[Liverpool Brick]

Hi everyone,
Last summer I made about 10 gallons of "comfrey tea" and I've got a lot of it left. The first question is, how long does it keep? I have it stored in 2 screw top barrels (which hiss reassuringly when opened and smell a lot). The second question is, when is the best time to apply it and how? (I know it has to be diluted 10:1) As I don't have a greenhouse on my plot yet I'm not growing tomatoes but do grow the usual stuff - beans, onions, cabbages, potatoes, courgettes, marrows etc etc.
By the way this is my first post (apart from saying hello) so I'm looking forward to receiving and hopefully giving plenty of advice.
Cheers in advance,
Andy

[pigguns]

Hi and welcome,
firstly I have to ask- How did you manage that lot?  I'm on my first year of comfrey growing and might have a lemonade bottle full  very jealous    I've heard it stores just fine.
I'd bung it anywhere personally, starting late spring but best on the fruiting stuff- beans marrows, courgettes. 
Pumpkins like it too 

[Growster...]

Welcome Andy! We make several gallons of comfrey tea every year, and it often gets mixed with nettle tea, and also Miracle Gro on occasions. I store the lot either in a 22 gallon butt, or an open tank, where we can just wander up and dip watering cans once a week. Leeks definitely respond as well as the others you and Pigguns mention! I note you're not growing toms, but they just love the stuff, and go mad!

[Liverpool Brick]

Thanks for the replies,
I'm glad it stores ok because I hate wasting anything. Thanks for the advice on when and how to use it. Pigguns - all I did to make it was fill a water butt with broken up leaves and stems of comfrey, just broken up by hand and filled to the neck, then topped up with water and waited. After a few months and a lovely whiff I drained the liquid into smaller sealed butts and tipped the goo from the first butt onto one of my raised beds, rinsed it and that was that.
Thanks again.

[cadalot]

I have a Comfrey pipe and have enough pure stuff to start me off this year in a 2.5litre container. I also have a dustbin with a lockable lid and a tap at the bottom and stuffed a hessian sack full of comfrey and chucked it in during last year, then I top up with the concentrate so I have Comfrey Tea on tap.

I will be giving the beds for the potatoes a good watering of tea a week before the seed potatoes go in. I also feed my spring onions in module comfrey tea by placing the module tray in a gravel tray full of comfrey once they get going.

[Dave NE]

Hi Cadalot, bit confused now, is it not too early to be feeding comfrey to seedlings, from what I have read nettle tea should be better at this time of year, cheers Dave

[Kristen]

Hi and welcome,
firstly I have to ask- How did you manage that lot?  I'm on my first year of comfrey growing and might have a lemonade bottle full  very jealous    I've heard it stores just fine.

Two ways to make it:

1) Put in a large barrel with water and let it steep / stew.  Stinks! You get a large volume that you dilute down to colour of weak tea before use.

2) Press the leaves. Stuff a pipe/similar and put a heavy-ish weight at the top.  Much smaller volume produced, but needs less per watering can to get the weak-tea colour. Doesn't smell I think better for keeping over-winter.

(Comfrey first harvest in late Spring, and the time to steep, means that it is not usually ready for the beginning of the Tomato etc. feeding time, so storing over-winter solves that, and Pressed is probably? better than Steeped for that purpose.)

[Kevin67]

I shred my comfrey leaves in with my compost for longer term release.

[pigguns]

  that's a relief-just realised that mine's 'pure' pressed not water added    was thinking Op had a plot full of comfrey to be getting that amount! 

[Liverpool Brick]

that's a relief-just realised that mine's 'pure' pressed not water added

Extra virgin comfrey tea?? That's sarf london for you

[compostqueen]

I have a comfrey pipe too.  The concentrate that drips out into a catcher underneath gets diluted with butt water to the colour of weak tea

[andysmum]

I was given a wormery that I struggled to cope with so I fill each layer with comfrey a it just dissolves into a liquid and dosnt smell

[Dave NE]

I have just bought a cheep fish tank air pump for my comfrey/nettle tea, its said to take the smell away and sweeten the brew, Dave

[cadalot]

How arte you going to power it down the allotment?