Has anyone grown Comfrey?

I think there are some sources in the "sourcing organic soil mix components" thread. Coe's comfrey comes to mind.... you will want a sterile cultivar like the Russian Bocking #14 or #4 unless you want your whole yard to become comfrey. Lotsa people around here grow it. Gandalf is a guerilla grower of comfrey now lol.

 

I was given a plant a year ago, planted to garden have no plans and done no research as yet, can it be eaten ....?

 

Better warn the neighbors... :lol:

vostok, I've seen comfrey teas and salves and what-not at the health food stores.. I'm sure there are many uses.

 

Comfrey has dozens of uses, including medicinal.  I know Jerry's wife feeds it to her horse to help with degenerative bone disease (Navicular).  He's been growing it a few years now.  It's great for compost bins, worm bins, and mulching.  He also makes (based on an LD recipe) concentrated Comfrey syrup that I've heard is the bomb-diggity.  Basically just pile Comfrey leaves in a garbage can, stack a few bricks on top, and let it drain into a water bottle or small bucket.
 
I wouldn't plant the non-sterile Comfrey anywhere.... would feel unethical lol.  If you've seen kudzu literally killing a forest, you know what an invasive species can do lol.

 

Planting seeded varieties is not only unethetical because of the rapid invasive properties, one plant makes hundreds in a few generations, but the sterile cultivars produce much larger plants resulting in greater harvests/ plant without invading others property with invasive plants. Always use Bocking #4 or Bocking #14 when chosing your Comfery plants.

PW

 

The more expensive the root cutting, the larger and older the plant. All sizes will work, but usually 4" to 1 gal pots will be the best $ value for the starter plants. You can also order bare root cuttings and divide them up when planting for more starts. Everyone can propagate Comfrey from roots with no trouble, once you get one established it is easy to multiply rapidly. I would get one plant in the larger size and a few of the cheaper bare root cuttings to start propagating when the order arrives.

PW

 

 
I just bought these from Coes..... I bought some 2 year plants they threw in some medium root cuttings for free.  I believe there are two main differences: potency and time until harvest.
 
Apparently the older, more established 2 and 3 year plants are more "potent" and accumulate nutrients more effectively.  Also, they are only a few weeks (4-6) from harvest if planted in good soil, in good weather.  Whereas the roots will take a few months (2-4) to grow into a full, harvest-able plant.

 

I used to grow Russian Comfrey at our old place, it was the voracious, non-sterile variety. Made fermented comfrey tea and all of the plants in the garden loved it... just smells worse than death! Those plants are crazy, they will get huge in the right environment. 

 

 
Especially since you're starting them this early in the year, getting the root crowns should be fine.  They say you can plant them as soon as the soil is workable, which it already is here (dunno about you).  Jerry said it was much more effective if you add some compost to the hole when you plant them.
 
Enjoy the religious propaganda Coe's adds to your order lol

 

I'm going on my 3rd year with Bocking 14 from Horizon Herbs. They were running a special IIRC 6 or 7 crowns for $12 shipped. Got 8 out of it. Produces enough for 2 worm bins and to freeze for over the winter.
 
Had a little nub of a root that got tossed in, but not counted. Planted that in a 1 gal container, it sprouted and I over wintered it in the container. Next spring I planted it under the east edge of my deck. Plenty of water from containers above. Grew well. As an experiment this past season, I dug it up as deep as I could get and planted the crown in a wet spot in my new garden. A bit of tap root broke off 10" or so deep. Was curious if it would come back or not and didn't really care if it did or didn't. The transplanted crown did great and I got 3 full cuttings off of it after the transplant.
 
I figured that little bit left in the hole didn't make it and forgot about it. WRONG-O! A bit more than 2 months later I'm cutting some fresh Tarragon and guess what's coming out of the weeds/tall grass at the edge of the deck! All from a tiny bit of root buried 10" or so.
 
I thought it was like a joke never to roto till comfrey if you're trying to get rid of it, you'll just end up with 10X as much.
 
Plant it in the wettest spot you have if you can. It is pretty much impossible to over water. Keeping it watered enough is the main problem. Perfect plant for a noob I guess. They also don't care for containers much either. They want real dirt to sink deep roots into.
 
Just be sure you want them where you plant them, because it is pretty much impossible to dig them out once established I guess you would have to use Roundup or similar to get rid of a bed.
 
Wet
 
BTW, I got lazy after the first couple of years and don't bother with the FPE or adding it to anything. All I do now, is take an entire plant  to near ground level and put it on top of the worm bedding. I'll cut every other plant, 2 at a time, 1 for each bin. Have 2 rows of 4 and cut 1/2 of each row at a pop. What grows faster than the worms can eat goes in the freezer for when the comfrey goes dormant in the winter.

 

Mine is clay also, you'll see.
 
If you could anchor them in a shallow creek bed, it would be perfect. LOL
 
Wet

 

Hugel bed plus some compost! I'm sure it'd more than reward your effort with biomass. I've heard that comfrey is a serious drinker.