North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[HDessureault <inter.verbis@videotron.ca>]

Joyce, I don't know what kind of comfrey dies back after a few years, but
mine seems to survive under the worst of conditions. A few years back, I
planted a row of russian comfrey, big clumps with big black skin roots,
quite slimy, in a yard where chickens where allowed to roam some of the
time. There was also a row of siberian peas (another nitrogen fixing plant)
alongside the building, a bush with yellow flowers followed by numerous pods
of peas that splitted with a distinctive noise in late June. The chicken
pecked happily at both, seemed to love the russian comfrey and the peas
falling to the ground. All I can say is the ckichens looked very healthy.
They were given normal chicken food otherwise. That was in zone 4.
We moved afterward and I brought some comfrey here where it is still
thriving. (zone 3)
I gave some to a friend who planted a row near a small river where it went
crazy. He tried to get rid of it by rotortilling it under. Mistake! He ended
up with a field of it.
This discussion about comfrey reminded me of an almost forgotten plant and
stimulated my imagination about certain applications of comfrey for the
orchard.
This is why I appreciate so much belonging to a group such as this one.
Back to the subject of chicken, I am convinced that comfrey makes a good
supplement to chicken feed. Given the choice, they know what's good for
them.

Hélène