Comfrey seeds your experience please

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by annette, Mar 8, 2012.

  1. annette

    annette Junior Member

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    I've have read some old threads about comfrey seeds but they are a bit old. I was wondering if anyone has had success with them or do you just go for the roots.

    I paid $4 for 4 root cuttings and only 3 grew.

    I don't know the type of comfrey I have (apparently the Russian type is hard to grow from seed) but I have heaps of flowers on and as I want to do the top garden soon, would love to use all the seeds to plant up there. I won't have enough roots at this stage to plant out all the areas I want to plant.

    Any success stories from seeds out there?8)
     
  2. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    I got seeds, and they were odd to germinate. They do not all germinate at the same time, but rather over a period of 2 months. Of the 8 I grew from seed, all made it around my pear trees and I look forward to them reappearing soon.

    :)
     
  3. pippimac

    pippimac Junior Member

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    I have 'Bocking 14' which has sterile seed. I have to be careful enough to avoid chopping up my comfrey's roots; I don't want it spreading without my help.
    Maybe you could ask someone here to send you some roots? It will be a good planting time soon.
     
  4. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    I have always tended to grow the sterile Russian hybrid, not the wild comfrey
    There are dozens of varieties out there, some just ornamental
    Lawrence Hills from HDRA identified at least a dozen or more Russian cultivars and now the Germans have developed another pyrazolidine free variety.
    A lot of the information "out there" on comfrey is poor; you might like to try to track down Lawrence Hill's old book on the subject but even that is dated now

    Root cuttings are easy to grow, but with all cuttings it is a race between rotting and rooting
     
  5. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    If you aren't in a hurry, just wait. Give your plants a year to establish, then lift and divide them. There'll be enough root material in the spot that they were growing in to shoot again and you can often get 5 - 10 new plants from the root system if it is big enough. It'll take longer to get a really thick bushy patch of comfrey going but it saves you having to buy more root stock.
     
  6. FREE Permaculture

    FREE Permaculture Junior Member

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    yeah wait for the ones you have to establish, just don't chop the leaves so they don't need to spend energy re-growing leaves and with good water the roots will be quite large next year, just drive a spade through the guts and you re-plant the half crown and cut up all the dangly bits into heaps of cuttings.

    all the good info about comfrey you hear is actually about bocking 4 & 14, russian comfrey is great but then again, rust problems are an issue aswell.
    a few plants are ok but if your going to plant out heaps like it sounds, wouldn't you want the real deal?

    although you won't find bocking 4, which has the higher protein and good for animals, you will find bocking 14 which is the best strain for garden use.
     
  7. annette

    annette Junior Member

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    thanks for the advice everyone. I'll give some seeds a go and see what happens but will leave the plants in situ for a while. they are pretty big so may not have to wait too long. I really didn't know there were so many different types of comfrey! The chooks love it too.
     
  8. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    A friend with a commercial organic farm (veggies) had comfrey everywhere (she keept ploughing it!) The chooks ate heaps of it.
    One day she had a visit from two men in suits.
    They were from the Dept Ag./health/whatever??
    It turned out they wanted to admonish her from using too much yellow dye in her eggs/chook food.
    She protested that she didn't as she was strictly organic! (Blamed spraying the house with DDT while she was pregnant with her child's subsequent disabilities)
    They just said "year year just cut down on it will you?"
    Seems the chooks diet of comfey was resulting in bright yellow yokes, which her customers preferred, but local chook farmers/rivals/competitors were not happy about!
     
  9. annette

    annette Junior Member

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    Sheesh a visit because the yolks are too yellow? Reminds me of the time I took some eggs (years and years ago) from my chooks around to my daughter and son in law. Weeks after I asked the son in law if he likes the eggs. He relunctantly told me that there was something wrong with them. "What?" I asked. Well he explained that the yolks were too bright yellow/orange and there must be something wrong. Took me some time to convince him that in fact real eggs looked like that. He had never seen such yellow/orange eggs. Sad isn't it that some have never seen proper food and only the supermarket stuff? Now he wants the eggs all the time.
     
  10. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    Heheheehe, I have heard the same thing of Calendula & other Marigolds.
     
  11. labradel

    labradel Junior Member

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    the strange reactions of people who are surprised to see very yellow egg yolks etc is our opportunity to further the reach of permaculture within our social circles. this is as i see it is the way that the reeducation of the general public to the value of good food we must keep at it
     
  12. FREE Permaculture

    FREE Permaculture Junior Member

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    anything green or corn will make the eggs more orange, not sure about them putting dye in the food, the eggshells would get coloured aswell, the dye would mix into all of it. I haven't found that chooks love comfrey, mine eat it from the growing plants, not much when i cut it, but they prefer most everything else green, like lettuce, kale, silverbeet or even grass.
    best thing to do is take a bunch of different greens, make little piles and let your chooks at 'em, you soon learn there favorites.
     
  13. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    Yes i think petals were added to chook food once
    A least a bit of nutrition/phytochemicals in Calendula

    Yes real food/ supermarkets
    words that don't mesh very well.
     
  14. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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  15. JoeMerc

    JoeMerc Junior Member

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    I know this is an old posting but does bocking 4 actually exist in Australia? I know of Bocking 14 in Australia but have yet to see Bocking 4. If not, why not?
     
  16. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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  17. JoeMerc

    JoeMerc Junior Member

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    Bocking 4

    Shipping for Live and Dried Comfrey
    $7 shipping for live/dry comfrey no matter how many you order.
    $1.95 shipping for comfrey seeds.

    I ship to the United States only.


    Just copying shipping information Nantahala.

    It only ships to the U.S - not Australia, because of quarantine restrictions.

    I was hoping to find a local supplier in Australia, but Im doubting this actually exists

    Thanks anyway. Nice to get a response.
     
  18. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    https://byronherbs.com.au/

    You might try that outfit, Most of what I have been able to find is either common comfrey or bocking #14 in Australia. If you go exploring, you may find some wild in old settlement type areas but it would most likely be common comfrey.

    Sorry that I didn't notice Nantahala farm didn't ship out side USA
     
  19. JoeMerc

    JoeMerc Junior Member

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    Byron Herbs does not have it

    Consistent with what I have been experiencing Symphytum Officinale and Bocking 14 are all that are available in Australia from just a few sources.

    Coes Comfrey sells only Bocking 4 but again it only ships to USA.

    I just wonder why the others are in Australia but the Bocking 4 is not.

    In any case thanks for your response. Much appreciated.
     
  20. JoeMerc

    JoeMerc Junior Member

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    I know this is a bit of an old posting but are you saying that Bocking 4 is not obtainable in Australia?
     

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