Propagating and Using Comfrey in the Garden 

Comfrey is a medicinal herb used by native Americans for centuries as a poultice for broken bones and bruises. I've made salve using it mixed with garden Plantain for sore muscles and even heard of a naturopath from Australia using it on her own shoulder for a torn rotator cuff. Side note my ducks can't seem to leave it alone so must be nutritious

I live in zone 7. I have my original comfrey plant that is probably 15 years old. When I give someone some comfrey I just use a shove and get some root and part of the leaves. I tell them to put it in the ground. It generally doesn’t do well the first year. It looks like it is going to die. Water it Just wait. Next summer you will have a great big plant. Mine gets 3 feet tall. I literally get 3-4 cuttings a year. I cut it leaving about 2 inches above the ground. And in about a week I have new shoots of leaves coming up and away it goes. I think I will try pulling up one of mine and trying this. We are moving to a new place and would like to transplant them. Here in Tennessee if you rototiller over it...... everywhere there is a root it gives a new plant. I use it for so many things. I raised 4 kids and it as kept me from the emergency room with my kids several times. Great ankle soak if you sprain your ankle or have any swelling. I dry it and put it in jars for the winter. I also lay the leaves around other plants as it breaks down and gives so many nutrients to the plant.

LOL roto tilled the garden and turned in a few Comfry plants and now have a garden full. Swearing every piece of root sent up a plant.

The bees in my garden love the little purple flowers on my comfrey plants.

Comfrey has medicinal qualities, too. During the Civil War, soldiers looked for comfrey plants to apply to wounds. The wounds cannot be open, but comfrey helps with bruises and scars.

Thanks for the follow up! Makes a great difference to be able to see the results!

Billy from Perma Pastures Farm sells just portions of the roots. They came up the following year and I have 2 of the eight I bought. They are doing well and learning how to make salve and such

Thank you for this video. I've been wanting to grow comfrey (& telling anyone who will listen to grow it) for so long now. I'm not what anyone would ever consider a gardener. My family would attest to that. My youngest daughter told me "Mom, don't even look at the garden when you mow the lawn, because something will die." My Dad says I learned how to forage and eat weeds because if anyone gives me a living plant, it's as good as dead. I want to argue with them about this but I'm the only one I've ever heard of who killed a chia pet herb garden All that being said... At least I learned something new to try (& hopefully not kill by over watering or accidentally dehydrating, all out of love and really not knowing). I appreciate the extra knowledge you try to impart (even to those of us who need extra help). ❤️

I cut my comfrey and soaked them then forgot about the when I went on vacation. I found them then watered my newly sprouting cucumbers with them. They are growing crazily😊

I love the return to show the success ..I have Four huge comfrey plants .from root chunks my dad sent .. was thinking of expanding .their Happy spot and this is the Perfect tutorial I'm in sweltery Mississippi fascinating seeing your landscape so different and yet Comfrey Thrives in all climes ..TY

Well done. That's a great plant and great to feed your vegetables during growth. You can also use the common nettle weed if it grows in your part of the world (I'm in Ireland we have this abundantly) to do the same thing with regard to the mineral content. It's used to make a 'tea' and that's then fed to the growing vegetable plant. i also use seaweed as a food after it has bee steeped and the liquid drawn off and then fed to the plants.

Boy, that wind is ferocious! Brings back memories of the September winds of my youth and watching the red Dixie sand blow all about town.

I found you the other day because you look like my maternal grandmother from the 1960 - 1980. Red hair, mannerisms and smile. You could have been her sister or a niece. I enjoy learning from you as I did my grandmother in Boulder City then in Las Vegas. You mentioned Comfrey as an herb, I remember my Nana use to pick comfrey in her yard to make tea. I hadn't heard it shouldn't be ingested. Thank-you for sharing your knowledge. I love you in Christ. Hugs from northern California.

Hello Mrs Cantrell, I just happened to find your videos, I really enjoy them, you are the best teacher on all your professional videos, I learn a lot. Thank you. Blessings.

Wow! If I tried dividing the comfrey plant like that all pieces would have died. I'm glad they did very well for you. Tfs!

My comfrey grows in sun and in shade. They survive N Utah winters. I cover them with leaves till spring. They emerge in April.

My wife and I have discovered your channel and we are loving it! Your videos have helped us a lot, pity there is no translation in Portuguese, but we are very grateful for your generosity in sharing your knowledge.

Excellent video!! Watching you separate to make 1 plant into many reminded me of my mama!!! She used to do that, do root cuttings, and do clippings. Amazing how your 5 plants have just taken off. And the plants that got a dose of tea are thriving!!! Just makes me SO proud of you and how your work has progressed!!! Brava!!!!

Sorry I had to pause your great video. Now I can listen fully. Thank you.

I had an elderly couple living next door for a long time and the wife was a real knowledgeable plant lady. She gave me comfrey plants and told me how useful they were and how to care for them. They have been growing for many years now and are actually quite beautiful as ornamentals. We chop the leaves up in fall and Throw them into the compost and turn it in. The soil we get from there each spring is rich and black. We have made the tea from leaves and it truly is a horrendous smelly mess when it is steeping. Once poured around plants the smell goes away in a day. I have to move all my plants that grow near our foundation to have some very work done. I feela bit better about moving the comfrey now. I will plant it in a raised bed and let it rest there until we can put it back where it has lived for so long now. Thank you for the comfrey information.

Love my comfrey.. mines just gone dormant in winter

Great video! I just bought 12 1" root cuttings of Bocking's 14 off Etsy and so far nine has come up. I live in a really hot harsh climate but I have kept them watered!

I love this music.

I took comfrey cuttings , put 1 cutting into a 6 inch pots. Put the pots in a tray of water. Let them soak in water until they had 4 inch leaves. Let them grow in the pots until they had 8 inch leaves and planted them . Out of 13 root cuttings. I had only one not to live.

Aloe and cinnamon also work really great for rooting!

Thank you for the useful demonstration.

Iowa here, I just take a shovel and cut/dig part of the plant. This separation is then just planted. Great video, you inspired me!

I am not a gardener but I found your video on comfrey very interesting. My daughter has a scientific mind and she watches your channel also. We will most likely have some comfrey around some of our plants soon. We are in Oklahoma, zone 8 I believe. I was just fascinated by the green smoothie you made for your plants and how much better they were doing after only a few days. Your videos are always informative. Thank you and Jim for giving of your time to teach us. God bless.

In some areas, Comfrey roots can grow 10 feet down into the ground. Transplanting them may be more difficult in other areas.

Just dug a couple for my friend this morning. :) Never would have thought to dig an entire plant this way though. I just cut a wedge out of the root ball most of the time to give away. The ones I dug up today, 1 was from chopping too close to the ground and putting it in a lasagna bed, and the other was a leftover root chunk from cutting a wedge out at some point.

Fascinating information about comfrey. I appreciate your inquiring mind and scientific discipline to research and discovery AND GIVE THAT KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE TOMUS!

Threads and Jars sent me! We live in the Arizona Desert and the heat and wind is horrible here too. Planted Comfrey starts in my greenhouse too. So excited to find your channel!

Very interesting as always. Thanks!

Very good video. I’ve never grown Comfrey before but will be looking into purchasing some for our garden. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. 😘

Thanks for showing comfrey propagation. I do use it medicinally so I have been trying to grow it and now have two struggling plants in August. I had to transplant them into pots and the leaves died back immediately but sent up new ones so I'm hopeful. I did not separate roots. It really shines as a salve. Comfrey salve is fantastic for sores and wound healing. I plan to use it like you have in my garden, and I have four chickens and I hear chickens love the leaves, but I haven't tried it yet.

Interesting.. Thank you.. 😊

from similar plant to what you were showing, I got around 30 plants. You don't have to be careful as you were doing separating the roots and saying "this is good and this is not good". Every single piece of Comfrey will grow into a plant no matter what.. I simply broke small pieces of the root (some with leaves and some without around 1" to 2" long) , dug around 2" deep and buried it, and I got plant from every single one.. When I started, I originally got 1 Russian Comfrey root. It's been few years now and have hundredssss of Comfrey plant everywhere around my Peach/Pears and olive trees.

Looking in your Playlist and come across comfrey, I love the taste and scent of this, been growing comfrey afew yrs now and harvest to dry all the 🍃 for infusion to drink for the wk along with my other herb linden, stingy nettle and more.

Great video - I plan to get some comfrey in my garden!

thank u for such an informative video

Wonderfully done! I’m an avid comfrey lover and I learned something new! Clap clap clap! Keep sharing

Their all good, every single root. You can have a tiny bit of root and it will grow, I know, I now have so many plants of comfrey never under estimated the comfrey root, it can be a size of a dot. I've had it come right up. 😊it's a happy growing plant.

Yes this was really successful.

Thank you. I wanted to know what to do with comfrey. It grows everywhere here on our little place in town.

Thank you

Great info

That wind sounds like the Santa Ana’s we get in So. Cal.

There is another way to propagate comfrey without having to dig it up - I take stem cuttings when I harvest the leaves - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_W8EscQfsb4.html I don't know if yours is a different variety to mine (mine is bocking 14) but I couldn't dig mine up like that as the roots go far too deep. If you have a lawn mower run it over the leaves after you've harvested them to chop them up fine. You can also dry the comfrey and add it to planting holes to give new plants a bit of a boost - that's often done with potatoes over here. If you cram a bucket with a lid on full of leaves but WITHOUT water it creates a stronger plant feed. Stinks to high heaven but it does the tomatoes a treat.

I have been waiting for a tutorial like this, I bought 2 Comfrey plants 2 months ago and want to separate them for more. Every time a leaf doesn’t look good while getting established I throw them into a bucket of water for fertilizer. Thank you

I really enjoy your videos; they're so well-made and informative. Thanks for putting these out! I'm guessing you're working with the Bocking 14 strain of comfrey? I planted some roots (B-14) year before last. They were getting slimy by the time the post got them to me, but I put them out anyway and maybe a third of them came up. I was pleased, considering. It grew last year but I wouldn't say it thrived. I'm not a horticulturist and have been afraid to mess with it lest I kill it but now maybe I'll venture to dig some up and follow your lead in dividing it (if it's survived the unusually cold winter this year). I really appreciate your video showing how you did this. 🥰 Since then I've learned that the fertile "common comfrey" is said to be safer for consumption. (I'm not going to consume it.) They say it's also better for topical medicine & for feeding livestock. I ordered some, hoping for greater vigor. I'm not too worried about it taking over my world though I'll be taking precautions. I'm just hoping it will help me feed my poultry more independently. We're in SD, by the way, in the Black Hills at ~6,000 ft, so somewhat near your old stomping grounds. Thanks again!

Thank you for this, Pam! I just received some cuttings that I ordered, and can't wait to plant them tomorrow! So many good uses! From N.E. OHIO💝

Very interesting video thanks so much for sharing. I wonder if cat mint grows will grow here. Next year i am planting a bee garden for my honey bees. Thanks again.

Comfrey roots go down almost 10’ deep

Excellent coverage. I just buried a few comfrey leaves a week ago, beside a very anemic asparagus stand. Totally perked and greened it up! I usually do the bury leaves method (because of the comfrey tea stench) but will try your blender method. The only medicinal use of comfrey that I consistently use, is a comfrey poultice on broken toes. It works miracles on broken toes! I actually tore my baby toe off my foot when I did not have access to medical attention. I gritted my teeth and yanked it back in place, then kept a damp comfrey poultice on it, held in place with damp paper towels and handy wrap. When I was finally able to get to orthopedic dr about week & half later, he wanted to know why I came to him instead of going back to the dr. that set it! 🤣 "He did a very good job." Thank you comfrey!

It is very interesting that you can't get comfrey to survive. I moved mine, and several years later, I am still trying to get rid of the first area.

Thank you for the disclaimer regarding issues with ingesting comfrey. All my life I think I have heard of comfrey tea and was sad to hear ingesting comfrey or putting it on open wounds as a salve is not good. I saw Old Alabama Gardener lay it along rows of garden vegetables and lightly cover with soil. He mentioned it was a type of fertilizer. But now I am wondering, if it is not good to ingest but then we apply it to our edible plants...is this not wise? Just curious of your and other folks thoughts. I will research this some to see what to do. I have 3 comfrey plants and would enjoy having them growing here and there on the property even if I cannot use them for fertilize on edibles. Thank you for your help. Jesus bless.

Rose, how did you figure out which end up was the bottom for the roots you cut or does it matter ?

Comfrey goes dormant every year. It will come back next year.

I appreciate this video but I haven’t had any luck growing comfrey. They don’t sell it in Maryland and the comfrey that I have bought hasn’t grown. Any sources for this wonderful plant? Thanks.

If you have no comfort growing how do you get started? Do you buy plants or seeds?

We had some excavation work done and the clay and poor soil was placed over the back yard covering comfrey plants. The comfrey returned growing up through the clay and keeps popping up all over the yard and I can't get rid of it, very hardy Melbourne Australia

What zone do you live in? I have very aggressive Comfrey, spreads everywhere in zone 5. Thanks for the info.

Traditionally, comfrey is also known as bone knit, as it helps heal and relieves pain. My understanding is that it's toxic.

Soil Pam. Soil. Not dirt. 😉 Always informative. What cultivator do you have?

Any recommendations on a good way to keep comfrey from spreading? I live in an neighborhood. I know to cut the blooms before it goes to seed. But containing the roots? Considering how deep the roots go would putting in a planter stunt it?

🍎🍎

Is comfrey a plant you plant yourself or does it grow wild like a weed?

How do I get comfrey seeds?

Please what is the bush in front of you with purple blooms? I have one but cant figure out what it is. Thank you.

Besides your intelligence, you are quite a striking Beauty

I have a torn rotator do you thik the leaves would be better than a sauve?

Where do you find comfrey?

You really should not be digging it up that might be your problem, comfrey has a very long taproot it needs to be left alone so it can establish itself. I live in zone five and my comfrey is doing awesome. Once you plant it You should leave it alone and just trim off what you need don’t keep transplanting it and moving it if you want it to come back every year. You need to let that taproot establish itself

Does comfrey have any medicinal purpose?

I wish we could just. Meet a have some fun

Where are you located ?

People use it on arthritis

Where is she located ?

Can you drink comfrey root tea?

Just learned that it can be very dangerous and toxic to the liver. I learned this after spending two hours researching this plant and then one guy said its toxic to taken internally esp for the liver. He gave the name of the toxic substance but can't spell it sorry. If that's the case, anything you put on your skin will go into the body so is the salve made from the comfrey plant also toxic if it goes in through the skin??

Sad, that you must be a member of Patreon to get the rest of the info. Never gonna happen. Oter folks give it out for free!

Have you started comfrey from seed?