Comfrey Harvesting Question

[Kaytee999]

My first 'proper' post!

I got some Bocking-14 Comfrey Root Cuttings off ebay last December, bit disappointed when they came as they were no more than 2cm sticks (but cheap!). However, potted each up in a growhouse, and they all turned into rather handsome little plants. I've now had them out on my allotment for a couple of months, and with the exception of a leaf or two becoming host to some small green leaf-mining type larvae they are doing well.

What's the consensus on harvesting these - do I leave them alone to establish first year?

[snakeshack]

I'd harvest about 15 cm above ground, this will make them branch out then let them grow


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[Fleurisa]

Don't worry about killing them off, its pretty impossible to do

[Trix]

It's reassuring to read this. I've just planted up my root cuttings from ebay into small pots and was a bit worried - they really don't look like much, do they? Glad to see someone's had success with them. Do you have any tips?

[Fleurisa]

When you decide to plant them permanently into the ground make sure you pick somewhere you won't want to move them from, because you'll never get all the root out and they regrow from the smallest piece.

[jacob]

So, I got some last year. I did what you did, got them going in pots, then planted out. They settled in, but I only picked a few leaves when they were dying back in the autumn.

This year, they're off....

[WPG]

I didn't harvest any of my comfrey in their first season, thought they'd need some time for the tap root to get good and deep. I also fed them bonemeal in the first year. Not sure if any of that was necessary to be honest, they seem pretty much indestructable.

[Kaytee999]

Thanks for the advice everybody, a couple of them seem to have taken off amosr overnight. They look twice as big as they did on Monday evening. I might harvest a few leaves off them to see how they respond. I'll give them a feed too!

No tips Trix, I just put them in small pots of compost, and kept them moist. One or two started showing after about 3 weeks (bear in mind this was December in an unheated PVC growhouse), others didn't start showing until early March, so don't give up on them.

[bario1]

I got mine off Ebay too, exactly the same, at the end of 2012. Didn't harvest them at all last year, and they got to about 4 feet tall. This year they were massive, and I've already harvested them once, and they're growing back strong.

[Dorothy rouse]

It's reassuring to read this. I've just planted up my root cuttings from ebay into small pots and was a bit worried - they really don't look like much, do they? Glad to see someone's had success with them. Do you have any tips?

Me to,they looked like dead bits of wood about inch long, and took ages to start to grow, but now they have, and now I need to find somewhere to plant them on the plot.