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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] nitrogen fixing trees intercropped with fruit and nut trees

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  • From: mIEKAL aND <dtv@mwt.net>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] nitrogen fixing trees intercropped with fruit and nut trees
  • Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2003 10:23:01 -0500

Here at Dreamtime we use comfrey in a lot of ways. One of the ways that works the best is as living mulch circles around the buartnuts & chestnuts. Couple times a summer I come in with a machete & cut it down & leave it lay. No carrying mulch materials out to the trees. Also Im noticing that as the canopy of the tree grows, it shades out the comfrey & it is much less vigorous. As a mulch it is far superior to hay or stray since as the leaves break down they knit together into a solid sheet.

We did have an intern several years back get carried away & plant comfrey in the middle of a couple pathways. Needless to say, the paths now go in different directions.

mIEKAL


On Thursday, August 28, 2003, at 10:14 AM, Lon J. Rombough wrote:

Spreading of comfrey depends on where you are.  Here in the NW, the only way it spreads is by gophers carrying pieces of root around.  I knew a lady who used comfrey as a mulch without interplanting it.  She planted a pasture to it and mowed it to use for mulch.  She had some of the best fruit trees I've ever seen.  By keeping it mowed, it never bloomed, so bees weren't attracted.  And she turned goats into the pasture as well to keep it eaten down.
   But yes, once planted you can't easily kill it with anything less than herbicide or a LOT of cultivating.
-Lon Rombough




You will be very sorry if you introduce comfrey into your life. It spreads rapidly and rampantly and, although a great soil breaker and mulcher, will never ever leave or stop its advance. attracts lots of bumblebees etc, but the maintainence hassle if you ever want to plant something else is hell.
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