Kitchen Garden Forum

i have read that the use of comfrey can cause cancer if taken internally. any thoughts on it's use as a liquid manure?

Hi David,
A while back an American Woman made some tests and found that because a certain chemical was found in Comfrey it had to be condemned. As far as I can remember the concentration was measured in parts per Billion and was therefore discarded as a threat to life or limb and in the concentration was thought unlikely to cause cancer. This was if you imbibed a tissane of Comfrey. When Comfrey is used as a feed to plants as far as I know nobody has ever proved that the plants actually take up this chemical.
I'm afraid I do not remember the name of the offending chemical.
Another example of an American Woman being clever is the one that was allowed to broadcast on 'Woman's Hour' her dramatic find that rather than 'an Apple a Day keeps the doctor away' Apples carried a deadly poison and should be avoided at all costs. This caused a panic amongst the woman of the land. This jammed the BBC switch board and in the following days programme they had to put out the facts. These were that to even make a person sick from this chemical you would have to eat at least two hundredweights of apple per day. Well I would hazard a guess that if you ate 5 pounds of Apples you would probably be sick if not physically certainly you would lose your appetite.
Do you get my drift David!
JB.

I remember this too. As a result all forms of herbal supplements containing comfrey were removed from sale, but I spoke to a naturopath about this and she said that if people were to take it in its natural form -eg as a tea, no one would poison themselves as it was so bitter you couldn't drink enough of it.
Putting it on plants won't cause any harm.

thank you johnboy and jenny. i will continue to use as a liquid feed as i think your comments put the 'findings' into context

the only deadly thing about comfrey, in my opinion, is the smell.

I have been fermenting some with nettles in a big tub to make up a feed for my veg next year.

The smell is evil. Which makes me think that my granny was right when she told me (whilst spooning out the black malt treacle) that the more horrible it tastes/smells, the better it is working.

Dee

yes dee i have noticed the smell, can you advise me on the dilution rate?

Hi David71,

I belive the dilution rate is 10 parts water to 1 part Comfrey.

Regards

Kevin

thanks kevin

Condemning comfrey as a fertiliser because of a chemical dangerous when ingested is daft. It shows a complete ignorance of what happens in the soil and in the plants. Stable manure is a wonderful fertiliser, but I wouln't advise you to eat it.

mike

Hi David,
The dilution rate depends on which method you are using to produce it. Comfrey Tea needs virtually no dilution at all but Comfrey Concentrate is as Kevin says 10 parts water to 1 Comfrey Concentrate.
I used to have a 200 gallon tank for Comfrey Tea and for every gallon taken out when you have finished top up with the same amount of water give it a very quick stir and replace the lid smartly! As it is available top up with Comfrey.
Sadly that wonderful old tank died a death and after that I have only ever produced Comfrey Concentrate.
Comfrey Concentrate does not smell quite as bad. It takes considerably longer to produce but can be stored indefinitely. The merit in this is that you always have some ready to use at any time of the year.
JB.

thanks johnboy,
i have a fifty gallon tank doing nothing so i will start producing right away for use next season

am i right in thinking when it smells less offensive it's ready?

Hi Fen,
The answer to that is yes and no. Yes you can get it to a point where it no longer smells because the Comfrey has all degraded but but as you start to use it and stir up the sediment the odour will reoccur. This really means that you have not used the Comfrey as was intended. Comfrey Tea is an ongoing process all the time your plants are producing vegetation you should be continually using the liquid and adding more Comfrey as available and water as you use it. So it is only in the dormant periods when the plants are not producing and you are not using it so that is where the no comes in.
Comfrey Concentrate is a far more civilized affair and the odour is nowhere near as bad and when the concentrate is made it is bottled up and when the lid is put on that is the end of the odour until you use it. Even when you use it there is virtually no foul smell of it degrading that has long passed.
JB.

Further to my last posting I feel that those interested in Comfrey might like to view this website

http://houseofstrauss.co.uk/modules/wfs ... ticleid=67

This deals with Comfrey tea but not concentrate.
JB.

Tried this idea off the TV and it works perfectly.
Aquire a 4" plastic drain pipe, place comfrey leaves in it,secure mesh at one end, mount verticaly in a sunny position. Place a container under bottom. place water filled Pop bottle with string attatched in top as waight.

Within a week the Comfrey concentrate will flow.
This method can also be used as a filter for Rhubab concentrate against White Fly, it stops your watering can from blocking up so frequently.
All the beat to all,
Fred Perry.