Comfrey Container Question

[Mamsoth]

Hello, hope this is the right place to post this. I'm going to start making some Comfrey Fertiliser for my chillies and had but two simple questions regarding a good bucket to use.

Firstly, can the bucket have a good sealable lid on it or would this impede the amount of oxygen needed for the Comfrey to break down? I've heard Comfrey can smell somewhat "corpsey" so would prefer a sealed container.

Secondly, does temperature matter? Is it like a compost bin where you want it to get good and hot, or would the bucket be better if it was cooler? This would influence the colour I went for

Thanks for reading

[Lardman]

You could do it in something like a 5 gallon bucket but anything smaller wouldn't really be practical. Small scale, a press made from 110mm pipe would probably be the best solution and there's no need to worry about the smell.

[Jay-ell]

Are you looking to make comfrey tea (comfrey fermented with water) or comfrey concentrate (fermented by itself and is stronger)?

I make the concentrate and use a bokashi bin because it has an airtight seal (both methods need oxygen to be excluded), has a tap and a plate that separates the comfrey from the liquid.

Cadalot has a great design using drain pipe. Icon remember the lint but if you see his posts have a look on his blog.

[Cadalot]

link to the comfrey pipe here Alans Allotment: Grand Erections - Comfrey Pipe



Here is how she has started to rot down and flow



Speed that Comfrey grows in its second year see Alans Allotment: Update Comfrey Compost and Onions

[Lardman]

The pipe is fine for small scale, but I lost the will to live having to keep chopping up the leaves and stuffing them in.

I just put mine in an empty water butt now and put the lid on then leave it for a few weeks, I've not noticed any smell and the concentrate gets decanted in 2l water / milk bottles when I remember.

[Mamsoth]

Thanks for the helpful replies everybody. That pipe looks great but I think I'll stick to using a simple bucket for now.

Jay-ell, I will be making concentrate. Thanks for the info regarding sealed lid vs open container, I couldnt seem to find an answer to that anywhere else on the web.

Cheers all happy growing

[bario1]

I just use those 25ltr plastic water containers - shove the comfrey in through the hole, push it all down with broom handle, fill with water, screw the lid on and leave for a month. Then you just unscrew, pinch your nose, and decant straight into your watering can when you need it.

[TrixC]

I've heard the concentrate made just from leaves smells less bad than when you cover it with water, is that true?

[Jay-ell]

I've never made it by covering it with water, I only make the concentrate from leaves only. You do notice the smell when you take the lid off but it isn't an over powering smell and you only take the lid off at the end (if you have a way of collecting it from the bottom such as a tap).

I usually tip the dregs under the apple trees and don't notice it being too pongy. Hold the bottle of concentrate to your nose and inhale will clear the sinuses but you're asking for it then.

I also do bokashi an I find hat the bokashi has a stronger smell than the comfrey.

[sparrow100]

I have a 100L water butt, which gets a sack of leaves added to it twice a year. It does give off quite a stench, but I don't yet have enough comfrey to make enough concentrate for my use. This gives me comfrey water to feed the tomatoes in the greenhouse for the season.

[WPG]

I use a very simple method to make concentrate. I stack two griddle pans at the bottom of a bin, fill the bin with comfrey (doesn't need to be chopped), add a brick on top and then put the lid on the bin. As comfrey degrades so quickly, I refill the bin a few times during the summer. Then I just leave the bin to sit over winter. In spring remove any leftover bits of comfrey, and there should be around 4-5 litres of black comfrey oil under the griddle pans. There's no chopping of leaves required, no smell during the process, and no odour from the concentrate either.
To answer your original questions...the bin lid is always kept on, so oxygen isn't needed. And it doesn't seem to make a difference whether I leave the bin in shade or sun, so heat isn't necessary either.

[Cadalot]

My Comfrey Cup Runneth Over



It's been 16 days since my last visit when there was about 5mm of comfrey in the bottom of my milk bottle under the comfrey pipe, but on my visit this morning I found that my milk bottle of comfrey had literally runneth over!

The weight in the pipe was no longer protruding from the top of the pipe and looking at how much I had to pull it back up the comfrey level was about halfway down the pipe.

The milk bottle was swapped out for an empty one and the full one capped and moved to one side. Then two square flower buckets of comfrey was cut up and thrust down the pipe until once again half of the weight was protruding from the top of the pipe.

The concrete blocks and the paving slab for the comfrey water butt need to be transported from Mill Green Allotment to Spencer Road at the earliest opportunity so I can have comfrey on draft.

[Dynamite]

The pipe is fine for small scale, but I lost the will to live having to keep chopping up the leaves and stuffing them in.

I just put mine in an empty water butt now and put the lid on then leave it for a few weeks, I've not noticed any smell and the concentrate gets decanted in 2l water / milk bottles when I remember.

Be thankful Lardman. I can only but dream of having a few leaves let alone being sick of putting them in your pipe.

Regards Rob