Nettle Harvest potential

For anyone out there who has ever grown or harvested nettles, what is the most that you ever harvested from a given size area? Just from my casual observation it seems like they can be incredibly prolific. How many pounds could you harvest from say a 400 square foot nettle patch? I am interested in both stinging nettles and wood nettles, so information on either species is great.

I've both harvested and planted nettles but I haven't measured the area or planted the weight so I can't answer your question specifically. But yes, they certainly do seem like they are a very productive plant.

I think they do need good fertility and good water to be productive. I planted them along a canal so they get good water. I also harvest them again later in the summer to mulch other plants.

I feel your question is complicated.

I bet most folks have not measured or weighted.

I have harvested a lot of stinging nettles to get rid of them and have not idea what the volume was.

Why not do an experiment and harvest some to see how much you can get?

Never tried to calculate the amount harvested. I think this plant is much better foraged, I probably wouldn't bother planting in our area - even if you don't have any on your property, you can find a ton of patches around here. We could probably harvest a basket loosely packed daily during the season and not put a big dent into nettle population. We harvest on 2 separate areas on our property (one is higher elevation and they mature at a different time).

As far as productivity, unless you have a lot of uses for more mature nettles, the season is very short. I did preserve some by dehydrating and froze some nettle pesto, but usually we just gorge on them in season and that's it. It's a very concentrated food and I can only eat so much.

Like others I have never measured my harvests of nettle.  I have a patch of stinging nettle on my property that I keep contained to about 2'x6' and I harvest enough to fill my 9 tray dehydrator several times each spring/early summer.  I dehydrate them and once a month powder enough to make a month's supply of capsules for myself to take one daily.  They have always grown very well here.  And a have to dig and trim them back a few times a year to keep them contained to a small corner of the garden.

I 'fight' them in my veggie patches. But if you do not remove the roots completely they spring back up soon enough. Which i like, then i can harvest twice, while the others are flowering already, when they're less good..
You sound like you have a plan to grow them as a crop, i think you will be battling caterpillars, but good luck with the good stuff!