Kitchen Garden Forum

i make comfrey,seaweed,nettle and manure liquid feed each in its own barrel every spring i remove the old nettle stems and seaweed and add these to the compost heap.should i empty last years leftover feed and start each batch from new each spring , or can i keep doing what i have always done by adding fresh nettles,comfrey,manure and seaweed to the left over feed from the previous year and add more water.what is the best way to do it
regards
nemo

I don't know about that but i don't steep my comfrey ,i have two buckets one with holes which i put inside the other ,i just add the leaves and they gradually drip through, i then pour the liquid into a suitable container and dilute as required.I do strip the leaves from the stems and they virtually disappear so there's nothing left.

Hi MM,
With Comfrey you should use the entire plant and not just the leaves.
It is very easy to filter out any solids and an awful lot of nutrient is held in the stalks. If this were true Comfrey Concentrate then it can be stored for a very long time. There is a more efficient method of making concentrate than two buckets but you seem to be happy with what you are doing so if it works for you that is just fine.
If these home made fertilizers are stored in sealed containers then they do not really have a shelf life and can be used in the years that follow.
However, generally most people have great difficulty in making enough for the current season let alone store it. I find that having a few 5L containers in hand at the very begining of the season takes the pressure off the current years production.
JB.

How do you make yours, JB? I still haven't managed to perfect a system that doesn't leak stinky stuff or get blocked.

I certainly use the whole plant. I just stuff everything except the flowers into an old plastic container with a lid and after a month it's beautifully stinky. I dilute it 1-10 with water and feed the plants that way.

But why stop with comfrey and nettles? You can do this with absolutely anything you like. I have had a tub of weeds in water over this winter. I've just used the water on my broad beans and the rest goes into the compost bin. The liquid will make a good feed, though I'm sure it would be better for more comfrey or nettles.
mike

Hi Pongeroon,
I make concentrate using the drainpipe method. By making it this way you avoid the smells although concentrate takes longer initially to make. I make Comfrey Concentrate and you are making Comfrey Tea which smells wicked! Concentrate is kept in 5litre containers with a lid so any smells that may occur are capped!
Mike,
I feel that you are making comfrey tea and diluting it when you have already added the water to make the tea. I suspect that your tea is then too weak. It will still be of great benefit to your plants but you are not really getting the best out of your Comfrey.
It is concentrate that is diluted 9:1. This is 1Litre of concentrate in a 10 Litre watering can topped up with water.
JB.

Hi Johnboy, What is the drainpipe method?
because if there's a better way of doing it i'm keen

Hi MM,
I was afraid somebody was going to ask that question and have been thinking how best to describe the system. It is a very simply system but I am still thinking how best to describe it. So if you can bare the suspense I will try and post it up in the next couple of days.
JB.

Hi Johnboy,
I'll be interested in that method too - I usually do mine in a 5 ltr water container upturned into another one (with a hole in the cap to allow the fluid to drain through). Your method is probably better, so will try it.

Mike Vogel wrote:But why stop with comfrey and nettles? You can do this with absolutely anything you like. I have had a tub of weeds in water over this winter. I've just used the water on my broad beans and the rest goes into the compost bin. The liquid will make a good feed, though I'm sure it would be better for more comfrey or nettles.
mike

I don't have comfrey or nettles in the garden so the weeds thing sounds like a brilliant idea. I know it wont be as good as the stuff made with comfrey or nettles but anything which kills weeds whilst making somthing for the garden has got to be a boon.

I have some questions about how it works though. Do you just pop the weeds into some water? what are the ratio's to dilute it? Are the weeds then safe to add to the compost?

Thanks in advance

Hi MM and Goldilox,
Basically the drainpipe method of making Comfrey Concentrate is as follows;
By using a length of 4"/110mm rainwater down pipe with a stop end on the one end (the bottom) with a hole drilled in the centre. By filling a 2Litre Fizzy-pop bottle full of sand and cement and inserting a wire loop big enough to attach a stout cord. This will give you the gentle pressure needed to assist in the degradation of the Comfrey.
By holding this length of pipe vertical attached to a back board with pipe clips. There should a return at the top and bottom of the backboard.
The bottom return is a shelf to stop the pipe slipping through the pipe clips and the top return with a hole in it to run the cord attached to the bottle so that you can retrieve the bottle when you need to top up with Comfrey. In turn you fix the back board either to a shed or wall at a height so that you can house and be able to easily retrieve a 5 Litre container. The top return should be high enough above the pipe for easy removal of the bottle to facilitate filling the Pipe.
The best height of pipe it 6ft but the system will work down as low as 4ft.
When filling initially having got about 1ft of Comfrey in the tube you need to pour in a pint of urine (laid previously) as as starter.
Because the degradation in done anaerobically there is virtually no smell and certainly nothing like making Comfrey Tea.
I have searched the web to try and find a photo to post without success.
I hope this explanation gives you an idea as to what I am trying to convey.
JB.

Hi nemo - to return to your original question - you don't need to make a fresh lot each year. I have a large plastic drum into which I add nettles, comfrey, borage, and the occasional shovelful of manure scooped up from a nearby bridleway, and top it up with water. I don't start a new lot each year - this has been an ongoing thing for about four years, I just keep adding stuff when available, give the whole lot a good stir every so often with a bamboo cane, and top up the water level if it drops below about halfway down. I just add a jamjar full of the liquid to each two-gallon watering can, and use it on the raised beds and the container grown veg. It is the only plant feed I use.

Lyn

You have given me an idea, Lyn. We have a spare water butt with nowhere to go at the moment, and I never seem to be able to make enough liquid feed. Does your stuff stink much (I don't want to annoy the neighbours any more than I already do...)? If I had a lid on top maybe it would be OK??

thanks everyone for your comments but thanks Lyn for giving me an answer to my question
regards nemo

Hi - Yes, it can be quite "aromatic", particularly when I give it a stir, but, lacking a proper lid, I put a large upturned plastic pot (15'' diameter) on top weighed down with a brick to stop it blowing off. It just fits the rim of the drum nicely. If you don't have a suitably sized pot,I should think that a sheet of perspex or similar, weighed down, would do the trick, but maybe some holes drilled it it for some sort of ventilation might be a good idea to stop the whole lot festering.

Lyn