Comfrey over growth!!

[diannemary]

Hello can anyone help I have an HUGE patch over comfrey which is great to have and very useful for composting and fertiliser but i have more than I or anyone at my allotment can use. How can i limit it?

[burnie]

Hi DM, it would help if you let us know where your lottie is(area will do for a start), someone might be nearby and may take some away for you. Stopping it from seeding will help slow down it's spreading habit, cut it down before it flowers, if it's not too late.

[Bren In Pots]

First I'll say hello and welcome to the vine

If you're already adding comfrey to you compost heap and making comfrey tea you could chop and drop it and use it as a mulch. As for limiting it if its bocking 14 could advertise it on freecycle but if its the other type that sets seed you'll have to not let if flower and dig some of the plants up. Hopefully that should limit the area it covers.

[Jay-ell]

Wow, too much comfrey - what a position to be in I'm going to be planting more of it under my hedge.

What do you use it for at the moment and how do you use it? Comfrey Concentrate is a great way to use it up - at the moment I use an airtight bucket with a tap and pack it full of leaves (no water) - once I have enough I'll be making one out of a bin or water butt. It's not just for toms but can be used all over the place.

Digging up the roots may not get rid of it as the roots grow deep and grow back but might limit it's spread by using up its energy.

Hacking it back more often might limit it's grow a bit if it has to keep renewing it's leaves.

Use it for mulching the plot. keep cutting it back, tearing it up into smaller chunks and spreading it around everything. Not only are you then supressing weeds and keeping in the moisture but feeding the soil ad plants to boot. It's particularly good around things that need potassium such as fruit or alliums but also contains a fair amount of nitrogen so is handy around leafy plants as well (potassium is also used throughout the plants, not just fruit).

You could dry some of the leaves and store them to use with your spuds next year (mine isn't ready until after the spuds have gone in) or powder the dried leves and add them to potting mixes.

[lottie dolly]

some good answers,my hens love the leaves.

[diannemary]

Hi DM, it would help if you let us know where your lottie is(area will do for a start), someone might be nearby and may take some away for you. Stopping it from seeding will help slow down it's spreading habit, cut it down before it flowers, if it's not too late.

Hi thanks for your reply I'm in Somerset, its already in flower but i will remember for next year, I will leave some for the bees though

[diannemary]

Hi DM, it would help if you let us know where your lottie is(area will do for a start), someone might be nearby and may take some away for you. Stopping it from seeding will help slow down it's spreading habit, cut it down before it flowers, if it's not too late.

First I'll say hello and welcome to the vine

If you're already adding comfrey to you compost heap and making comfrey tea you could chop and drop it and use it as a mulch. As for limiting it if its bocking 14 could advertise it on freecycle but if its the other type that sets seed you'll have to not let if flower and dig some of the plants up. Hopefully that should limit the area it covers.

Hi Bren I've been Reading up on your ideas, and i will be making lots of mulch digging it up isn't an option as I've read the roots can get to 6 feet down!! thank you.

[veggiechicken]

Hi thanks for your reply I'm in Somerset, its already in flower but i will remember for next year, I will leave some for the bees though

Cut the flowers off before they set seed; that way the bees can have their share and you'll can still slow it down.

[Dynamite]

Send some to me. What a position to be in. It's gold dust Comfrey. I can't get hold of any and been trying for years. Be careful what you complain about, there's many many people would like to be in your position right now.

Kind Regards......Rob

[diannemary]

Wow, too much comfrey - what a position to be in I'm going to be planting more of it under my hedge.

What do you use it for at the moment and how do you use it? Comfrey Concentrate is a great way to use it up - at the moment I use an airtight bucket with a tap and pack it full of leaves (no water) - once I have enough I'll be making one out of a bin or water butt. It's not just for toms but can be used all over the place.

Digging up the roots may not get rid of it as the roots grow deep and grow back but might limit it's spread by using up its energy.

Hacking it back more often might limit it's grow a bit if it has to keep renewing it's leaves.

Use it for mulching the plot. keep cutting it back, tearing it up into smaller chunks and spreading it around everything. Not only are you then supressing weeds and keeping in the moisture but feeding the soil ad plants to boot. It's particularly good around things that need potassium such as fruit or alliums but also contains a fair amount of nitrogen so is handy around leafy plants as well (potassium is also used throughout the plants, not just fruit).

You could dry some of the leaves and store them to use with your spuds next year (mine isn't ready until after the spuds have gone in) or powder the dried leves and add them to potting mixes.

Jay-ell thank for some lovely ideas, I'll certainly try collecting a bucket full to make some concentration and chopping it for the base around my fruit bushes.

[Cadalot]

Set up a comfrey pipe, I'm forever filling mine up Alans Allotment: Grand Erections - Comfrey Pipe

[Thelma Sanders]

I've got it over my half of the new plot
It was glyphosated 3 times but the guy with the other half rotovated the whole plot, and now it's a nightmare.
I covered it all with weed 'control' fabric and have planted corn and squash through smallish holes in it. As long as I weed around those plants, they seem to be growing well.

The amount of comfrey growth through those small holes, though doesn't look as if the glypho slowed it down at all

[diannemary]

comfrey over growth

Thanks for all your replies I now know what a truly magical plant I have.

Kindest Regards Dianne

[ESBkevin]

Glyphosate is a possible cure but it takes many applications. The GEL type where you dab it on a typical weed is very concentrated. I've pulled most leaves off and smothered the two remaining leaves top and bottom on the couple of rouge plants that have popped up away from my primary comfry bed, it's looking sick but not yet dead so a further application is in order.

+1 on keeping the flowers immature and dig up anything remore that might be a new plant immediatly.