Brewing comfrey tea

[MistaRasta]

Hey guys I'm about to start brewing some botanical teas and have some questions on the ratios.

How much comfrey is the minimum you use? I can get dried leaves online but only minimal amounts so I'd like to use the bare minimum, yet still enough to make a difference.

I read a thread where a guy just put some comfrey leaves in with some humus, after 3 days it was done.
I also read you can put a Tbs of dried leaves per quart of water and boil and steep.

Which one would you go with?
Also want to start using nettles, dandelion, and clover anyone have any info on these?

 

[Joedank]

i do a tablespoon to gallon of hot water let it go till i remember it and spray in on

 

[kommano]

First off I would start growing your own and any others you think you might use. Second comfrey stinks horribly so be prepared. Third start off slow use a tbs like that guy above said spray some bottoms and see how they react to it.

 

[Pattahabi]

I wouldn't use hot water per se. Often times the compounds we are looking for are destroyed by heat.

P-

 

[Joedank]

I wouldn't use hot water per se. Often times the compounds we are looking for are destroyed by heat.

P-

mostly done to kill the molds and other stuff i have seen on my not so well dried leaves,,,.... probly not the best advice if your looking for terpines an such

 

[Pattahabi]

mostly done to kill the molds and other stuff i have seen on my not so well dried leaves,,,.... probly not the best advice if your looking for terpines an such

Or enzymes, pgr's, pgh's, etc. If you have molds on your leaves, I'd thermo and/or vermicompost those rather than using in a tea. My preference is to top dress or feed the worm bin with the comfrey. If I was going to do a foliar it would be aloe and kelp. If you have pests then I would be using something entirely different.

P-

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Hey guys I'm about to start brewing some botanical teas and have some questions on the ratios.

How much comfrey is the minimum you use? I can get dried leaves online but only minimal amounts so I'd like to use the bare minimum, yet still enough to make a difference.

I read a thread where a guy just put some comfrey leaves in with some humus, after 3 days it was done.
I also read you can put a Tbs of dried leaves per quart of water and boil and steep.

Which one would you go with?
Also want to start using nettles, dandelion, and clover anyone have any info on these?

I have a lil bit of experience regarding this.
I got a bunch of picked dandelions (about 7-8 whole plants), roots and all, and about 6-7 comfrey leaves. throw them in a bucket with 5 gallons of water.
Now for the next step you have options.
If you want to ferment them, let them "melt" for a week, then bubble the water for a day with a tablespoon of mollasses and it won't stink anymore.
If you don't bubble, it'll smell REALLY bad.
Problem is, I don't know if making the tea aerobic hurts anything...
OR you could just bubble it for a week, but I figure that's a lot of work for my air pump and may not be needed.
I so the first method.
I do know that my plants LOVE it, I dilute it 1/10. Even tried down to 1/5.
It comes out black as night and smelling of earth.
ALL my plants love it, especially my comfrey, French lavender, jasmines, and roses, made my jasmine flower in December.
Ironically my comfrey plant loves it the most..
Cannibal...
The cool thing is, it'll keep pretty much forever.
I stopped bubbling it for about 45 days, and opened it up the other day... pffffwhew.... stinky bitch...
But a tablespoon of molasses and 4-5 hrs of brewing and after it smelled like perfect compost.
Problem is a lil goes a long way... and I need to do a SST now... so I may have to douse my compost pile with it...
But hey, it's free.

 

[kommano]

I wouldn't use hot water per se. Often times the compounds we are looking for are destroyed by heat.

P-

I didn't notice the hot water but when I do mine it's at 74.

 

[MistaRasta]

Would anyone suggest using comfrey root? I figure it'd be as good if not better..

I think I'll go with the fermentation technique. What would you say the minimum time on doing this is

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Would anyone suggest using comfrey root? I figure it'd be as good if not better..

I think I'll go with the fermentation technique. What would you say the minimum time on doing this is

you want to use the leaves If you want to salvage the plant, but it is a dynamic accumulator like dandelion so I imagine the roots are full of all kinds of nutrients.
If you don't mind killing the plant, sure pull that bitch outta the ground and throw it in a bucket of water and it'll melt in about 3-5 days