Plants you grow for composting & tea?? e.g. Comfrey

What type of plants do you grow in your yard specifically for use in your compost and teas? I realized that Comfrey grows year round and that I can simply grow my own Comfrey Leaves to use.. So now I am wondering what other plants do my fellow organic cannabis enthusiasts grow for such purposes.

Please note I am recovering from an accident while at the same time I have to keep my garden running so I may not even reply to this thread again. But I will definitely be reading.

Thanks,
mej


*There are websites dedicated to this topic I plan to peruse. But in my opinion the best gardeners are in this section on this forum...

I grow comfrey, and I used to grow horsetail (it died in the summer heat)
the comfrey is awesome, the horsetail was, meh..
I harvest dandelions as well (they grow everywhere)
but the comfrey is the ticket.
and if I could find stingin nettles i'd do that too.
a topdress of fresh comfrey, castings, a lil fish meal, a lil kelp meal, and that'll go a LONG way.

greasemonkeymann said:

I grow comfrey, and I used to grow horsetail (it died in the summer heat)
the comfrey is awesome, the horsetail was, meh..
I harvest dandelions as well (they grow everywhere)
but the comfrey is the ticket.
and if I could find stingin nettles i'd do that too.
a topdress of fresh comfrey, castings, a lil fish meal, a lil kelp meal, and that'll go a LONG way.

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Have you ever messed with pine needles? In Michigan there is no escaping pine trees, I need to make use of them!

Rasta Roy said:

Have you ever messed with pine needles? In Michigan there is no escaping pine trees, I need to make use of them!

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Pine needles are pretty acidic. I have read that you should never use them in compost/soil but I have also read they are pretty much pH nuetral once broken down.

The thing I do know from first hand experience is that pine needles break down and decompose really slowly. I still pick out the stray needles in my bin all the time and I am not actively letting them in, they just come along when I scoop up regular leaves in the fall.

Rasta Roy said:

Have you ever messed with pine needles? In Michigan there is no escaping pine trees, I need to make use of them!

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I have in fact.
BUT there is a BIG difference between the redwood needles and typical conifers
the difference is this weird waxy covering on the needles.
like a typical pine tree will have acidic and waxy needles, that take a long time to break down
I only have experience with redwood needles though, but I used a BUNCH when I made my first compost pile out here.
probably half of my original pile was redwood needles.. and alfalfa meal.

bizfactory said:

Pine needles are pretty acidic. I have read that you should never use them in compost/soil but I have also read they are pretty much pH nuetral once broken down.

The thing I do know from first hand experience is that pine needles break down and decompose really slowly. I still pick out the stray needles in my bin all the time and I am not actively letting them in, they just come along when I scoop up regular leaves in the fall.

Click to expand...

you are totally right, and from what I understand almost ALL compost is fairly neutral at the end, that's all in thank to the microbes.
the cool thing is, depending on the microbes can influence the end ph, meaning the types of indigenous microbes in a pinetree forest will render and compost those needles to cater to the existing plants (amazing when you think of it)