Bocking 14 Comfrey Crown Cuttings – Organic, Reliable Live Plant for Mulch & Fertilizer

Overview

Cultivate your own organic powerhouse with these premium Bocking 14 Comfrey crown cuttings. Each cutting includes a portion of the root and at least one growing leaf bud, ensuring easier and quicker establishment compared to root cuttings. This highly prized cultivar of Russian Comfrey, developed by Lawrence D Hills, is renowned among organic gardeners and herbalists for its exceptional usefulness and versatility. As a fast-growing live plant, Bocking 14 Comfrey is an indispensable asset for enhancing soil fertility and supporting a thriving ecosystem in your garden. Known for its deep roots and ability to accumulate essential minerals, this plant provides a sustainable source of nutrients for your other plants.

Whether you’re looking to create nutrient-rich mulch, brew potent liquid fertilizers, or attract beneficial insects, these organic comfrey plant cuttings offer a reliable starting point. This sterile variety ensures vigorous growth without the risk of unwanted seed spread, making it a controlled yet prolific addition to your landscape. Get ready to experience the numerous benefits of this remarkable plant, transforming your gardening practices with its natural capabilities.

Key Benefits

The Bocking 14 Comfrey crown cuttings offer a multitude of advantages for the organic gardener, providing sustainable solutions for plant nutrition and garden health.

• Superior Soil Enrichment: Comfrey acts as a ‘dynamic accumulator,’ drawing up essential minerals like potassium, phosphorus, calcium, copper, iron, and magnesium from deep within the soil. These nutrients are then made available to other plants through its fast-decomposing leaves, significantly improving soil fertility.
• Excellent Organic Mulch: Harvest the large, nitrogen-hungry leaves several times a year to create a fantastic green mulch. This ‘chop and drop’ method enriches the soil with organic matter and nutrients, suppressing weeds and retaining moisture around your plants. This is an excellent way to use comfrey for mulch.
• Potent Liquid Fertilizer: Steep chopped comfrey leaves in water for several weeks to produce a thick, dark liquid. Dilute this concentrate and use it as a powerful, all-natural liquid feed for your plants, boosting their growth and flowering without synthetic chemicals. This natural solution provides an effective liquid fertilizer plant.
• Attracts Beneficial Pollinators: Comfrey flowers are a magnet for hummingbirds and especially bees, providing a rich source of nectar and pollen. It also attracts beneficial insects like lacewings, spiders (who prefer to overwinter on comfrey), and parasitoid wasps, enhancing natural pest control in your garden.
• Rapid Growth & High Yield: This variety is a fast-growing plant that produces huge amounts of leaf biomass, allowing for multiple harvests (up to four or five times a year) once established. This ensures a continuous supply of nutrient-rich material for your gardening needs.
• Sterile & Non-Invasive: As a sterile cultivar, Bocking 14 Comfrey will not spread by seed, giving you control over its placement and preventing it from becoming invasive, unlike some other comfrey varieties.
• Deep Roots for Stability: The deep root system not only mines minerals but also helps stabilize soil, making it a robust and resilient plant for various garden settings. This makes it a true dynamic accumulator plant.

Plant Care & Growing Tips

Caring for your Bocking 14 Comfrey crown cuttings is relatively straightforward, and with proper attention, they will quickly become a productive part of your garden. Upon arrival, ensure the cuttings are planted promptly. Prepare the comfrey bed by thoroughly weeding and enriching the soil with manure or compost if available. Plant the crown cuttings 2-3 feet apart with the growing points just below the soil surface. Keep the bed consistently well-watered until the young plants are firmly established. It is crucial not to harvest the plant in its first season, as it needs this time to develop a strong root system. Remove any flowering stems during the first year to prevent weakening the plant.

Bocking 14 Comfrey is a fast-growing and nitrogen-hungry plant. While tenacious, it greatly benefits from regular feeding. Apply animal manure as a mulch, or use other nitrogen-rich materials like lawn clippings. Mature comfrey plants can be harvested up to four or five times a year when they reach about 24 inches in height, typically starting in mid-Spring. Comfrey will rapidly regrow, ready for another cutting approximately 5 weeks later. The best time to cut comfrey is just before flowering, when its nutrient content is at its peak. Continue harvesting until early autumn to allow the plants to build winter reserves. Always wear gloves when handling comfrey, as the leaves and stems are covered in hairs that can irritate the skin. This ensures a healthy and productive organic comfrey plant for years to come.

While generally trouble-free, weaker or stressed plants may occasionally suffer from comfrey rust or mildew. These fungal diseases rarely seriously reduce plant growth and typically do not require control. However, avoid using infected plants for propagation purposes. Once established, comfrey is very deep-rooting and difficult to remove, so choose your planting location carefully. If removal becomes necessary, it’s best done in hot, dry summer weather, carefully digging out as much of the root as possible to prevent regrowth from fragments.

Size & Details

These Bocking 14 Comfrey crown cuttings are supplied as individual units, each featuring a healthy root portion and at least one viable growing leaf bud. This ensures a high success rate for establishment in your garden. Once planted, these cuttings will quickly develop into robust, mature plants, typically reaching heights of 24-36 inches (60-90 cm) with a similar spread. The rapid growth rate allows for multiple harvests within a single growing season after the first year of establishment. Expect to see significant foliage production, with each mature plant capable of yielding 4.0-5.1 lbs (1.8-2.3 kg) of leaves per cut. These cuttings provide an efficient way to cultivate a prolific comfrey for mulch or fertilizer source.

The sterile nature of the Bocking 14 cultivar means you won’t have to worry about unwanted self-seeding, providing controlled growth. This perennial plant is highly resilient and will return year after year, steadily increasing in size. While it is difficult to eradicate once established due to its deep roots, this characteristic also makes it incredibly drought-tolerant and effective at mining nutrients from lower soil levels. These cuttings are ideal for home gardeners looking to incorporate a sustainable and beneficial plant into their permaculture or organic gardening practices.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: What exactly is a Bocking 14 Comfrey crown cutting? A: A crown cutting is a section of the comfrey plant’s root crown, which includes some root material and at least one active leaf bud. This type of cutting offers a faster and more reliable way to establish a new comfrey plant compared to simple root cuttings.
• Q: How big will the organic comfrey plant get? A: Once established, Bocking 14 Comfrey can grow to be quite large, typically reaching 2-3 feet (60-90 cm) in height and spread. It produces a substantial amount of foliage, making it excellent for harvesting.
• Q: Is this comfrey variety invasive? A: No, the ‘Bocking 14’ cultivar is sterile and does not produce viable seeds. This means it will not spread aggressively through self-seeding, giving you more control over its placement in your garden. However, it is very deep-rooted and can be difficult to remove if you decide to transplant it later.
• Q: How much sunlight does comfrey for mulch need? A: Comfrey thrives in full sun to partial shade. For optimal growth and leaf production, aim for at least 6 hours of direct sunlight per day, though it can tolerate some afternoon shade in hotter climates.
• Q: When is the best time to plant these cuttings? A: The best time to plant comfrey crown cuttings is in spring or early summer, after the last frost, when the soil has begun to warm up. This allows the plant ample time to establish before cooler weather arrives.
• Q: Can I use liquid fertilizer plant from comfrey on all my garden plants? A: Yes, comfrey liquid fertilizer is an excellent, nutrient-rich feed suitable for almost all plants in your garden, including vegetables, fruits, flowers, and shrubs. It provides a balanced array of macro and micronutrients.
• Q: How often can I harvest the leaves for mulch or fertilizer? A: After the first year of establishment, you can typically harvest mature comfrey plants up to four or five times per growing season. Harvest when the plant is about 24 inches tall, cutting it back to about 2 inches above the ground.
• Q: What kind of soil does a dynamic accumulator plant like comfrey prefer? A: Comfrey is adaptable but prefers rich, well-draining soil with a good amount of organic matter. It tolerates a range of soil types but will perform best in fertile conditions.
• Q: Is Bocking 14 Comfrey crown cuttings safe for pets? A: While comfrey has traditional uses, it contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which can be toxic if ingested in large quantities, especially by animals. It is generally recommended to keep pets from consuming comfrey.
• Q: What USDA hardiness zones is this comfrey suitable for? A: Bocking 14 Comfrey is a very hardy perennial, generally suitable for USDA Zones 3-9. It is quite resilient and can tolerate a wide range of climates once established.