[wbmkk]

My neighbour has a large clump of comfrey, which has poked itself through the fence on to my allotment.

I know it makes great fertilizer, so i am keen to keep it growing. 

How would I cultivatge it .. could I take cuttings now and if so, how.

I'm thinking I could put a couple of clumps in two large plant pots, as I've heard comfrey can be troublesome to get rid of, once it gets well established.

thanks for any advice

[Chrysalis]

Don't know about self seeding comfrey, but Bocking 14 comfrey is propagated by root cuttings.  See if you can get a bit with a root on - it'll make loads!  If it's not Bocking 14 it'll spread alot and will need restricting.....

Lovely stuff.

[Sparkyrog]

If it's not Bocking 14 it self seeds like mad 

[Jackypam]

Can you buy this stuff?  I've never seen it in the GC.  Or do you just have to find someone who has it and ask nicely!

[Sparkyrog]

Can you buy this stuff?  I've never seen it in the GC.  Or do you just have to find someone who has it and ask nicely!

Ebay 

[gavinjconway]

Noooo... dont ever buy something you can ger FREE from a neighbour.. Just ask if you can cut some of the plant roots off and plant them..  The Bocking 14 has a purple flower and the seed is sterile. The blue or pink will seed everywhere and take over.

Just plant a few roots and in no tome you can split and divide you own. People on our site give it away all the time.

[surbie100]

Just be very sure where you want to put it. I thought I'd moved mine successfully, but must have left some root behind and I have 3 plants swamping my strawberries. I'm going to keep taking the rejuvenated plants and moving them to where I want them, but after that I think I might have to weedkill the originals to give the strawberries some peace.

[moose]

Not much point putting it in a pot. Comfrey roots go down a long way and pull up minerals and stuff that is found deep down that is why the leaves are so useful for tea making or mulching

[Yana]

I was really lucky to be sent some roots by someone on the forums (name withheld so that said person doesn't get inundated with requests for cuttings). I planted them up in a box made from small wooden pallets and lined with plastic to stop the pallets rotting. The cuttings took a while to take, but once they had, boy did they grow!! I've had two harvests of leaves from them and made 'tea' that I diluted in a water butt. They have put on a spurt again and so I might divide them as they are now filling the box they are in. The box stands on soil so the roots can go as deep as hey like and so far don't seem to have any popping up anywhere else on the plot.
I'm so glad I was given the cuttings as they have been brilliant.

[surbie100]

Not much point putting it in a pot. Comfrey roots go down a long way and pull up minerals and stuff that is found deep down that is why the leaves are so useful for tea making or mulching

I disagree - I've had 2  plants in large planters all year and have had 4-5 cuts off them. I wouldn't keep them in pots forever, but for a year they are definitely fine. It gives you time to figure out where you really want them to go.

[cadalot]

Comfrey grows faster than weeds 

[Madame Cholet]

I grew some from seed easily and they have a purple flower. I think they came from Pennard plants/ growing old.

[Kristen]

I grew some from seed easily and they have a purple flower.

I did that too, before I knew about Bocking-14 variety, and they are spreading over the plot and being a nuisance.  I expect some seed got into the compost heap from when the Comfrey leaves were harvested.  Best avoid sowing from seed IMHO

[Jackypam]

What a lot of good advice, thanks. Sadly I don't have a 'real' allotment, just a corner of a neighbouring field, so I think I will go the ebay route.

[Chrysalis]

Have you got anything you could swap with on the swapshop here?  I know ebay isn't too expensive for comfrey, but someone may have a few roots for you...