I love my comfrey... To get rid of it, when it comes up chop off the leaves at ground level and place a thick layer of mulch on top. In my garden, the native bees go crazy for my comfrey. The european bee is too big to get inside the flowers, so the native bees have exclusive rights to the comfrey. I have a big clump beside a garden seat and watch the bees crawl right up inside the flowers.
bees and comfrey and things It is great to see something left for the native bees. I once had a"hive" in a 'hollow' log. Lovely things Native bees-no stings is great.. In WA they are worried that the Native Plants that can be pollinated by Introduced Bees are overtaking those that can only be pollinated by native bees. It is a real ecological problem. If the native bees can pollinate Comfrey; does this mean we might end up with seed after all?? (Botanist needed: apply here)
Re: Some Uses of Comfrey Wow, thanks for all the ideas. I had read about it as an alternative to manure in compost. Don't have chooks, so trying to build up our compost as best we can with plant materials. If I ever get my comfrey to grow, I'll post a picture (don't hold your breath!) Cheers Cathy
Re growing comfrey from seeds.....I think part of the reason they don't seem to do so well after a certain time is that their roots grow so fast and deep the pot stops this. I've found that planting my seed grown comfrey into the ground once the first couple sets of leaves have grown has helped heaps.
Thanks for the extra advice. The punnet is due to come out of the fridge shortly, so fingers crossed that at least something grows in the near future.
Hi Er, yes, the fridge. As per earlier discussion, the instructions from Diggers say to sow then refrigerate for two weeks. However apparently Scottie tried that and also tried putting them straight in the greenhouse and got a better result without refrigeration. But since I had already put mine in the fridge I thought I'd persist and then try it without later to re-do the experiment.
Hi Cathy, I just wandered out to my greenhouse (in the dark!) to take a picture of my comfrey for you. The comfrey in the round black pots (~10cm diameter) was sown using the no-fridge method on 1-Oct-2006. As you can see, they're doing great! The comfrey in the smaller red pot was sown ~3 months ago using the fridge-method. Just a little extra encouragement to try the no-fridge method! Scott.
I agree VB! I only brought seeds to see how it would go. Give me a root cutting anytime! Though I still prefer to start the root cuttings off in a pot...had much better results that way.
Scottie - thanks so much for taking the time and putting together the neat piccie I think that's proof positive that the fridge method "sucks". Ah well that's what you get for believing what you read on the side of the packet. Veggie Boy - Well... if I knew someone who had some that's what I'd do. Unfortunately we have recently moved, know very few people, and none of them grow comfrey. So I'm stuck trying to grow it (and many other things) from seed until I can get at least one plant established. After that it'll be vegetative propagation all the way So the other thing I'm trying to grow from seed is Stevia - for which the instructions are just the opposite - bottom heat at 27C sown on the surface and placed under a light. (Now I don't have a heater pad, but the top of my UPS with the punnet in a plastic bag seems just fine). However currently out of a punnet of six I have one - and it's the spindliest looking seedling you ever did see. Ah - the joys of raising difficult seedlings.
Whilst I don't claim to know a great deal about growing things I doubt nature had fridges and heater pads in mind! I think you'd be better off researching where the plant originated from...that should give you an idea of what the seed needs to germinate. Hopefully?!
Well it was worth a try. You'll have to post back & let us know how your non-fridge comfrey goes compared to your fridge comfrey. Veggie Boy: I had the same problem as Cathy. I couldn't find any comfrey root/seedlings for love or money. What will you use that for? Scott.
Bit more info on Stevia (Click) for those who haven't come across it. Truly a wonderful plant...but yes, a bugger to germinate if you're not in the full blown tropics.
I bought my first comfrey plant from the nursery Edit: no that stuff died - I bought 25 root cuttings from Greenharvest - though quite a lot did not come up. Am happy to provide root cuttings to you guys if you still need them - provided you picked up the postage. The bugger about root cuttings as opposed to seeds is that they are not cheap to post.
I think comfrey seeds are ok to soak for a while too before planting. Am sure that's what I did with mine.
I wonder if this stuff could be used like Stevia?: https://cgi.ebay.com.au/AZTEC-SWEET...36QQihZ006QQcategoryZ1512QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem