homemade liquid feeds

[Stephen]

Thank you all for the responses.
Johnboy: I don't think I need a diagram! I will take the principal and work out something which fits my spaces. It may, for example go on the back of the posts which support the blackberry and loganberry. However, if I end up with a "bed" of comfrey which is 5ft by 5ft I shall be suprised! Somewhat different to your space. I like the tip about extra weight, I will have to see what i can scrounge from the tip!

Victoria and others:- I understand that the variety of Comfrey is important. I shall follow your advice.

[Johnboy]

Hi John,
Many years ago I bought a machine at auction that was used to make insulation out of newspaper. Sadly the idea never caught on and the company went to the wall. This was long before shredders came into being and I adjusted the machine to take woody waste. When I was
experimenting composting Comfrey it used to be that the Comfrey would biodegrade and not be absorbed and I would end up with a boggy mass, full of flies around the base of my compost heaps. I tried straw bales and the straw in that state is, although absorbent it is not absorbent enough and I used to break a bale open and spread out and run the mower over it which was better and then do it twice and it got better and then tried with the machine set back to making paper insulation. This produces straw mainly cut into pieces the largest about .25" and the smallest almost dust. I threequarters fill my compost bins with the straw and then keep topping up with Comfrey and as it biodegrades the straw absorbs the Comfrey liquid and at the first sign of saturation add more straw to the top almost then add Comfrey and straw until the bin is full. It is left for a full year and them it gets used.
I wanted to go into business making this compost but the local authority
stepped in and would not allow me to make it here and said that I could produce it in an industrial unit but not on my Nursery. Today there are many such compost makers but you have to have a licence and I am simple too old to start such a venture. Although there are many composters I do not know of anybody using Comfrey and Straw which is a very good growing medium and soil conditioner.
JB.

[John]

Thank for that JB
I did once try putting straw through my electric shredder but I couldn't cope with all the dust that it created. I was coughing for about a week afterwards.

John

[glallotments]

We mulch over our dahlia tubers with straw and leave them in the ground over winter covered with a black plastic sheet. This year we dug them up to replant and noticed that the texture of the soil was really improved by the decomposed straw. The only trouble with the straw that we have used is it seems to contains lots of seeds.

[Mike Vogel]

A very interesting tale, JB. I cannot claim to have any particular method, but my compost bins at home and on the plot seem to generate a great deal of really good compost. I do add comfrey to the bins about three times a year, but I think what makes the difference is cardboard. I hardly ever throw packaging away, but add it by degrees to the compost bins. From the two I have at home I have managed to get three bags of compost [I have to put some of the material back which hasn't properly decomposed in the 6 or 12 months I give it].

As I sieve and decant into bags I add SM3 seaweed meal and an organic equivalent of blood, fish and bonemeal. The brassicas which I potted on into this stuff thrived as never before. Mixed with leafmould, i think it also makes excellent seed compost - I'm looking forward to trying it out next spring.

[Johnboy]

Hi Mike,
I am not knocking SM3 but I do not think that it really is the equivalent to Blood, Fish and Bone Meal. SM3 is a very good preparation but I do not think that it has the long lasting effect of the Bone Meal. I would think that my Comfrey Compost is almost on a par with SM3.
Certainly I have seen comparisons with Marinure, which is another seaweed product, and really Comfrey Concentrate is actually fractionally better in several aspects.
I used to use Horn and Hoof Meal, which is ideal for planting fruit trees and shrubs, which has a very long lasting effect, but somehow it appears not to be on sale locally any more and I suppose that I could acquire it by mail order but the expense of mail order puts me off.
I tried Cardboard some years ago but ended up with too many fungi which may well have been harmless but I wasn't prepared to take the chance. Thinking about it, fungi play a very high part in the biodegradation of most things so perhaps I was wrong to dismiss cardboard but certainly now I will stick to what I have in very good quantities.
JB.

[Mike Vogel]

I agree with your second thoughts about fungi, JB, but I have not had that many produced under my cardboard mulches; you've probably got a much more biodiverse soil where you are, and more moisture too.

I have been quite happy with the results I've had by using SM3, but I haven't used it exclusively, merely alternating it with other preparations. Tomatoes seem to like it, at least here, and I use it frequently on my houseplants. My strelitzia [bird-of-paradise plant] flowered for the first time some 5 years ago, and that was the first year I had used SM3 when watering it. It has flowered 4 times in the past 5 years.

[Johnboy]

Hi Mike,
I was certainly not knocking SM3 because I know that it is a very good preparation. I have the great advantage over you with having the choice of composts and the room to grow for baulking as well as making concentrates. This is what I sometimes forget when I get carried away.
I really do not know how I would manage if I was on an allotment.
JB.

[Mike Vogel]

You'd probably win prizes, JB. I reckon that with your knowledge and experience, all you'd need to do is get used to the smaller scale. And that wouldn't take you long.

[Shallot Man]

pongeroon. I use a 40 gall drum,I add comfrey,stinging nettles [after giving them a welt with a clubhammer] , fill with water, give a stir every few days, [helps if you can hold your breath for long periods]. Just water on as usual, have to keep cleaning the rose though, boy does it pong. I then just top up the barrel. Had intended to empty the barrel at the end of the season, and put residue on the heap. Will decide later this year.

[Johnboy]

Hi Mike,
I have just reread you posting where it says SM3 and an organic equivalent to FBB Meal. I missed the and which kind-of puts me thinking down the wrong avenue.
My Apologies.
JB.

[Mike Vogel]

When I started up I was keen on promoting organic principles and I bought in everything from the Organic Catalogue. I use Chase seaweed meal when preparing for sowing, SM3 [or other liquid feeds]when watering and the organic FBB as a top dressing both on the allotment and in my garden. This last, however, often gets forgotten about, so don't beat yourself up!

Nowadays most of these preparations or their equivalents can be got from a number of suppliers and I have a suspicion that the OGC is on the expensive side, though I haven't checked that out properly.

[peter]

Renewed interest in JB's drainpipe technique

[Tony Hague]

Thanks Johnboy and Peter. I have a very suitable looking piece of pipe in the garage looking for a use ...

[gloworm]

Under this thread heading the only liquid feed discussed has been comfrey, what about pee ? I use this on suitable crops with excellent results, I also go out & pee on my comfrey patch undiluted & it loves it. I use the fresh cut comfrey in my potato, pea & bean trenches not bothering to make it into liquid.