Comfrey Growing Guide

Crowns and Root Cuttings

Your shipment will arrive packed with the roots/crowns contained in a plastic bag with some shredded, moistened cardboard/paper.  The cardboard/paper in the plastic bag is moistened with Teraganix EM-1 root enhancer and plant growth promoting microbes, so you can simply bury these when you plant your crowns or roots.  To learn more about EM-1, visit https://www.teraganix.com/, and use my coupon code REGENSA at checkout for 10% off!

Planting comfrey roots

Remove the plastic and rubber band, and bury the roots horizontally about 1 inch below the soil surface in moist soil.  Keep the soil evenly moist until the leaves start to emerge and for the first year.  

Planting comfrey crowns

Remove the plastic and rubber band, and plant the crowns in moist soil, leaf side up, so that the leaf base is just at the soil surface.  Keep the soil evenly moist for the first year.

Plants and Plugs

Your shipment will arrive packed with the roots/crowns contained in a plastic bag with either a pot or in plug form. 

Due to jostling during handling and shipping, some of the soil medium may have been knocked off of the roots and will be loose in the pot or bag, so it’s important to be as gentle as possible when placing the plants.  

Comfrey are tough plants and will recover but try to be as gentle as possible to keep them intact through gentle handling.

Especially in the summer, we are aiming to establish the plants where the soil can remain as cool and moist as possible for a few weeks until they are established.

If you can’t get your plants planted right away, store them in the box in a cool spot out of direct sunlight.  Please plant as soon as possible.

Before removing the plants from their shipping materials, dig as many holes as you’ll need for your plants, about 4 - 5” deep and 4-5” in diameter.  Also get together a bit of mulch materials (hardwood bark mulch, grass clippings, or shredded cardboard/paper), and water.  

Fill the hole with water and let it soak in, then carefully remove your plants from the plastic bag/pot and place in the hole, backfilling as necessary with soil so the leaves of the plants, but no roots/crowns, extend from the soil surface.  If in doubt, it’s better to plant deeper than shallower.  Mulch and then thoroughly water again.

Depending on the time of year, the plants may wilt after transplant but will bounce back within a week.  If it’s going to be very warm (80+) and bright sunlight for more than a few days, for comfrey it’s actually best to cut the leaves back to the soil surface after planting.  They will quickly (within a week or two) send up more growth as their roots establish.

Keep well watered and mulched the first few months.  You do not need to fertilize these plants for the first year.

After the first year, when the plants are established, you can start harvesting the leaves and using them for animal feed, mulch, or fertilizer!