How to make comfrey bocking 14 grow faster?

hello932

Ive got 5 root cuttings in the back yard. 4 out of 5 have sprouted seed leaves, no true leaves yet. I have some nettle leaves soaked in water- can i use this on comfrey safely? ive been watering them for the past 2 weeks but growth is slow...

Another thing-since comfrey is toxic you cant eat it directly. But since it is rather famous as a organic feed i assume diluted/applied to soil as wilted leaves fruits and vegetables fertilized with comfrey are safe to eat? I wont give myself cancer will i?

Qualitymark

Comfrey, in my experience, is a typical Irish male. Shy and retiring at first, it takes a couple of years to come on. Then you can't stop the blasted thing.

At that stage it shoots up five feet of stalks and leaves, which fall over. You cut those, and it shoots up another five feet. And so on.

Trim the leaves and add them to water, leave them to stand until they smell like a rats' graveyard and add the water a little at a time to your watering can; everything in your garden will take off.

You can make an excellent anti-bruise thingy by sweating 1kg of chopped-up roots in good vegetable oil for several hours, leaving them to infuse overnight, then draining off and discarding the roots and mixing the oil with beeswax. Use externally on bruises, sprains, ricked backs, etc.

mcgrueser

Just a quick question regarding the comfrey plant I have- It grew very well, with loads of leaves and I have been using it as a mulch and for making liquid feed. However, recently it started turning very yellow/brown and dying looking.

There is actually some lovely new growth behind, which I will use for more liquid feed but would the yellow leaves be still useful for making a liquid feed?? Or should I just throw them into the compost and use the fresh new leaves?

joseph brand

mcgrueser wrote: »

Just a quick question regarding the comfrey plant I have- It grew very well, with loads of leaves and I have been using it as a mulch and for making liquid feed. However, recently it started turning very yellow/brown and dying looking.

There is actually some lovely new growth behind, which I will use for more liquid feed but would the yellow leaves be still useful for making a liquid feed?? Or should I just throw them into the compost and use the fresh new leaves?

Comfrey is a tough plant. Only thing I can think of, is that it's had too much or too little water.

If you want to propagate your plant, pull it up and cut off a section of the tap root. Cut this into pieces about 2 inches long and plant in pots or toilet roll inserts, which is how I do it. You can also just gently dig around the plant, looking for the tap roots (without having to lift the whole plant). I did this last week and my plant had several thick roots.

mcgrueser

joseph brand wrote: »

Comfrey is a tough plant. Only thing I can think of, is that it's had too much or too little water.

If you want to propagate your plant, pull it up and cut off a section of the tap root. Cut this into pieces about 2 inches long and plant in pots or toilet roll inserts, which is how I do it. You can also just gently dig around the plant, looking for the tap roots (without having to lift the whole plant). I did this last week and my plant had several thick roots.

Thanks Joseph. I've taken root cuttings before, it works really well.
I was wondering if it was the warm weather alright that turned my leaves brown though I thought with its long tap root it might've been ok. It flowered and then it died back. Though I'm sorted with a lot more new growth growing up beside the old growth to make more feed.

I might just try the old leaves in a separate bucket as an experiment. In the meantime if anyone might know if the old leaves will be any good can they let me know if I'm wasting my time or not?

Thanks