PERMACULTURE Vineyard Uses COMFREY Instead of Herbicide

Of course, permaculture tends to be credited for just about every good idea, but comfrey seems to be one of those things that goes hand in hand with temperate permaculture. It's such a versatile plant.
I've been doing a lot of experiments this year and this one I'm hoping will pay off in literally days of saved time during the season.
Stick around for responses to comments at the end!
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#permaculture #comfrey #permaculturevineyard

[@timsworld9875]

i can tell you this,that where i have my peach trees, i have comfrey planted in between them and i chop and drop every now and then and my peach trees have grown like crazy...

[@sleeplessinthecarolinas8118]

This is helpful information! I have a peach tree that is struggling.

[@KimRope]

FDA put out false flags about consuming comfrey, that’s how awesome it is. Yeah you’re still so nice to watch....

[@RickMitchellProvenanceAndRoots]

Dude! I haven't had coffee yet this morning. (Yeah, I know. I need to fix that) but, My mind can't handle worm cloud conspiracy theories yet. 🤣🤣🤣

[@christopherklasinski9849]

It may take at least a year for your comfrey to establish itself, so that it will bring up nutrients from below... Block 14 will not spread by seed, only by root divisions.

[@DataSmithy]

Please do a follow up video next year to show if this idea works or not.

[@HardcoreSustainable]

I definitely will. It seems like the comfrey is already establishing in many parts of the row. It grows like crazy late in the season, just leaves.

[@akouwenhoven]

@@HardcoreSustainable looking forward to a follow-up here too! Thanks.

[@HardcoreSustainable]

@@akouwenhoven I did do a little follow up on this recently if you check my recent videos. The comfrey is taking hold well and spreading. I think it will work really well.

[@suburbanhomesteaderwy-az]

I had not thought of using comfrey with grapes, fruit tree yes. I'll try this.

[@maiziemom]

Have you figured out where the worms in your barrels were coming from? What do they look like? Any photos?

[@HardcoreSustainable]

People gave some suggestions as to how they got there in the comment section. I'm sure one of those could be right.

[@jorisvanalmenkerk6945]

Hi Kyle, how has the comfrey in between the vines worked out after 10 months? Could you post an update or just a pic? Thanks

[@HardcoreSustainable]

Sure I'll give an update one of these days. It's growing quite a bit but hasn't reached the level of living mulch coverage I'm hoping for eventually. I suspect that will happen by next year or the end of this season. Oh, and my name is Dan. Kyle is the skinny guy in the videos about the cob house and the cob rocket stove.

[@jbandnb]

Don’t build your rain barrels out of wormwood 🤣

[@SagaciousRex]

Three things you get when you plant comfrey: MORE COMFREY, bumble bees and grasshoppers. All in excess... I love my comfrey, its a beautiful plant. I also love the bumble bees because they make for great yard accessories. Between the explosion of grasshoppers who prefer that plant to anything else and the blitzkrieg across my yard which puts mint or jerusalem artichokes to shame, I find myself a little irritated. I do have an uptick in lizards, snakes and garden spiders due to the over abundance of grasshoppers so I guess it isn't all bad. I bought "Russian" comfrey so it wouldn't seed... So how do you suppose it is even showing up in my aloe pots now?!?! I started 4 years ago with 2 small plants. The entire run of the back of my house is now comfrey. It has killed off all of the flowers, grass and mint except for the butterfly and lilac bush that are holding their ground. The butterfly bush isn't fairing well though so I have been putting cardboard and rocks down to try to back it up. Every place i've tried digging it out has resulted in a comfrey explosion. So, short story long, prepare yourself!

[@sleeplessinthecarolinas8118]

Sounds like you have the common (original) variety. The infertile Bocking 4 and 14 are supposedly spread only by root division.

[@JFYDRAFTINGSANDIMAS]

Is the chupacabra seeds on camtrails

[@KimRope]

I vote Immaculate worm conception mister hotty hot hotferson.

[@HoofInDenver]

Your soul there looks pretty amazing!

[@delphzouzou4520]

Good idea. Perhaps you could also watch for dwarf comfrey to experiment, which would probably be enough to cover the soil, but not too invasive as the big one. I saw a guy who had dwarf comfrey in/around his raspberry batch and there was no need for weeding, since it was only comfrey and the raspberries we're totally ok with it.

[@HardcoreSustainable]

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll try to find a dwarf variety so it doesn't require cutting.

[@HardcoreSustainable]

I was just looking up dwarf comfrey and I don't know if it is the creeping type you are talking about, but info said it can become a weed because it spreads. That would be something to be concerned about. I like comfrey because it doesn't spread. If I could find a low growing one that acted just like the russian kind that would be great.

[@crazysquirrel9425]

@@HardcoreSustainable I use the real non sterile comfrey. Hasn't spread in 2 years now. Grows about 3 feet tall. I could chop it lower if I wanted to.

[@AlanBarrettVideos]

Interesting idea! Best of luck.

[@moepharmo]

When using wood chip only use hardwood

[@ecostudio1044]

sense of humor always appreciated :) Since worms are simultaneous hermaphrodites all it takes is one to reproduce. It must be possible that a worm would end up in a rain barrel, no? Rich

[@delphzouzou4520]

Well, no. Worms need a partner to reproduce. They're hermaphrodites but can't fertilize themselves.

[@RVBadlands2015]

Do you have a small mower.

[@RVBadlands2015]

Do you have a small mower. What does comfrey do. Is it a nitrogen fixer.

[@HardcoreSustainable]

I don't have a mower because I would not be able to use one at Dancing Rabbit. We don't allow fossil fuel tools, except chain saws. And electricity is too far away. Comfrey in the vineyard will just serve as a mulch to smother the grass and be something that is much easier to mow. The cuttings make nutrient rich compost. There is a permaculture belief that it accumulates nutrients and brings them up from below, but this is not borne out in scientific trials.

[@idealist4life]

"Grass" at D.R. = WEEDS ! We just call it grass a lot, because we forget what actual "lawns" are. lol Have you thought about clearing some decent plots in the Spring and experiment with different types of ground covers and cover crops. Those could make for some interesting videos ...and results to show. I love growing sweet potatoes as a "living mulch" however, the rabbits would just tear them to pieces in your orchard.

[@maryrock9136]

Clearly the stuff in Kyle's toes is cob or some natural building material. Are from a Roman Catholic background with your immaculate consumption reference. Are you adopted? I don't know why I feel that? Don't need to answer that.

[@KimRope]

Hahahahahaha reptilian!!

[@Makdjor]

Birds dropping worms on the roof either via dropping them from their mouths or eggs in their droppings? Then the rain washes eggs or whole worms off the roof? Or similar situation, but the worms live between the tiles of the roof and come out during rain with some of them washing into rain barrel? My money is on bird droppings with eggs.

[@somaalchemy1154]

Try card board to get the comfrey going faster

[@HardcoreSustainable]

That's a good idea. Some mulch to keep the grass down.

[@luke021380]

Hardcore Sustainable for the win!

[@idealist4life]

This one stars "Banjo Butt" in the opening scene. lol

[@crazysquirrel9425]

birds probably dropped some on the roof.

[@moepharmo]

Why not just use wood chip?

[@HardcoreSustainable]

I tried it. Waaaay too much work and it doesn't last. I don't have easy means of hauling wood chips, and to mulch that entire 1 acre vineyard, I'd probably need 14 truck loads or more and in a year or two the weeds and grass would grow right through it. I needed something permanent and minimal labor. I think this will work. It's just a question of whether it will have unwanted side effects, like harboring insect pests.

[@bonsummers2657]

Isn't the grass (and various other weeds) vastly more beneficial, is/are beneficial, not detrimental, than what you're stating? The grape roots go deeper than the grass roots, and, the grass, even though it uses water, actually helps keep more moisture in the soil, and builds and maintains healthier soil biology,…. carbon in the soil,… more beneficial microbiological activity in the soil,… and hence healthier grapevines as well.

[@HardcoreSustainable]

Grass is highly competitive. It sucks all moisture out of the soil and into its tissues. In some dry regions of the world they actually till the soil and keep anything from growing there to hold moisture in the soil because plants dry out the soil faster. Plants have much more surface area for evaporation than a bare soil surface because they have leaves that spread out and extend vertically as well as horizontally, they have surface on the top and bottom of their foliage, and they are constantly respirating. Evapotranspiration is what draws water from the ground into the tissues of plants. It sucks water out of the soil and evaporates it through the stomata of plant foliage. There is also a reason why conventional vineyards herbicide all the grasses and plants that grow within the row of grapes...because they are heavy competitors. If you've ever heard of mulching as a method of not only keeping moisture in but keeping weeds out, that method uses the same logic as my comfrey experiment, only mine is a living mulch. If I didn't mulch my vegetable garden, I wouldn't get anything from it at all or I'd be out there weeding and hoeing and watering constantly. There's a reason why vegetable gardens grow better when you weed them. It's my guess, but it remains to be seen if comfrey will be less of a competitor for water and nutrients than grasses. In a prairie, grass is a great for all the things you say, but I'm not trying to grow a prairie. I'm creating an "unnatural" agricultural system where I want one plant to thrive more than others. Microbial life and carbon are great in soils, but something that more directly affects a plant's ability to grow is competition for nutrients and water. Microbial life can thrive in the soil even without grass growing right around the vines. Mulching happens all the time in any ecosystems where leaves fall on the ground, and especially in forests, where grasses are mostly shaded out, microbial life is abundant. But microbial life definitely doesn't thrive if you spray herbicides all over it.

[@bonsummers2657]

@@HardcoreSustainable If the grass is kept on the low side, say less than a foot to foot and a half, should be good for the vineyard and soil health (though yes I fully understand smother-mulch-natural systems,… and, I also understand annual growth living cover / living/herbaceous mulch systems) But, substantial difference dealing with deep rooted woody plants (such as many edible grape varieties) vs. herbaceous type plants. And there's the matter of greater crop health of woody type plants in diversified 'weed cover crop' growing systems, which increases soil health for the health of the woody-crop plants, such as grapevines, as well vasting more so helping to catch and hold more moisture in the soil through the combination of living plant structure (weed cover crops), roots, dead roots (carbon aggregate) and micro-organism dynamics. Another permaculture vineyard: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jn6oiGBvd7qBY8k And this, in soil health relation: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6qzm6Kebr59g80

[@bonsummers2657]

Also, I've got plenty of experience growing different grape varieties with Bermuda grass (and others in the mix) which is one of the most aggressive grass types,… no problem (except clear out around the young plant in the first year or two, within 12 inches),… the grapes roots go deeper, the soil is covered with a living cover.

[@HardcoreSustainable]

@@bonsummers2657 I'm going to stick with the comfrey. I know for a fact that the grass is a horrible competitor and doing no good to my vines or my free time. I've found that the roots from my vines do go laterally fairly close to the surface. We have about 10" of topsoil and pure clay below that. Comfrey is a living cover as well and I think will do better and be easier to deal with than the grass. I can't choose what grasses grow around my vines, but I can plant comfrey and I know it will smother everything else. Italy is far different in every way from the conditions here. Different grape varieties, different soil, different climate. It is the ideal place to grow grapes organically. I DREAM of having a vineyard in Italy. It's a cool video though and I like learning about what other people are doing in other parts of the world. He actually shows comfrey growing in his vineyard in the video. And there are many similarities to my vineyard in planting food crops between the vines.

[@sleeplessinthecarolinas8118]

Very interesting content and channel.

[@dezc3693]

Thank you for all that you do for earth and its inhabitants. I’d like to do what you do.. live off grid in sustainable lifestyle, but afraid to and unaware of how to start. Are you offering apprenticeship by chance?

[@HardcoreSustainable]

I don't have one right now. I'd like to have help but because I don't eat in an eating co-op, feeding workers can be challenging. There are others at Dancing Rabbit that take work exchangers. What are you interested in?

[@JarrettOriginal]

Why not just mulch between the grapes? Or cover with a tarp and some gravel?

[@HardcoreSustainable]

I tried wood chip mulch and it was a LOT of work, and only lasted half a season, even with cardboard underneath. I don't want gravel in the vineyard and I think it would not stop weeds unless it was really thick. and it would continue to sink into the ground and need to be replaced. I don't want to use plastic mulch either because it breaks down in time and leaves plastic everywhere and it's a product of fossil fuel. Looking at how comfrey works on the borders of my garden, I think in a year or so it will be a total mulch around the vines in the row.

[@JulieWolf]

You are so funny! Wroms from immaculate conception vs chemtrails actually being worms. I wish! I am exploring Dancing Rabbit peoples profiles. Love the article your friend wrote on you. Some of the profiles make me cry. I wish we could reply to them. Like Bob's. Tell him his made me cry, ashifting to being in my 6th decade and still not knowing what I want to be and do when I "grow up". Tell him and you I said hi! I live near Sahale ecovillage, not nearly as advanced in making self sustainability happen.

[@HardcoreSustainable]

I'm glad you like the profiles! I haven't read Bob's yet, but it's got to be interesting. I hope you can come visit DR.

[@JulieWolf]

@@HardcoreSustainable it would be fun to come visit. My sister on law mentioned wanting to live there some years ago.

[@NiklasEnhag]

I'd love to see a follow up video to this video. Thanks

[@HardcoreSustainable]

I plan to do a follow up, possibly in a video with multiple updates on my videos soon.

[@littleacrehomestead8914]

What kind of comfrey?

[@HardcoreSustainable]

I would guess it's the common type. There are so many kinds with different colored flowers.

[@AlanBarrettVideos]

Can perennial peanut grow in your zone?

[@HardcoreSustainable]

I'm not familiar with perennial peanut. I've grown peanut before. We are zone 5. Does it make a good ground cover?

[@AlanBarrettVideos]

@@HardcoreSustainable I just learned about it. So, it's a ground cover, but it likes warmer climates like Florida.