grow the comfrey in a corner of the plot somewhere.
Is one better than the other?
Did I read that ph is raised (with one or the other - or both)? Here in the Chilterns where the soil is clay over chalk, the ph will be higher rather than lower. I confess I have not measured it.

[Mike Vogel]

Sorry, Smurfy and others, for failing to note your observations and questions. The answer is that I have no idea as to ratios for dilution, but I do it approx. 1-10. The solid stuff left behind is certainly compostable, but I have just been using it to mulch my sweet potatoes [it didn't go very far!].

I find that most of the brassicas which I have watered with this diluted stuff have not been attacked by the cabbage whites. I think they are put off by the smell!

[Stephen]

Hi Johnboy
I have been reading through your drainpipe device:
A six ft length of four inch pipe is held vertically with access top and bottom.
It is partially blocked at the bottom so that solid material is held and water allowed to pass through.
Fill the pipe and use a (recoverable) weight to exert pressure. Start decay with a pint of urine.

OK: I get all that.
Then do you add water and let it drain through? i.e. Take your five litre container full of water tip in at the top, then place at bottom.
It can not be kept waterlogged because there is a hole in the bottom. Does the pint of urine pass straight through? (It has already passed through in a manner of speaking!)
How frequently can you draw from it?
How much/often do you top up the comfrey? How often do you clear out the debris and restart the system?

[Johnboy]

Hi Stephen,
You have it in one.
The urine is mainly absorbed into the Comfrey initially but the old mans syndrome may occur!
No water is added as you are making a concentrate which when used is diluted 1 part concentrate to 9 water. eg, one Litre of concentrate to 9 Litres of water in a 10 Litre watering can. So it's add your concentrate and then fill with water. It is more effective used on the 'little but often' method.
If you need a drawing PM me with an address and I'll send you one.
JB.

[Victoria]

I am bringing this BTTT for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, I think the liquid from my wormery has given great benefit to the rhubarb at home.
Secondly, nettles or comfrey for liquid feed for the allotment (next year)? The nettles are around in profusion but I could grow the comfrey in a corner of the plot somewhere.
Is one better than the other?
Did I read that ph is raised (with one or the other - or both)? Here in the Chilterns where the soil is clay over chalk, the ph will be higher rather than lower. I confess I have not measured it.

Stephen - I use Bocking 14 variety of Comfrey, bought from Garden Organic. It doesn't go mad all over the allotment. I make a liquid feed with the first cutting from it, then make two or three more cuttings through the year which I use either as a mulch or pop in the compost to help speed things up.

[Mike Vogel]

That's just how I use mine, Victoria. Bocking 14 is particularly recommended because, although it does produce flowers, they are sterile, so, as you say, you don't get the plant popping up all over the allotment.

I've just taken my third cut of the year, which has mainly gone to mulch the squashes. I hope to get another cut before winter, which I'll use to make a liquid feed in a canister WITH A SCREW TOP.

[glallotments]

We have what we call a comfrey still see below.

comfrey still2 small.jpg (30.82 KiB) Viewed 3556 times

Just a brick on the comfrey to weight it and no smells

There is a whole in the base of the bucket and the liquor drips through.

The concentrate is then diluted 1 part comfrey to 15 - 20 parts water

[Johnboy]

Hi Glallotments,
Certainly you can do it as you show but the only comments I have to make are that the container should be covered to prevent rain dilution and you are not using the concentrate to its full potential at 1:15 or 20.
To my way of thinking you are diluting it too much especially if you have already got rain water it the mix.
The other way to use Comfrey is as a tea which is the mixed with water and allowed to ferment. Absolutely awful!!
JB.

[glallotments]

HI JB,
The container has a lid - maybe the photo doesn't really show this - its an old beer brewing bucket and the rain shouldn't get into the coffee jar at the bottom as it is under the bucket.

[Johnboy]

Hi Glallotments,
I am overjoyed that you are using Comfrey along with Victoria and Mike.
Certainly you bucket is a very cheap way to make concentrate.
I have masses of Bocking 14 and its predecessor Bocking 4. I do not find that it is too rampant and although it does set seed mine very seldom gets to the point where it is even in bloom it gets used.
My comfrey bed is about 30ft x 90ft and although it started off planted at 2ft centres it is now a solid mass.
The drainpipe method is topped up about twice a week on average at this time of year and I make between 25 and 50 litres each year. I also compost it with pulverized straw which is, when pulverized, very absorbent. It is this mix that I grow my Tomatoes in. I used to use Peat but by experimenting find that straw is almost as good when rotted down.
The more weight you have on the top the quicker it biodegrades and with the the drainpipe method I manage 20lbs over 12.5 sq ins. Approx 1.5lbs per sq in. My weight is a 2L lemonade bottle filled with lead shot mixed into sand and cement suspended on baler twine.
JB.

[Victoria]

Johnboy! your comfrey bed is the same size as my whole allotment!!!

[John]

Hello JB
Your straw/comfrey idea sounds interesting.
What is pulverised straw - is it the same as chopped straw? I can get chopped straw round here.
If not, how do you pulverise it?

John