Comfrey Power

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:: Home > Soil > How-to Soil Techniques

Comfrey Power

Improve your soil, prevent disease, mulch your plants, and enhance your compost with this powerhouse of a plant.

By Jean Nick

In This Article

>	Harnessing the Power
>	Easy to Grow



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I have my own little organic fertilizer factory, cranking out free mulch, compost activator, and a potent plant food.

The fuel for this factory is Russian comfrey (Symphytum X uplandicum). It has 6-foot-long roots that harvest nutrients from deep in the soil, making comfrey leaves a fantastic natural source of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

Researchers in British Columbia analyzed the NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) ratio of comfrey leaves by air-drying them and analyzing the powdered leaf tissues. They found that the leaves have an impressive proportion of 1.8-0.5-5.3. To compare, kelp meal has an NPK ratio of 1.0-0.5-2.5, and homemade compost ranges from 0.5-0.5-0.5 to 4-4-4 (depending on what ingredients you use). Comfrey is also rich in calcium and many other valuable plant nutrients it mines from deep in the subsoil.

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