Yarrow - Achillea Millefolium

common name:Yarrow

other names: Milfoil, Old Man's Pepper, Soldier's Woundwort, Knight's Milfoil, Thousand Weed, Nose Bleed, Carpenter's Weed, Bloodwort, Staunchweed

scientific name: Achillea millefolium

uses:compost activator, compost, fpe, soil amendment, foliar spray, soil building,

nutrients:Iron, Lime, Potash, Soda, Phosphorus, Sulphur, Nitrates

The primary chemical constituents of Yarrow include essential oil (proazulene, borneol, camphor, cineole, eugenol, linalool, pinene, sabinene, thujone), isovalerianic acid, achillein, formic acid, salicylic acid, polyacetylenes, asparagin, sterols, glycoalkaloid (achhilleine), flavonoids (apigenin, luteolin, rutin, quercitin), coumarins and tannins

difficulty to grow: medium, but care free in most areas as it grows wild as a weed in some places( you can even buy a plant at most garden nurserys) i got one for 6$ in a 6 inch pot one time.

Perrenial or annual: perrenial given it doesnt dry out to death

invasive or not:medium.... It is sometimes called invasive when grown in fields for a few years. But if you use yarrow a lot like i do. It wont be a problem with all the harvesting.

when to harvest:when leaves are big and green. Cut off fresh new leaves for fpe and compost activator

soil conditions:well drained poor soil, this one thrives on low nutrients, too much can mess it up. I only add water nothing else and it thrives. If your soil is too thick, add sand.

when to plant:spring or fall. Or indoors i suppose all year around.

germination:2 weeks @ temps 65-75 or you can do a root division, pretty much uproot the plant cut it in half down the middle and plant the two. Fresh seed requires a period of after-ripening. Seed germination increases after a period of dry-storage. Germination is greater in the light and in alternating temperatures. Chilling and high nitrate levels promote germination in the dark. Seedlings require an open site in which to become established. Seedlings emerge from January to October but the main period of emergence is from March to April.

Sowing depth: Surface Sow

harvesting:harvest the plant a little at a time, they will keep growing and sprouting new leaves, try not to harvest too much at once off the same plant, it wont hurt it but wont guarantee it wont stunt the growth and keep it at full health. With 5 plants you can harvest more than enough for growing personal stash. Hey get bigger over time too so thats a plus.

info:oh yarrow, oh yarrow........this is one of my other favorite plants, not only does it look good, but it does a good job. Yarrow is one of those "beneficial" plants, i cant say 100% why(yet), but i still love seeing it everytime im hiking. In composting this is one of my major workhorses along with nettles. The two match together like a pair of lovers. One thing i like about yarrow is its ability to improve the soil, either from the chopped leaves simply amended to the soil, the fermented plant extracts, or the secretions the plant roots make( its said to increase essential oils in neighboring plants). And like most things with organics, less is more....really. A few chopped leaves to the trash can composter or a nice sized pile will get it going in no time. On some sites ive read online its said yarrow is considered to be an indicator of loam soil in nature( but ive seen it grow elsewhere, just not as much as in good soil in fields).




what to do with it:there are a few things you can do with yarrow.

----the best use of yarrow for ME is in the "quick return compost activator". You can google it and read it if you like. For this is one of the main ingredients to get that pile cookin FAST with all the beneficial microbes. For this you will dry slowly and crush into a powder, keep stored in a cool dry place. You only need a tiny bit when added with other herbs like nettles, dandelion when making the activator........... This in turn helps give you free top quality compost faster, the most valuable of all the free ferts.

---- fermented plant extract, basically its a mixture of lacto bacillus culture(search for thread in this forum), yarrow, water and small amounts of sugar( ive been testing with pure honey and get good results, as thats what the quick return compost activator uses and it works awesome) and i mean small, one drop per pint is what the activator uses. This lets the microbes on and in the leaf to multiply as well as make some nutrients soluble, you dilute and apply to your plants.

---- infusion: take a small pot with a lid on the stove, fill it with 2-3 cups water, add some chopped yarrow leaf( about 10 fresh leaves, and a tablespoon maybe a little less of dried powder, and flowers if there is any. Put on low heat( do not boil like crazy!!!) let simmer for 10 minutes..... Strain( and toss the scraps in the compost pile to help speed up the process) dilute....start with 1:20 and work your way stronger from there, some plants like it more than others and of course little but often is better and apply to plants

----liquid soak, take water in a bucket, fill with yarrow, let sit few weeks, dilute 1:20 at least, and apply.( this stinks kinda)

----soil amendment, take fresh leaves and older leaves, and some flower stalks. Chop up as fine as possible with a knife or some kitchen slicer. Mix into soil( keep in mind i dont measure anything) and let sit in soil covered for a few weeks to a month. Then plant. If you HAVE to mix then plant right away i doubt it will hurt just dont go crazy. *** you can either use dried or fresh plant with this. Fresh need to sit longer of course but either can be used*** just make sure its in small pieces which = more surface area = faster decomposition.

----foliar spray, take the liquid soak, or infusion, or fpe. Dilute to 1:30-1:50( remember less is more and little but often with foliar sprays) then spray on. Fpe would be best as it has the lacto b. In it as well, just as long as you didnt go overboard with the sugars, molasses and such on leaves is not good imo unless very very dilute.

I would love to grow this plant but have hd zero success. Cant even get a seed to germinate, probably my climate and soil is completely wrong. I have rich, fertile alluvial clay soil and high rainfall and humidity. Alas, because it is such an attractive plant.

Excellent description! The only thing I can add, it is a wonderful insectary plant and I've read (can't find the article now) that when planted next to a sick plant yarrow will help that plant to flourish.
Absolutely on my top 10 plant list.

One color yarrow has to offer. (my favorite)

We've got a couple of types of yarrow self-seeding in the garden. Mostly the common white type, but also a pink.

I am def going to try fermenting some of this.

One of the old common names for yarrow is 'boneset' for obvious reasons. For healing broken bones, make tea from the leaves or my preference is to just chew on a leaf.

Yarrow is also an ancient brewing ingredient BTW ....

Clara Florence wrote:I would love to grow this plant but have hd zero success. Cant even get a seed to germinate, probably my climate and soil is completely wrong. I have rich, fertile alluvial clay soil and high rainfall and humidity. Alas, because it is such an attractive plant.

Clara, do they sell it in your local garden centers? If they do, you ought to be able to grow it, try again. It grows great in most of the US, including in the winter wet Pacific Northwest, where it has naturalized in our clay soils, as well as the summer wet northeast. It is a temperate zone plant though, so if you have a tropical climate, it may be the lack of a winter that is bothering it.

Yarrow is a very important plant for many, many reasons.

As one author has stated "A single leaf added to a wheelbarrow full of other material will speed up composting."
I have examined around a dozen 'recipes' for herbal ley pastures, and each of them include yarrow.
Medicinal works for livestock recommend it as the best way to break a fever.
It is a drought tolerant, hardy perennial, that performs very well in poor soils.
Yarrow has a deep root, and is an accumulator of many minerals. This makes it a good fodder addition - animals gladly eat it.
It attracts predatory wasps, ladybugs, hover flies and many other beneficials.
It is included in most 'Butterfly Mixes'.

Yarrow plants emit a substance that nearby plants take in - this activates their immune system to ward off diseases.

Yarrow also causes nearby plants to increase their content of essential oils. This is a great benefit for medicinal and edible plants which are grown primarily for their essential oils.

Here is the description JL Hudsons gives it

'YARROW', MILFOIL', 'THOUSAND SEAL', 'KWAYU'HAYIPSNL' (Chehalis Indian name meaning "squirrel-tail"). White 1/4" flowers in flat 2 - 6" clusters in June to September. Aromatic hardy perennial to 2 - 3 feet, with delicate feathery 8" leaves. North Hemisphere. Easily grown old-fashioned flower, giving lots of bloom for little care. Forms nice clumps with age. Good for sowing in meadows. Highly valued as medicine in all parts of the world where it grows, used for coughs, colds, aches and pains, to stop bleeding, childbirth medicine, bronchitis, and as a tonic. Girls would put it under their pillows to dream of future lovers. Was used as a tobacco substitute, for snuff, and in place of hops for brewing beer to make it more intoxicating. Contrary to popular belief, this is a native North American plant.

Don't forget about simply enjoying its flavor . Reminiscent of herbs with volatile oils such as rosemary , mints , sage . Its leaves are nice simply minced into a salad . I enjoy chewing on a piece when I find it .

It is indeed an ancient brewing herb, used in combination with others to bitter ale before hops were widely used in Europe. It is also one of the most useful medicinal herbs, I use it all the time, to treat bleeding (externally and internally), fever, headache, and other ailments.

I grew yarrow last year from seed.  I used a spice bottle with tiny holes to shake the seed directly onto the soil in three place, then covered with dirt.  Only one place sprouted and I had five plants.  I transplanted them evenly in the row I had for them.  Two transplants grew  about 2" tall and never bloomed.  I am hoping they will bloom this year.

One plant has two baby plants.  How is the best way to transplant them?  Would I root them first and then plant or just plant them in a new location?  

It is taking over in a mowed lawn area here, a good thing since it refuses to die from lack of water and the area is not by any means the best of soils. It doea not mind staying short at all.

Anne Miller wrote:I grew yarrow last year from seed.  I used a spice bottle with tiny holes to shake the seed directly onto the soil in three place, then covered with dirt.  Only one place sprouted and I had five plants.  I transplanted them evenly in the row I had for them.  Two transplants grew  about 2" tall and never bloomed.  I am hoping they will bloom this year.

One plant has two baby plants.  How is the best way to transplant them?  Would I root them first and then plant or just plant them in a new location?  

I would say give it time and it will grow and spread.  I planted some seed 3 years ago, and the original clump keeps growing in size.  When I want to propagate it to a new place, I take dried seed heads and mix it up with some potting soil and dump it in the new location.  Being a weed, it seems to know what to do next.  I haven't cut into a clump to transplant a part of it, but I'm thinking that would also work too.

AKA plumajillo in my neck of the woods.

Yarrow is a fantastic wound poultice. It's been used by humans for thousands of years, and it's latin name, achillea, derives from Achilles, who it is speculated might have owed his near-indestructible nature in battle less to a dip in the sacred river, more to his using yarrow to treat his battle wounds.

Fresh yarrow leaves placed on an open would act as

Analgesic
styptic
antibacterial

I got a nasty puncture wound while breaking up a dogfight last year. The canine of a canine, right into the palm of my hand, a deep, ragged puncture wound primed for infection. I put a couple of mashed yarrow leaves on it, and the tingling began radiating up my forearm within seconds, an incredible feeling.

On the second day, I used a bread poultice alternated with more yarrow. When I was confident that there was no infection, I switched to comfrey.

It healed in less than two weeks, no infection, no complications.

Yes, I have used yarrow to treat a variety of skin wounds, it stops bleeding instantly and generally results in rapid healing, no infection, little or no scarring.

I've also heard a tea from the flowers are used for cold and flu conditions, I haven't tried it for that yet.

Do you just mash the yarrow onto the cut, or otherwise, how do you apply it?

H Ludi Tyler wrote:
Do you just mash the yarrow onto the cut, or otherwise, how do you apply it?

I generally pick a leaf or two and bruise them well with the back side of a knife, then attach them to the wound with a bandaid. You could also just chew them up a bit and apply them as a spit-poultice, some people do.

I use yarrow a lot.  I was weeding in the garden, in my bare feet, and chipping with my hand hoe at a clump of dirt to break it up when I missed and send the sharp tip of the hoe into the top of my big toe.  After the requisite colorful metaphors and a bit of hopping about I went to the garden edge where I left some wild yarrow growing and some narrow leaf plaintain.  I sat down and squeezed the wound to get the blood out and then mashed up equal parts of the leaves until they were flowing juice in the palm of my hand and then dripped the juice all over the wound and then held the mash on while I sat down and had some water.  It HURT like stink!!  After about 10 minutes I took off the mash and it really wasn't bleeding at all and the pain had gone.  I got a good look at the would and it was about 1/2-inch wide and I don't know how deep.  The blade went straight in.  I poured a little water over and then mashed up some fresh yarrow and plaintain and wrapped up my toe and tied it off with the plaintain flower stalk and went about my business.

Usually I take a while to heal, but this would healed up quick, and it never got a thick "picky" scab (I usually can't help myself with thick heavy scabs).  In fact, about 4 days later when my husband came home and I was telling him the story I realized it never hurt again and we looked at it and there was just a small mark where it gash had been.  I was sold.  That was my first time using yarrow in a real life bleeding painful situation and I now use it a lot.

I also infuse the yarrow flowers in witch hazel and use that for all surface wounds and skin conditions.  My daughter dabs it on pimples and zits and I use it like alcohol for cleaning cuts.  My husband cut his head at work pretty good (about 3/4-inch long) on a Wednesday and was just using neosporin on it.  He came home Friday night and said his head still really hurt and he could hardly stand for me to touch it.  So I took an eye dropper and dropped the witch hazel-yarrow flower infusion on the wound.  The next morning I asked and he said it must have stopped hurting because he didn't think of it again!!  When I looked at the gash it wasn't red, but just a small cut.  So I kept putting the yarrow-witch hazel on it and it healed quickly without a huge scab and no more pain. 

Gotta love Mother Nature!

Tami 

LasVegasLee wrote:

On the second day, I used a bread poultice alternated with more yarrow. When I was confident that there was no infection, I switched to comfrey.

What does the comfrey do? Just curious because I don't know 

oracle wrote:
What does the comfrey do? Just curious because I don't know 

Comfrey can really accelerate wound healing, but that makes it dangerous to put on a fresh puncture wound, because it can heal the puncture at the surface and seal an infection inside, creating an abscess. So I wanted to make absolutely sure that the wound was not infected before switching to the comfrey.

Yarrow is an antibacterial, amongst other things. And a moist bread poultice is a potent drawing agent, sucking out any nastiness from a puncture wound.

LasVegasLee wrote:
Comfrey can really accelerate wound healing, but that makes it dangerous to put on a fresh puncture wound, because it can heal the puncture at the surface and seal an infection inside, creating an abscess. So I wanted to make absolutely sure that the wound was not infected before switching to the comfrey.

Yarrow is an antibacterial, amongst other things. And a moist bread poultice is a potent drawing agent, sucking out any nastiness from a puncture wound.

Thanks, good stuff to know

So interesting to hear about the soil uses of yarrow!

I am really interested in the way that plant medicines can be medicine for us and medicine for the earth.