Comfrey....yes or no?

[justusnak]

I have a friend that is wanting to give me some Comfrey starts. So, I looked into it. What are you all's thought on this plant? I read it is good for liquid fertilizer, and somewhat safe to use as a topical ointment, however it may cause liver issues, even death!! Since my foot is still bothering me, she wants me to use this on my foot..there are no open sores...( I read not to use it on open sores) and also it says not to use for an extended time..no more than 10 days at a time, and no more than 6 weeks in a year. Is this stuff really worth having in the garden? Is it safe for animal's to eat? (chickens, sheep,pigs) What are your thoughts???

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

i'm a yes!

harvey over at the modern homestead convinced me - for the flocks:
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Growing-Poultry-Feeds-1.html

i dunno about as an herbal treatment. no help there - sorry!

 

[justusnak]

Wow OFG, thanks! I guess I will taker her up on her offer...and plant away! I have plenty room for it here...and, if it does well, I can get up to 5 cuttings off of it in the second year. Now watch, I will kill it! LOL

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

ha! i just about killed mine!

and it has never spread out or gotten out of control. i think its a nice looking plant also

 

[BarredBuff]

Im gonna try it for rabbit food next year I think...........

 

[ORChick]

Comfrey has been used for centuries as food, teas, and topical salves and poultices. It still is in parts of Europe. However, there have been some instances of possible (they might have had other causes) liver toxicity noted over the last few decades. Because of that it isn't recommended that it be used internally anymore. As I am rather fond of my liver I'm willing to not drink it as a tea. However, it is still fine for topical uses (and I just recently injured my foot, and have a spectacular bruise, and didn't even think of comfrey ) I don't have my books by me at the moment, but right off hand I don't remember anything about limited outward use - but I could be wrong. It is great added to compost piles, and can be fermented into a stinky but effective liquid fertilizer. It is also a nice looking plant for somewhat shady areas. I would say, take your friend's offering; even if you don't ever use it for anything medicinal you might like it in the garden. Choose your spot well though; it has a deep taproot, and is hard to get rid of. I've heard that chickens like it, though mine don't seem too excited about it.

 

[justusnak]

ha! i just about killed mine!

and it has never spread out or gotten out of control. i think its a nice looking plant also

The gal I am getting it from said it is pretty hard to kill. HAHA! She doesn't know me too well. If I want it to live, it doesn't. :/ Maybe I will throw it out there and say...well, good luck.
It would be nice to have a "hay" feed for the chickens during the winter months, and to know we grew it here.

 

[Boogity]

Wow OFG, thanks! I guess I will taker her up on her offer...and plant away! I have plenty room for it here...and, if it does well, I can get up to 5 cuttings off of it in the second year. Now watch, I will kill it! LOL

I don't know much about comfrey but if you want to isolate it to keep it from spreading out of control you could try the old rubber tire raised bed approach. I do that whenever I try out a new plant and it works very well.

 

[lwheelr]

Here's the thing with Comfrey...

It is a healing plant. It actually DOES help regenerate cells in the body. That is both its VALUE, and its DANGER.

Anything that helps regenerate cells does so by speeding up cell growth. When that happens, the cells are more prone to genetic mutation. Hence the longstanding concerns with comfrey and cancer.

I have not researched the liver damage issues. I suspect they are very much in the same category as the cancer risks - containable with wise use.

This is why comfrey is STILL recommended as a healing herb, but why you are advised to limit the use. Repeated use to the same spot is what increases the risk of genetic mutation and tissue damage.

The risks are higher to people than to animals - it mostly has to do with life span. Chickens don't live long enough for the cumulative effect to matter.

Comfrey often stirs up hot feelings in naturalists, and traditional medicine proponents. People seem to have an all or nothing attitude about it. On one side they want to claim that it heals but does not harm. On the other side they want to claim that it harms but does not heal. Both stances are completely silly, because neither one is taking a scientific approach to the issue. If they did, they'd see that the reason for the risks is in fact the reason why it is useful.

This is true of many herbs - they have as much potential to harm as to heal, and must be used wisely. There isn't a lot of study on what herbs actually DO, so you often get recommendations for something as a remedy, when nobody really knows what it DOES.

As an example, when I was having a threatened miscarriage, the local herbalist recommended several herbs. She recommended Black Haw, Yarrow, Sage, Shepherd's Purse, and a few others.

Miscarriage... There can be several issues going on. IF the baby is still alive, and bleeding is occurring that should not be occurring, the natural reaction is to try to slow it down. But if you slow it down, you also constrict the blood vessels to the baby. If you dilate the blood vessels to the baby, then you increase the bleeding. There is no way to increase the blood flow to the placenta while decreasing it to the rest of the uterus because it is all part of the same equation. So there is no way to achieve the goals of slowing down the bleeding while still nurturing the baby.

Yarrow and Sage both decrease uterine blood flow.

Black Haw and Shepherd's Purse both increase uterine blood flow.

For miscarriage, none were really helpful by themselves, because in treating one thing, we harmed the very thing we wished to preserve. However, judicious use of Yarrow and Chamomile (both of which helped to decrease the blood flow) combined with Ginseng (which increases oxygen flow and nutrient flow in the blood), provided a balance to help stop the bleeding more quickly without starving the baby. (Of course, most of the time, when a miscarriage threatens, the baby is dead and has been for a long time - mine was not, I could still feel him moving.)

Many things in the body are that way. It helps to understand human physiology, and it helps to understand just what an herb is doing, if you want to determine whether it is safe to use, useful for specific things, or whether it should just be avoided.

Comfrey is a two-edged sword. Used wrong, it is undoubtedly harmful. Used with prudence, it can help to heal skin. Though it should NEVER be used on new stretch marks, it will make them itch like fury, because it contracts the skin, and makes the irritation from the stretch marks WORSE, not better!

 

[TanksHill]

My little old German neighbor uses it a ton. I have a couple of her links on my lap top. I cannot them if you like.

G