Comfrey

Every farm should have lots of comfrey plants! As powerful, dynamic accumulators they enrich soil, the pink/purple flowers are a favorite of pollinators and beneficial insects, and the leaves heal cuts, bruises and scrapes!

Family: Borage (Boraginaceae)

Blocking 14 type

Comfrey has a variety of uses, including:

• First, for the home medicine chest, fresh or dried leaves or roots can be used externally to speed healing and its leaf contains a cell-proliferating molecule called allantoin
• The king of bioaccumulaters, it is used as a companion plant for fruit trees as it pulls up nutrients from deep underground.
• For the farm, fresh leaves can be made into a biodynamic tea to increase plant vitality and growth
• Fresh leaves can be added to compost piles to create a nitrogen-rich compost
• Fresh leaves can be fed to ruminants, pigs, and chickens as a protein-rich and nutrient-dense feed."

We love to plant a few right near the kitchen door and then around the homestead where downspouts soak the ground an near animal pens!

PROPAGATION:

We offer root cuttings, crown divisions as well as rooted cuttings in 3" pots! Both will establish to full-size plants in just 1 year, but the crown divisions are faster and have a bit better survival rate (we guarantee a 90% for root cuttings as long as you follow instructions)

• Space the plants at least 2 feet apart
• Comfrey prefers rich soil of medium moisture in the sun to part shade
• It is a heavy feeder and will reach monumental size if given a good dose of composted manure under the cutting at transplant and/or around the crown of the plant during the growth cycle
• To plant the cutting, prepare a weed-free area of 1 foot square, fertilize the spot with compost, then bury the cutting in the center of that spot, completely covering the cutting with soil to a depth of 1 or 2 inches
• Do not leave the cutting exposed, let it sprout spontaneously up through the soil. This will take about 2 weeks
• Alternatively, you can start root cuttings in the greenhouse in posts and transplant out when well rooted.

CARE:

Comfrey is very hard to kill and easy to care for. They like rich, moist soil and to be mulched with straw, shredded leaf mulch, or even the plant's own leaves that have been cut and laid around the crown can also be helpful. When the plant finishes flowering and begins to wilt, cut it down and use the leaves for various purposes or lay the leaves back around the crown to allow the plant to regrow through its own mulch. In the temperate zone, this cycle typically happens 2-5 times per summer depending on climate. To get rid of comfrey, stop watering it and let it dry out or completely submerge it in water. If the area is dug through, rototilled, or plowed, new plants may sprout from root fragments. Comfrey is often planted in orchards as it brings up minerals beneficial for fruit trees and nourishes them with its fallen and composted leaves. It is traditionally planted one per tree. The plants can also be mowed over if needed, as they will regrow. Add compost and a general balanced fertilizer yearly for best growth.

For larger quantities, please message us!