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comfrey liquid feed
little-ann
Posts: 878
in Fruit & veg
I know how to make it, i have the comfrey and the bucket with a lid to make it in but am put off because of the smell,
how long does it smell for, is it any better if its left for say 12 months, does it still smell when its diluted
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Posts
Hi little-ann, The thing to do is bottle it once it is ready. I use 2 litre plastic pop bottles and they keep for years. It's a messy and smelly job to do the bottling (use a funnel), but that's the end of the smell until it is time to use it. It will smell for a few minutes after watering it onto your plants but that soon dissipates.
thanks Bob can you tell me your ratio to water when you dilute or is it not so critical i have seen one or two different recommendations
As mine tends to vary in concentration (I have about a dozen bottles made over the last few years), I always use a rule-of-thumb method: Keep adding small amounts until the water looks like weak tea. Easy-peasy!
The smell stays but ignore its good for your plants and the smell goes when poured on plants .
I've actually gotten to almost like the smell, since I now associate it with summer and happy crops. I would say don't use it indoors though! I thought I'd try it on some houseplants and the smell lingered all day!
My watering cans are all opaque, so I can't tell what colour the water is very easily to tell if it's "weak tea" coloured, but I've not killed anything yet!
First batch
little ann.. y is your leaves in container.. any water in it ? have had comfrey few yrs but is 1st time i bothered to maybe make a feed... it stinks.. picked leaves & put in bucket of water.. not alot.. am i doing right ? no idea...
jean, yes there is water in the bucket, i haven't made it before but it is apparently the very best feed, i have done two buckets and hope that with a mask i will be able to bottle it. The buckets are from fat balls we feed to the birds, we also use nuts, niger seeds,fat slabs and seed, we have a couple of bird baths and a lot of birds including this year a pair of nut hatches, gold finches, wood peckers and for a couple of mornings we have had a jay
I made mine in a dustbin with 4 sacks full of comfrey leaves and a weight on top. It squashed down as it fermented to about a foot deep, but it still stinks.
Alan4711