Comfrey tea without the smell (or fuss)

shane.farrell

I never wanted to go to the bother of making Comfrey tea as the descriptions of smell, sludge etc put me off. I was discussing this with a colleague and they told me if a much easier method. They just stuff leaves into a pipe and cover the end with a mesh bag and let it decompose in the pipe and drip into a bottle.
I tried it in autumn and using the last of the leaves from a division they gave me I put them in a 40mm pipe (all I had on me) in the garage. 
My wife has the sense of smell of a bloodhound and no comments yet - I cannot smell a thing. What comes out is something akin to thin soy sauce and it smells like seaweed extract.
I'll be using it at about 1 egg cup full to a 10l can eventually to see how it goes.
I hope I have uploaded a photo of my 'rig'. This includes a two foot length and 8" length of 40mm pipe plus s 135 degree bend and an upcycled garlic bag and oasis bottle (other juices are available!). You can see the liquid in the bottom of the bottle.

Fire

A bucket with a lid seems less hassle to me.

Grannybee

I really like the 'witch' aspect too! It grows in the hedgerows round my village and I like pulling it and taking it home to make a brew.

shane.farrell

Each to their own 

shane.farrell

Ha ha. I'd have to pay commission to my workmate!

Obelixx

There was an Irishwoman featured on GW last year who does pong free comfrey tea by stuffing the leaves into a large container and weighting them down with a stone.  The container has a hole in the bottom and is stood on bricks so it can drip down into a smaller container below.   The resulting liquid can then be diluted as needed and used as a foliar spray or a liquid feed.

No smelly goo in buckets that needs to be strained and diluted whilst holding one's nose and the residue is a lot less smelly on the compost heap too.

shane.farrell

Sounds very similar. The water (and rotting vegetation) is left out of it until watering can phase

Obelixx

Yes.  I like your pipe system (and your Wolf tools display) but I have an old kitchen bin in mind for my comfrey tea this year.  Much easier to stack and I'm hoping to grow quite a lot of comfrey this year......

shane.farrell

Good idea! This is my first attempt so once the divisions get going I may have to come up with a bigger solution myself 👍

Fairygirl

@shane.farrell67 -I think the main drawback of your system is removal of the waste left behind in the pipe - especially with the bend in it. 
Have you got a widget of some kind to push it all out?

shane.farrell

Yep I have a bendy stick but there's hardly and residue as it seems to eventually all rot down. Either way I can just take it apart and dump in the green waste if needed.