Home made liquid feed.

[Darwin.]

I've seen in here that you can drown nettles in water and use it as a feed. I was going to self up a barrel at the bottom of the garden, fill it with water and keep it stocked with a regular supply of weeds and nettles then just scoop out the water as a feed.

Will that work?

[Mikey]

Yes, it makes life easier if you stuff the leaves into a net, this way when you want to remove it, you're not fishing your arm into the flavoursome liquid.

[Darwin.]

That's clever, I'll certainly do that.

[darcyvuqua]

Be warned it bloody stinks :0

[mothhawk]

It's also the best way of killing those weed roots which regrow if you put them in the compost - docks, celandine, dandelion, buttercup, all that sort of stuff.

[Snadger]

Its not really recommended as you tend to get mossies and all manner of water born nasties swimming about in this stinking liquid. Did I mention legionella!

Far better I think is to use sealed containers like six pint milk cartons. Fill some with comfrey for pottasium and some with nettles for nitrogen feeds.
Once the tops are screwed on there is no smell either.

Just add a cup full of the fermented liquid to a watering can and fill up with water.

[Darwin.]

I don't know what Comfrey is.

[veggiechicken]

Here you are Darwin - read all about Comfrey. Comfrey Bocking 14
Bocking 14 doesn't flower and is grown from root cuttings. You can also get flowering comfrey but this is not as good for making liquid feed.

[flopsy]

can this be grown in containers?

[lottie dolly]

Yes, it makes life easier if you stuff the leaves into a net, this way when you want to remove it, you're not fishing your arm into the flavoursome liquid.

EEEEEUK,you are joking,i use a garden fork that wants a new handle,is ideal size for them barrels,aslo put the nose a little further away,the resultant slimy mess then gets slung on the raspberry bed as its nearest,

VC,my bocking 14 flowers,the bees loved them last year

[binley100]

I stuff a pop sock with comfrey and suspend it in an old homebrew barrel , tied to the handle (so it doesn't fall in) and then screw the cap on. Handy little tap on the front for dispensing the evil brew......

[veggiechicken]

VC,my bocking 14 flowers,the bees loved them last year

I thought Bocking didn't flower All my comfreys flower, white and pink, and yes the bees love them Somehow, it doesn't seem right to grow a plant that doesn't have flowers

[zazen999]

can this be grown in containers?

Pointless doing so, as its the roots that harvest the nutrients and the leaves that store them.

I thought Bocking didn't flower All my comfreys flower, white and pink, and yes the bees love them Somehow, it doesn't seem right to grow a plant that doesn't have flowers

It does flower, it just has sterile seeds and thus doesn't set seed all over. Which is why you can only propagate from root cuttings

[veggiechicken]

Aha, thanks Zaz! Its always puzzled me. So is there a way of telling whether you have Bocking 14 or common comfrey, just by looking at it?

[zazen999]

Yes, if it has self seeded by the next summer everywhere, it isn't Bocking 14.