comfrey

[yotetrapper]

Anyone know where one can get a start for this?

[David Marek]

Once it gets established it sticks around for a long time.

[habitat_gardener]

Find someone locally who has some. All you need is a four-inch-long section of a thick root (half-inch diameter or so).

I gave away a bunch one year and, just for fun, potted up the very thin rootlets that were left over. They formed plants too! In my climate, comfrey dies back in the winter (or gets eaten back) and has already started sprouting in the past couple weeks.

Another year when I was giving more away, I stuck my hand in the ground under one of my plants and kept pulling up pieces of root. It was a little scary to see how many thick roots were in the small space I explored! But in my climate, they survive only if they're watered in the summer.

My comfrey plants don't seem to have spread beyond their clumps, and despite putting up 80 flowering stems per plant, they haven't produced any seedlings.

[mjc]

HG...it sounds like you may have one of the sterile hybrids, like Bocking 14. They will spread much more slowly than the 'regular' kinds. They can be spread more by regularly digging and breaking up the roots.

Besides, if the comfrey is planning on being used for composting/gardening purposes, the Bocking cultivars are supposed to be better.

[remy]

I have dwarf comfrey with white flowers. If you want some, please remind me later in spring. I can mail it to you.
Remy

[Medbury Gardens]

I also have sterile hybrid type that has been one spot for years with no sign of spreading.Instead of duging out the roots if you want more plants,what i do is i cut off the foliage down to ground level then cover a thick layer of compost over the top,after a few months when the plant has completely regrown i then cut off the new growth just below the compost layer,you find that the new shoots will have enough roots on to then be grown else where.

[habitat_gardener]

That's interesting! How thick is your layer of compost? I usually give my plants a lot of compost, even though most of them are growing next to the compost bins.

One year, I fed all of them about 4-6 inches of horse manure. I'd been reading an herb book by Lesley Bremness, who recommended that comfrey be given "a bucketful of crude manure" in spring and early summer.

[Medbury Gardens]

Originally Posted by habitat_gardener

That's interesting! How thick is your layer of compost? I usually give my plants a lot of compost, even though most of them are growing next to the compost bins.

One year, I fed all of them about 4-6 inches of horse manure. I'd been reading an herb book by Lesley Bremness, who recommended that comfrey be given "a bucketful of crude manure" in spring and early summer.

About 15-20cm in depth