Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: moonglow on January 18, 2012, 23:26
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Well been a while since i posted but here goes :).
Been a lovely time on my allotment i started in last march, learnt lot and made mistakes.
But anyway my question is i brought some comfrey root cuttings from ebay last year and i got 5 decent plants from them. Now i always had the thought to take root cuttings from one to proporgate more so i can fill the space allocated for them and to not be so reliant on shop brought plant food.
Anyway all the cuttings i took have come up and are growing nicely in the kitchen window but alas are getting too big, only place i have to move them too would be a unheated greenhouse, would they survive, or should i invest in a greenhouse heater?>
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The wild comfrey we have on our plot seems to be unkillable!! Famous last words...
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True so ive heard, but i was thinking of these cuttings as more of a young plant and not have the hardeness of the parent plant.
Yup the above sounded good when i said it, but god knows if its right :)
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You could harden them off gradually - put the outside or in the unheated greenhouse for a longer period each day until they're a little hardier
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Or plant them out with a plastic bottle (with airholes) over each one?
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Or do a combination of all suggestions and keep one cutting in doors as a backup plan. :) Then you can tell us all which method worked best. :lol:
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I was given a few root cuttings and they sat in a bowl of water for ages. The water froze over but they survived and I planted them out when the soil was softer.
They've grown absolutely fine except for the fact the chickens munch them!
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all very good ideas and thanks :).
Il be sure to let you know which i try and what succeeds :).
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I planted mine in late summer last year, it all died back to nothing over the winter, so I'm hoping I haven't lost it. :(
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I planted mine in late summer last year, it all died back to nothing over the winter, so I'm hoping I haven't lost it. :(
Interesting that Gold.
I planted some seed (wild stuff), and it grew to a couple of biggish leaves, before seeming to die down.
I've never grown it before, and although it should be the Bocking Breed, I'd like to know if this is normal?
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I have a bed of Bocking 14 and it starts to die back in mid November, re-growth begins again around March, depending on the weather.
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I planted mine in late summer last year, it all died back to nothing over the winter, so I'm hoping I haven't lost it. :(
Interesting that Gold.
I planted some seed (wild stuff), and it grew to a couple of biggish leaves, before seeming to die down.
I've never grown it before, and although it should be the Bocking Breed, I'd like to know if this is normal?
it always dies back in winter. , so no worries. BTW if it's grown from seed, it's not Bocking 14! That's sterile...
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I planted mine in late summer last year, it all died back to nothing over the winter, so I'm hoping I haven't lost it. :(
Interesting that Gold.
I planted some seed (wild stuff), and it grew to a couple of biggish leaves, before seeming to die down.
I've never grown it before, and although it should be the Bocking Breed, I'd like to know if this is normal?
it always dies back in winter. , so no worries. BTW if it's grown from seed, it's not Bocking 14! That's sterile...
Thanks Sav! We just saw it growing in the woods, and shook out some some seed when the flowers had died away.
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How can one identify which is the bocking 14 and which is the stuff that seeds? i have looked in many books but to no avail, i am aiming to develope a patch but want the right breed
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the only way is to buy/get given some known Bocking 14 roots, as far as I can see
The wild stuff is great (that's what I use), it's just not quite as great at concentrating nutrients as B14 and it will seed like mad if you let it
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I would risk some in the greenhouse. At worst the top stuff might die off like it does outdoors but if it has any sort of root it will pop up again in the spring. If you keep one or two on the windowsil you can hedge your bets.
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Savbo, thanks just managed to find this
https://picasaweb.google.com/113276231157138920419/ForestGarden?gsessionid=n_Tz7ndGjgoJMYE9uizwLQ#5607084086965783938
AT first glance it would appear that the flower is not as blue as the ones i have seen
what do you think?
this is the comman one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Symphytum_officinale_01.jpg
but also found this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Russian_comfrey_close_800.jpg
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the only way is to buy/get given some known Bocking 14 roots, as far as I can see
The wild stuff is great (that's what I use), it's just not quite as great at concentrating nutrients as B14 and it will seed like mad if you let it
Well, you could let one plant set seed and try growing plants from them. If it works, you don't have Bocking 14.
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I managed to get some going from seed in seed trays last autumn in my polytunnel (unheated) it came up a treat 4 of 6 germinated..but i felt it wouldn't have enough time to establish in the ground before the winter so i left it in the tray on my stageing and its still there each plant has lost a couple of leaves since then but it looks like it will be fine fingers crossed..its under a double layer of a plastic type fleece next to two potted lemon tree saplings and at the moment all seems well and we had two consecutive nights of heavy frost at the begining of the week..so i would agree with big ben but harden it off and give it some extra cover aswell..
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Ta Engineer - you've enlightened me! It never registered in all my reading around the subject that B14 was a hybrid...until now!
So yes, native comfrey is reddish with soft hairs and Russian Comfrey (inc B14) is blueish with stiff hairs. Native comfrey prefers wet places while Russian comfrey likes drier and waste ground...so most of the 'wild' comfrey I see around here is probably Russian...
(should have known all this, I supposed to be an ecologist!)
sav
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Comfrey is a deep rooted perrenial so I would stick it in the ground outside when the ground warms up and forget about it til you need fertiliser! The leaves die back in the winter but, as others have said, it is almost impossible to kill it off and the leaves will regrow in the spring. I dug some roots up in the past (it grows wild on my plot) and piled them in a heap in full summer sunshine and 2 years later they were still going strong.
I harvest mine by driving a spade across the plant at ground level, completely decapitating the whole plant. Within a few weeks, it is fully regrown and ready to harvest again. This works for the wild variety (don't know about the hybrid).
Word of warning tho - the self seeding wild variety will take over your plot if you take your eye off it so, if you can, stick to the hybrid.
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Cheers Sav, that is what this and other sites are all about, passing knowledge on or receiving some in return, glad to be of help
Cheers
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Well think i had a blond moment in the past couple of days, problem is im a red head and male, anyway that aside remembered i did have a mini greenhouse outside full with my plantpots so moved that into the unheated greenhouse, and repotted the comfrey.
2 kept inside.
5 brought inside every night.
4 kept in mini greehouse, which is also in unheated greenhouse.
Last but by no means least, found out when repotting the comfrey that i have placed one of the cuttings in upside down, but it still shooted.
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/Merlyn_Darkheart/IMG00123-20120120-1104.jpg)