I just bought some comfrey roots on e-bay and was wondering if anyone had good advice for how/when /where to plant them, also would 6 be enough to begin with?
mandy
comfrey
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Jenny Green
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Pop them in a couple of inches down and about 1 1/2 foot apart. They may take a while to come up but comfrey's very tough and unlikely to fail. I would be gentle with them the first year and only take a couple of leaf harvests. After that you can take the leaves four times a year. In a couple of years you'll have big plants that you can prise further cuttings off if you feel as though you need more.
If you're feeling decadent let them flower. They'll be alive with bees!
If you're feeling decadent let them flower. They'll be alive with bees!
Hi Mandy and Jenny,
My Comfrey is grown on 24" centres and very soon fills that space.
For what you actually gain the first year you might as well not touch it at all and simply, like Rhubarb, allow the plant to establish itself.
Then in the second year only take three cuts and then every year after that four cuts. I always cut the plant down to about 4-6 inches from the ground and then feed it with liquid Pigs slurry if I can get it and Cows slurry as an alternative. I feed the bed quite heavily for the winter period with manure allowing it to leach in. This I feel pays real dividends and the growth is always lush for the first cut at the end of April.`I generally make Comfrey Concentrate rather than the immersion method. Concentrate does not smell half as bad the other method and is very easy to store and reconstitute into a feed. It is a wonderful Tomato feed and you will get succulent thin skinned Tomatoes. Of course it will also feed just about everything else as well.
My Comfrey is grown on 24" centres and very soon fills that space.
For what you actually gain the first year you might as well not touch it at all and simply, like Rhubarb, allow the plant to establish itself.
Then in the second year only take three cuts and then every year after that four cuts. I always cut the plant down to about 4-6 inches from the ground and then feed it with liquid Pigs slurry if I can get it and Cows slurry as an alternative. I feed the bed quite heavily for the winter period with manure allowing it to leach in. This I feel pays real dividends and the growth is always lush for the first cut at the end of April.`I generally make Comfrey Concentrate rather than the immersion method. Concentrate does not smell half as bad the other method and is very easy to store and reconstitute into a feed. It is a wonderful Tomato feed and you will get succulent thin skinned Tomatoes. Of course it will also feed just about everything else as well.
JB.
Years ago I bought Russian Comfrey from Lawrence Hills in Bocking and had it on spare ground. The seeds got into the compost and it was an unending problem trying to eliminate it. Ten years ago come last May my nephew gave me some Bocking 14 which I planted at the farm, It comes up every season but just when it might be cuttable it goes down with pests and diseases so I haven't done anything with it. At least it has the reputation of not seeding everywhere. Maybe on better ground it would be beneficial, I shall never know, meanwhile my tomatoes get mixed compost, wood ash, and Chempak 4 when I remember it and are doing fine. I would rather be pragmatic than dogmatic, if you find something that works with you stick with it.
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Mandylew, Make sure you have plenty of room to spare before planting comfrey, as it can spread like wildfire and seeds itself all over the shop! A few years ago I put a couple of dwarf comfrey plants in as part of a wildflower ground cover under my apple trees and within 3 years I was wishing I'd grown it in a more controlled area. Be warned!
I have been growing Comfrey since the early 50's and have never had any pest attack it. If you are using comfrey as it is intended to be used then it never sets viable seeds. I started off with a Bocking number which I have now forgotten and finally ended up with Bocking 4 and I still have Bocking 4 and also have a bed of Bocking 14. Poultry like Bocking 4 but are not so fond of Bocking 14. If you use Comfrey as intended by the person who introduced it then there are no problems growing it. It is only when you are not strict enough with the regime growing it that you get into trouble. My advice is never let it get into flower and use every available scrap you can grow. To me this is plain common sense.
JB.
its bocking 14, I'm planning to plant it along the fence at the botton of the allotment, which is a bit of a wilderness at present, better a wilderness of comfry than brambles and allsorts was my theory.
thanks everyone, i'll give it lots of space.
mandy
thanks everyone, i'll give it lots of space.
mandy
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Chantal
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Allan
If you bothered to look at the first posting you would realise that Mandy has asked for advice because she's never grown comfrey before, so superior remarks like that are less than helpful.
Chantal
If you bothered to look at the first posting you would realise that Mandy has asked for advice because she's never grown comfrey before, so superior remarks like that are less than helpful.
Chantal
Chantal
I know this corner of the earth, it smiles for me...
I know this corner of the earth, it smiles for me...
Chantal
The remark wasn't meant for Mandy as she hasn't grown comfrey before. However if I grow something new I would be curious to find out all I could about it. Nowadays a glance at the (ex) HDRA website or a more general search would soon have revealed all such information.
The remark wasn't meant for Mandy as she hasn't grown comfrey before. However if I grow something new I would be curious to find out all I could about it. Nowadays a glance at the (ex) HDRA website or a more general search would soon have revealed all such information.
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A. guest
Chantel. This man is on an irration level just below the good sister. Has been since I,ve used the site. P.Rogers.
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Jenny Green
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It was a snipe at Johnboy, not Mandy.
I grow Bocking 14 and it doesn't set viable seed, so it doesn't seed everywhere.
Which is really great because it's great in flower!
I grow Bocking 14 and it doesn't set viable seed, so it doesn't seed everywhere.
Which is really great because it's great in flower!
I haven't a clue what 'type' of comfrey I've got growing in my garden, I just know it's spread like wildfire, but looks fab in flower so I forgive it! I just pull handfuls to make feed, add to compost, and it just keeps on going! Plus it makes a great compress for sprained ankles/ twisted knees, helps take down the swelling a treat- useful stuff!
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pigletwillie
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I have never grown comfrey before either. Is it really worth all the hype that people attach to it. I may be able to find some room for it if so.
Are plants best or growing from seed? And whats all the Bocking business? And no, I havent taken out a subscription to Comfrey weekly just because I havent grown it before, hence the use of this forum to get feedback from people who have!
Piglet
Are plants best or growing from seed? And whats all the Bocking business? And no, I havent taken out a subscription to Comfrey weekly just because I havent grown it before, hence the use of this forum to get feedback from people who have!
Piglet
Kindest regards Piglet
"You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind".
"You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind".
Hi Piglet,
There is an awful lot written about Comfrey as it is a truely magic plant.
Russian Comfrey was introduced a man named Doubleday as a possible alternative for Gum Arabic but sadly it was not to be. Lawrence Hills and others
prior to the formation of the HDRA group of organic gardeners, were experimenting with Comfrey as a fertilizer made from plant matter and therefore truely organic.
Lawrence actually produced many varieties in his time but when HDRA was formed the headquarters were at Bocking near Braintree in Essex hence the Bocking numbers. The best at that time was Bocking 4. Later on after furhter experimentation Bocking 14 was the last one to be issued by Lawrence.
Since then The HDRA have moved to Ryton near Coventry as their HQ. )where I think you will be on Sunday) It has recently changed its name and I am not really sure what it is called now but Organic and Garden are in it somewhere.
Comfrey is very well worth growing and Comfrey Concentrate has a better collection of goodies in it than Marinure the liqiuid feed made from Seaweed.
There are two ways to make a liquid fertilizer from Comfrey. Concentrate which is neat liquid fertilizer and will need a dilution ratio of 10:1 with water before use. The other method is to half fill a tub of wilted Comfrey and fill the tub with water and fit a tight cover over it and wait until the leaves have disintegrated then use it neat on whatever you want. This is a particularly odiferous job and not undertaken without being forewarned. The concentrate is considerably less odiferous and is easily stored and keeps for just about ever but certainly from one season to the next before you can produce any under the other method.
If you want to know more about the concentrate manufacture you only hav to say.
There is an awful lot written about Comfrey as it is a truely magic plant.
Russian Comfrey was introduced a man named Doubleday as a possible alternative for Gum Arabic but sadly it was not to be. Lawrence Hills and others
prior to the formation of the HDRA group of organic gardeners, were experimenting with Comfrey as a fertilizer made from plant matter and therefore truely organic.
Lawrence actually produced many varieties in his time but when HDRA was formed the headquarters were at Bocking near Braintree in Essex hence the Bocking numbers. The best at that time was Bocking 4. Later on after furhter experimentation Bocking 14 was the last one to be issued by Lawrence.
Since then The HDRA have moved to Ryton near Coventry as their HQ. )where I think you will be on Sunday) It has recently changed its name and I am not really sure what it is called now but Organic and Garden are in it somewhere.
Comfrey is very well worth growing and Comfrey Concentrate has a better collection of goodies in it than Marinure the liqiuid feed made from Seaweed.
There are two ways to make a liquid fertilizer from Comfrey. Concentrate which is neat liquid fertilizer and will need a dilution ratio of 10:1 with water before use. The other method is to half fill a tub of wilted Comfrey and fill the tub with water and fit a tight cover over it and wait until the leaves have disintegrated then use it neat on whatever you want. This is a particularly odiferous job and not undertaken without being forewarned. The concentrate is considerably less odiferous and is easily stored and keeps for just about ever but certainly from one season to the next before you can produce any under the other method.
If you want to know more about the concentrate manufacture you only hav to say.
JB.