Comments on: Comfrey and Banana Peels?

By: Warren

Warren — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:56:46 +0000

Well, my suggestion to everyone who gardens is to establish a worm bin and recycle all of your vegetative and fruit waste from your kitchen through it and let the worms turn that into liquid gold fertilizer. Mine is a 27 gallon DMX rectangular plastic container for $10 at Home Depot. I drilled a hole in one enc near the base & screwed in a valve & filled it with bag soil & shredded newspaper and a bag of soil & some “Red Wriggler” composting worms (available on Amazon) and some kitchen scraps. Then every morning I pour about 5 gallons of water through it and catch the runoff in a 5 gallon bucket. And then I cut up about 10 of my Comfrey Leaves into the bucket & hit it with a water jet every morning and after a few days, the leaves are dissolved and the remaining liquid is the best Natural and Organic Fertilizer you could ever wish for.

By: breezy

breezy — Tue, 10 Dec 2013 01:38:21 +0000

Happy to see this post, as I too recently had the idea that comfrey and bananas would be good worm food for nutrient rich black gold. they also happened to be two of the most readily available wormfoods available because i have a mini comfrey nursery in my apartment, and I eat a looot of bananas. Didnt think about grinding it up together, seems like a good idea. I’ve been enjoying you vermicompost ideas, after a year of moving and travelling I’ve finally got a good worm bin set up and I’m trying to find a ways to better integrate the wrigglers into my garden. It’d be nice to just have them established and casting directly where plants live, would save me lots of time and energy. Excited to try the vermicompost trench in the spring.

By: David

David — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:20:16 +0000

@Jim — interesting ideas for separating your fertilizer teas into three separate tanks. I started growing comfrey this Spring because of all the good that I have heard about it, but intentionally growing Nettle and Yarrow? I’m curious about what benefits you have found from raising and making tea from these. Also, is there a safer variety, because both grow wild around here and would take over the garden pretty quick.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 06:37:26 +0000

Bentley

I always have 3 tanks of plant material decomposing in water – Stinging Nettle, Comfrey (Bocking 14 cultivar) and Yarrow. In fact these are the only ‘fertilizers’ that I use on both the raised beds as well as container-grown plants (using SmartPots).

These plant materials can be used in thermal composting to kick-start the microbes = instant heating up of the compost pile.

So be careful when adding to a worm bin – in particular Comfrey because of the high nitrogen levels in the leaves it can really ramp up the temperatures if you bury the leaves. Leaving them on top of the bedding material has never cause me any problems. They’ll be gone in a few days and that applies to using it as a green mulch in the garden.

By: John Duffy

John Duffy — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 03:02:23 +0000

Jab away 🙂

By: Bentley

Bentley — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 03:23:46 +0000

DaveG – sounds like a GREAT idea!
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JOHN – I guess it all depends on how you look at it. I’m all about the self-deprecating humor, so it’s just meant to be a gentle jab at myself – not to mention a fun recurring theme. I think “alternative creative methodologies” might take a little bit of the fun out of it! LOL
(no offense intended – just a gentle jab in your direction! haha)

By: John Duffy

John Duffy — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 02:57:59 +0000

Bentley,
I think “hair brained idea” has negative connotations. I think your ideas might be better termed “alternative creative methodologies.”
…Often times, the impossible is only the untried.
Have a great weekend!

By: DaveG

DaveG — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 22:17:48 +0000

Hey Bentley, you should try throwing some comfrey into one of your DIY tumblers with some horse manure. The stuff is great.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:33:00 +0000

MUGEN – Thanks for sharing! Sounds like an interesting approach, and I bet the left-over plant material would end up being like worm candy by that point!
🙂
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DAVID – Yeah, I like to go against the grain from time to time (lol). I’ve had great success with adding newer (uncomposted) materials to outdoor garden beds (often in my windrows though – which aren’t directly IN the garden. Not sure what will happen in this case. I have a sneaking suspicion that the material will be crawling with microbes and worms quite quickly being as ground up as it is (green manures would definitely be bulkier) – and once those worms dig in they’ll start pooping out plant-available nutrients so we should be ok. Just not sure if the amount I added will provide enough of a boost.

By: David

David — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:21:48 +0000

I think that it is interesting how you add uncomposted material to your gardens. Traditionally farmers that use green composting techniques will wait a few weeks after they till in a cover crop for it to compost enough so that the nitrogen isn’t tied up by the decomposing plant material. From what I have read about worms, they too get more benefit from food waste only after it has been breaking down for a week or more. Do you think that you might get better results if you composted the comfrey and banana leaves first?