Quote:
Originally Posted by bower
Sometimes I forget that gardening is a bit of a competitive sport.  Especially when it comes to the best fertilizer, or 'organic' vs 'conventional/chemical' methods... the more competitive sorts do love to trash what others do, whether they have evidence or not. 
I remember reading that comfrey was high in potassium in my (very old) copy of the Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. Just googled and, at the least, this article by Rodale cites some actual analytic test results of what actually is in comfrey.
http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garden/comfrey-power
" 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."
I've been using crushed kelp as a source of potassium, but I got a reminder this year, that kelp won't break down quickly at all in cold soil, and left the plants deficient in the bad weather.  I'd be better off using comfrey, since it should break down much more easily.  I still have some comfrey in the garden in spite of my efforts to remove it a few years ago.  Guess I should take care of it and make a thriving patch... I guess you'd need quite a lot to make up by weight the amount of kelp I drag home from the beach every year.  Why do I never find the usefulness of something unless I threw it away.    |
I read that info before and that is why i started the comfrey after i was inspired by the UK pepper grower. Unfortunately, the data/research isn't supported by the scientific community. When i have more time I will try to go through the garden Professors threads to see exactly why. I would love to see comfrey prove its worth in the garden as I put a lot of effort into getting the seed here. Like I said earlier, i will trial it out better this year.
I have only used Kelp meal once , threw a few cheap bags on my neglected lawn back in Moncton, NB. You could see where i ran out in terms of lushness and health. I also really liked marine compost, except if the shells were not composted enough. Cut my hand a few times with one batch. No kelp meal or marine compost here in Mendoza
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Could you use the kelp as a top dressing instead ? Maybe it would benefit you in the long run but not cause any deficiencies in the short run. Or just compost the heck of it for a few years before you use it. Free kelp would be hard to turn down.
Cheers,
Mark