Everyone recommends comfrey! SO WHY DON’T I USE IT EVERYWHERE???
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Comfrey is the top permaculture plant, yet I haven’t found it to be useful in Florida gardening. Sometimes you need to plant something different! Using comfrey for fertilizer and for chop and drop is all well and good… if it grows great! But if something doesn’t grow great, don’t force it! Learn to garden with your climate and you’ll have a much better time.
38 Comments
Comfrey grows like Audrey II in the PNW. I think maybe our region is a big over-represented in permaculture content. There's so many unique climates in this country.
how does it feel to know that thousands of strangers on the internet are rendering judgement on you for your opinions on one specific (relatively obscure outside of horticulture) plant?
As David said, it's DEPENDS! For me, as of now it's literally best for me to get the plants out sooner than later. Even my 30w 3300K 2 feet LEDs I gotten weren't comparable to a ~4 hours indirect sunlight window. And the plants are growing out in just literal days even though we are STILL over 2 weeks til last frost date.
Nuclear site…
I KNEW there was something I forgot when planning our garden!
Oh, yeah, just planted a big bunch of sunchokes. Looking forward to THAT biomass (along with all the comfrey I have).
I don't like growing comfrey either. It completely takes over & you can't get rid of it.
I like that my friend grows it, cos I can pick his & put it in my compost 😂 He always tells me to "take as much as you can!"
Suzanna Maria Emmanuel: Connecting into Inspirations of Universal Love – 20 February 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X7jEY3T7-8
David, what I've learned from watching your videos is to try different things and then continue doing what works best for me. So many YouTubers present their methods of doing things as if their method is the only way to do it, and you are stupid if you don't do it their way. You have a way of teaching things that is positive, and encouraging.
I am older, and don't have the physical ability to build a compost pile, turn it, and then transport it to where I need it. Instead, I save my kitchen scraps, and bury them in holes all around my garden. I do this year-round. When my garden is in full growth, I dig small holes between the plants to bury the scraps. I live in zone 6b, so most winters are not too cold to dig holes. I don't know if this is the best way to get organic materials into my soil, but it is the best way for me. My soil is filled with worms, without the work of a separate worm bin. In the fall, I cover my garden with leaves that I collect with my riding mower, so there is no raking, and the leaves are chopped and mixed with grass clippings.
This summer I'm going to try making "swamp water" with the weeds I pull. I got the idea from one of your videos. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works!
Thank you, and God bless you and your family.
Great info! I have a few moringas growing in pots until i can transplant in ground of our first home we finally bought 😊 im a fellow Floridian and we are moving up to northern Florida in Nassau county- should be getting your book “free plants for everyone” soon 🤗 can’t wait to read it! Thanx again for all your great information!
"Comfrey is Terrible!" Fair play.* I showed someone your book "Compost Everything" and still cannot get them to just "drop it on the ground". Noop, compost doesn't work until you have one cubic yard mounded up, and it until they get to that breakover point, it all goes into the municipal trash system Different strokes for different folks. (*I know you let the air out of the Absolute nature of your title at 7:39.)
How dare you hate comfrey. Lol
I bow to the Magnus Hortus Iconoclastarum!
You oughtta do one on comfrey
I read great book about Comfrey. It's called 'Comfrey'by Lawrence Hills. love that plant.
My moringa grows better when I grow comfrey around it. Or maybe it's because I'm in the desert and the shear volume of water it takes to grow comfrey here is good for the moringa? Nah…gotta be the comfrey.
Thank you David for removing the rules. I have learned that you don’t need much to grow something and you can always be better at it. It really frees me up.
I have not been able to grow tomatoes (or peppers) in the PNW. We are 300 feet from the ocean, and it's just too cold and the season is too short. If you don't have a greenhouse, you'll never get full sized ripe tomatoes. When the rains come, just as the tomatoes begin to blush, the tomatoes will all split.
Great video David, but seriously, everyone should grow some comfrey.
I am growing comfrey in north central Florida and have been having lackluster results. In February I planted root cuttings in pots filled with loamy soil. They all sprouted quickly, but several months later they remain under 5" high with only two leaves. A month ago I transplanted half into sandy soil on my property, but no improvement. I tried fertilizer too, but again no improvement. Also experimented with partial shade to full sun, different watering regimins, and so on, but haven't been able to get it to flourish. Not impressed.
On the other hand pigeon peas, cassava, and other plants David recommends for Florida are doing fantastic in Florida's sandy soil. Appreciate the advice David.
Now, in the spring, I pull off all comfrey flowers and give to hens. (there isn't much debris they don't get.) This keeps down the new starts. I may leave some seeds to form but only if I know someone who wants them.
A yamtastic cameo!!
👍💪🤗
My comfry died in the beginning of summer. 60 miles s of lost wages. For sure they hate warm weather. Never even really made it to summer. This was 2 years ago. This year I'm growing nada. Just herbs and flowers. 🎉
Is Poke Sallet good for chop and drop. It's poisonous after it reaches a certain height.
"don't be depressed about it (not having that perfect garden ideal) because you've got other things going on in your life right now." Thank you, yes, so true. And comfrey doesn't work for me either. I sometimes drink it as a tea, but I'm not going to force myself to like growing it when it doesn't work for my situation as well as some other plants. There are a lot of great plants–they are all some kind of medicine for someone.
Thank you, David…message copied..
If you are growing with your climate and you are observing what is working in your climate, what is excellent for where you are, you have more success than trying to apply universal ideas…
By; Devid the good.
Some local native trees can live with your trees hormony, and some trees can not live with your trees. Use them for chop & drop…thanks
I am shocked that the comfrey i planted last summer overwintered!
Careful Mr The Good: people get upset when you tear down their sacred cows lol
Thank you, Freemason for the information. However, if you were honest, you actually should add 'in Florida' to the video title, since thousands of people are extremely happy with these plants in their gardens. Me too! The Comfrey plants are not so invasive at all as both you and the mainstream media suggest and fearmonger.
Find them in the wild? You really need to search and search and search… to still find some plants… so not that invasive, huh? You can hardly find them.
It's so debunked because the plant including the roots has at least eighteen! health benefits (already thousands of years). Everything you need to know about the amazing Comfrey plant: Comfrey, the most useful plant you can grow! Used for thousands of years for healing, as food and feed, as a super fertilizer, mulch and free soil conditioner. Plant it near other crops, and they really will grow. Better don't plant them in the sun in Florida, but what about a shady place with plenty of water when the weather is dry? You will be amazed, I think. I hope this helps. 🙂
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Comfrey ain't really comfy
AWE…thank you! you just magically opened my nougat. I do have a trough. I haven't started yet, been struggling with self just trying to figure out where to plant my blackberries….ding, ding, ding…i'm going to plant them in big horse buckets with handles and move them around. I confess I do have Comfrey in the frig ready for the first try, I'm getting Moringa seeds, need fast growth, and benefits. It's all a moveable feast and excited to see what will work, and with your blessing I can do what I can. 7b/8 and arid in northern Arizona.
In the old days you could buy a comphrey plant for a nickle
From 🇷🇺 with ❤️!
I grow comfrey in a shady area near my compost pile area because it does capture nutrients.
Comfrey can spread easily in my area, hence putting it in shade to curb its rank growth.
Comphrey is terrible. My mother used to batter and fry cumphrey and give it to us as kids to eat. As an adult ive developed liver disease as has my sister. Neither of us are drinkers. I since read comphrey can be toxic and dangerous for your liver and that you should never eat it and it makes me sick to think that possibly comphrey is the cause although it very well may not be. I would never mention my thoughts to my mother or sister. Comphrey haunts me so i wont grow it despite all the permaculture benefits.
I say hostas. Maybe not as great for chop and drop or as hardy but they’re better tasting.
Comfrey is overrated I use stinging nettles because I have lots of them i doubt very much that comfrey would even grow here since I can’t buy seeds or plants over here in Cyprus (Mediterranean). ❤
this video was made for me lol. started gardening with permaculture and have been ordering moringa, comfrey and sunn hemp triying to find that thing that helps me more lol