All herbal teas used for gardening purposes, work better when soaked for at least several hours or at least a day, prior to use.

Happy Gardening!

Yeah, I UNDERSTAND that I am going to let this steep for weeks. What I need to know is--- after I cut the "stalks" from the plat, do I strip the individual leaves off and only use the actual leaf OR do I put in the WHOLE thing that I trimmed from plant?

I don't bother removing the stalks. It's the flower heads and roots I worry about - fear of comfrey invading the garden. So I take only leaves and stalks and chop or tear them up a bit before adding water. I've got a bucket of comfrey and nettle tea on the go.

Are you kidding me? There's a use for that crap?! We have 30 acres, 15 of which is wooded and I can't hardly walk througj it in the summer because of all the nettle that attacks me. My kids are SO afraid of it. My husband acts like Bruce Banner and practically turns into the Incredible Hulk when coming into contact! Do I do the same thing as with the comfrey tea? What benefits the most from it?

ya know--- after thinkng a moment--- maybe I was wrong to assume you meant STINGING NETTLE. That's all I deal with, and believe me, I deal with it! What kind were you talking about, Paul?

Below is a website full of ideas about using comfrey in all sorts of forms for fertilizer.

Yes the stinging nettle. Like comfrey I cut it (wearing gloves and a long sleeved shirt!) before it blooms, which is maybe not necessary but I've been told horror stories about its invasiveness.

Comfrey, nettle and dandelion are revered in biodynamic gardening because they are rich in minerals - I'll try to find a good website about that as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: comfrey fert

I too have a bucket of comfrey/stinging nettle tea brewing. Like Paul, I chop the comfrey, or rather cut it into the bucket with shears.

I don't do anything other than cut the nettle stem off, sometimes halfing it or quartering it using long-bladed, long handled shears. I won't even touch it while wearing leather gloves anymore.

I usually let it steep for less than a week.

Paul, do you use your tea as a foliar feed, soil drench, or both?

Here's a link from Attra, scroll down to teas.
Hi Althea. How about that - comfrey and nettle. I don't follow biodynamic principles aside from trying these mineral-rich teas. The other day, after brewing foamily for about ten days, like magic the tea had gone flat. Another day and the leaves seemed to have dissolved, so there were very few stalks left in the brew. This is supposed to be a potassium-rich fertilizer very good for berries so I diluted it with about 2/3 water and watered the strawberries with it, and dropped some of the leftover sludge around the plants (which are currently blooming), then watered them in for good measure.

I'm looking forward to starting a bigger batch tomorrow. Comfrey and nettle are both kind of pests so this seems a good use for them. Valerian as well, which is beautiful but overly self-seeding.

What are you using the tea for Althea? You have a lot of berries as well, as I recall.

Here is a link that might be useful: tea

More on nettles -

For the sting: bruise a plaintain leaf and rub the juice over the sting, it stops hurting immediately. Also works for beesting. (I'm very sensitive & nettles are all over the yard - this works!)

It also makes a delicious tea! Just pull or cut before blooming and hang to dry. I keep a big jar that we use all year until the next season. Delicious and supposed to be a tonic.

Hi Paul, I'm making my tea primarily for the tomatoes and eggplant. I'll further dilute what is left over for the rest of the gardens. This is the only biodynamic prepartaion I use too, and only since last year when a friend gave us comfrey. I have been using nettles longer. I think I use my teas too soon to avoid the really smelly stage. Maybe I should just get a mask and let them steep for two weeks as recommended.

Buzzy, do you ever cook nettles to eat? They are supposed to be quite tastey. Even though I know cooking removes the sting, I can't bring myself to try them.

Last year I left the tea for about three weeks, in summer, and it smelled like a septic tank. I find that interesting :) Using it was a lot like a waste-disposal project because everything it touched - clothes, gloves, skin- picked up that smell. This time it smelled pleasantly plant-like, then very slightly rotten after ten days. Probably because the weather's been cool.

Just now thinking I will give tea and sludge to the new blackberries...
We don't get foliar diseases here for some reason which is why I haven't been applying it to leaves, though should think in terms of foliar feeding maybe.

That's cool about using plantain for nettle sting.

Mmm...cooked nettles with boiled millet.

Don't know much about comfrey yet, I'm cautiously growing a few plants and cutting them before they go to seed. I'm going to try to grow more to use as a mulch, tea, etc., without them taking over.

I do know about nettle, however, and here are some tips.

Boil or steam nettle greens for 3 to 5 minutes, no more sting. Delicious and nutritious! I throw a handful of leaves in with my ramen noodles as they're boiling.

That rotten smelling old nettle liquid and pulp is an incredible compost activator. Just pour it on and watch the action in a day or two. The smell doesn't seem to last very long used this way, in my experience.

Why search for another plant when the juice of nettle leaves is the perfect sting remedy. Just crush and mash the leaves to a juicy pulp in gloved hands and rub on the affected area. Quick relief.

paulns, thanks for the comfrey fert link. It suggested a reason why many of my tomato plants are stunted this year: using comfrey fert before the plants have set blossoms.

tclynx, I'm surprised comfrey won't grow for you. Maybe your soil isn't deep enough (it can grow a 10-ft. taproot), or the pH is too high? It does need a lot of water; it wilts in warmer weather if I don't water it every few days. But you could easily feed it with liquid gold. One of my herb books says it likes a bucket of crude manure a couple times a year! I've given mine horse manure (when we had a big pile), though now all it gets is liquid gold and lots of water. A few of them are growing next to some of my compost bins. The one in the most sun is the biggest; I have a few more in shadier spots, and they're doing well. It prefers some shade in hotter areas.

I started my root segment in a 5-gallon container, and it survived for a year or two until I put it in the ground. It needed water much more frequently in the container, and it didn't get very big. Once I planted it in the ground, it has gotten larger every year. I keep it in check by harvesting it a few times a year for compost tea and for compost. Everyone says it never goes to seed -- but the tiniest bit of broken root will grow a new plant. I've potted up very thin rootlets, and they did grow new plants.

To make compost tea, I usually wait until after it has flowered, since hummingbirds like the flowers, and it starts looking a little ratty by then. I use everything, including spent flowers, stems, and leaves, cut up if I have time or whole if not. I've picked as many as 70 flower stalks at a time from one plant. I clean out any leaves with blemishes as well as spent flower stalks, but I leave all the fresh new leaves because they're so beautiful. I stuff as much into a 5-gallon bucket as I can, add water to cover it, weigh it down, and put the lid on. It's ready when it 's turned mostly liquid -- less than a week, though I've often let it sit for 2 or 3 weeks. My herb book says 4 weeks! Be prepared for strong odor. Then I dilute it. For fertilizing tomatoes, timing is important.

When is the best time to treat your tomato plants with stinging nettle or comfrey?

How about valerian or horsetail?

comfrey is a dynamic acumulator and is great to grow next to fruit trees. Stinging nettle/ortiga is a super plant great for fertilizer and wonderful for arthritis. If my hands get stiff I sting them with nettle and no longer are they stiff. I eat it as a green steamed and make tea with it. it is a gift from the creator. La Paix farm in Weston is doing a research project on nettle hydrosol for fertilizer this year 2011 to prove its wonder.