Have any of my #plants & #gardening friends heard of or used "Bocking 14" Russian Comfrey?
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Have any of my #plants & #gardening friends heard of or used "Bocking 14" Russian Comfrey?
It's supposed to be a natural fertilizer that bees and worms love. Any thoughts or experience?
@SrRochardBunson
I haven't tried the sterile variety. I've got some invasive comfrey on my property and I CAN say that comfrey is an effective addition to fertilizer. It composts almost instantly and grows back rapidly from roots when conditions are favorable. And yes, bees love it.Since the invasive stuff is here and I can't get rid of it, I use it. The sterile stuff seems like a better option.
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Have any of my #plants & #gardening friends heard of or used "Bocking 14" Russian Comfrey?
It's supposed to be a natural fertilizer that bees and worms love. Any thoughts or experience?
@SrRochardBunson I use sterile comfrey as compost feeders and pollinator magnets. Bees adore those plants.
It requires supplemental water where I live, but it's worth it to have it bring in insects to visit my vegetables.
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Have any of my #plants & #gardening friends heard of or used "Bocking 14" Russian Comfrey?
It's supposed to be a natural fertilizer that bees and worms love. Any thoughts or experience?
@SrRochardBunson I've used the sterile variety and it's still absolutely a permanent planting. Don't dig near it, don't try to move it, just plant it where you want it and hope nobody ever tries to remove it, or you'll have a freaking field full of it.
It will grow from the tiniest sliver of a root, so don't even knick it or you'll have another plant whether you like it or not.
Things growing near it will get bigger, faster. You'll get a bunch of green matter for chop and drop several times a year. It doesn't seem to be any more effective at that job than grass clippings, in my experience. I had much better results using arborists' wood chips.
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Have any of my #plants & #gardening friends heard of or used "Bocking 14" Russian Comfrey?
It's supposed to be a natural fertilizer that bees and worms love. Any thoughts or experience?
@SrRochardBunson here's some of mine starting to come up for this spring & summer, within another 2-3 weeks I'll start to see stalks for it's tiny purple flowers. I absolutely love it for how many happy big bumblebees I get with it and my chickens enjoy munching on the leaves I bring them from it too. But do understand if you've very sensitive/delicate skin, as I do, that it does feel a little prickly to the touch, so either enduring a little shortterm pain or wearing gloves will be needed for trimming it back.
Also note that while the bees do indeed love said flowers, they're not very fragrant nor #asthma attack triggering, so if you want an asthmatic friendly #pollinator plant, this is definitely one for that list.
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@SrRochardBunson here's some of mine starting to come up for this spring & summer, within another 2-3 weeks I'll start to see stalks for it's tiny purple flowers. I absolutely love it for how many happy big bumblebees I get with it and my chickens enjoy munching on the leaves I bring them from it too. But do understand if you've very sensitive/delicate skin, as I do, that it does feel a little prickly to the touch, so either enduring a little shortterm pain or wearing gloves will be needed for trimming it back.
Also note that while the bees do indeed love said flowers, they're not very fragrant nor #asthma attack triggering, so if you want an asthmatic friendly #pollinator plant, this is definitely one for that list.
@BrahmaBelarusian ooh, thank you!
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@SrRochardBunson I've used the sterile variety and it's still absolutely a permanent planting. Don't dig near it, don't try to move it, just plant it where you want it and hope nobody ever tries to remove it, or you'll have a freaking field full of it.
It will grow from the tiniest sliver of a root, so don't even knick it or you'll have another plant whether you like it or not.
Things growing near it will get bigger, faster. You'll get a bunch of green matter for chop and drop several times a year. It doesn't seem to be any more effective at that job than grass clippings, in my experience. I had much better results using arborists' wood chips.
@Cetraria thank you! I can't believe I've never heard of this before!
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@SrRochardBunson I use sterile comfrey as compost feeders and pollinator magnets. Bees adore those plants.
It requires supplemental water where I live, but it's worth it to have it bring in insects to visit my vegetables.
@hexamander absolutely, thanks!
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@SrRochardBunson
I haven't tried the sterile variety. I've got some invasive comfrey on my property and I CAN say that comfrey is an effective addition to fertilizer. It composts almost instantly and grows back rapidly from roots when conditions are favorable. And yes, bees love it.Since the invasive stuff is here and I can't get rid of it, I use it. The sterile stuff seems like a better option.
@TheGreatLlama thank you & good on youbfor taking advantage of what's given to you!
You officially win the first reply ribbon & medal for the day!
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@BrahmaBelarusian ooh, thank you!
@SrRochardBunson one other note, similar to what someone else mentioned, it does like water and it has a really high tolerance for areas that get flooded/muddy frequently in the spring &/or summer, so if you've got any spots near paths of said ilk, then this would be a great spot for them. As they're not really aquatic but definitely prefer a wet ditch to a desert hilltop.
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@SrRochardBunson one other note, similar to what someone else mentioned, it does like water and it has a really high tolerance for areas that get flooded/muddy frequently in the spring &/or summer, so if you've got any spots near paths of said ilk, then this would be a great spot for them. As they're not really aquatic but definitely prefer a wet ditch to a desert hilltop.
@BrahmaBelarusian very good to know & thank you for highlighting that part! I definitely have just the right spot.
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Have any of my #plants & #gardening friends heard of or used "Bocking 14" Russian Comfrey?
It's supposed to be a natural fertilizer that bees and worms love. Any thoughts or experience?
@SrRochardBunson its good because it doesn't seed but you need a strong stomach to use the fertilizer made from it as it absolutely stinks, enough to make you retch
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Have any of my #plants & #gardening friends heard of or used "Bocking 14" Russian Comfrey?
It's supposed to be a natural fertilizer that bees and worms love. Any thoughts or experience?
@SrRochardBunson I've sold it at my plant nursery for about 10 years. There is no evidence of it being anymore a fertilizer plant than other plants. It produces lots of biomass though and we use it as an edge plant and for chop and drop.
