I have bought this plant many times, I am starting to understand better how to grow it, use it, propagate it, and reap the benefits of this magical plant. I had first stumbled upon this plant in a book I was reading called “Paradise Lot” a tale of two plant geeks who embarked on a journey to rejuvenate a tenth of an acre in a urban setting to an abundant food forest. This is everyone’s dream, right?

This according to Wikipedia : Symphytum is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family. This variety in particular is a bocking #4 variety that produces flowers but is sterile and will not produce viable seeds. All th while this plant is able to produce nectar and pollen for the beneficial insects of the area to enjoy.

Another added benefit to having this plant growing in your garden, Comfrey has a very high level of allantoin, the cell proliferate and skin strengthener and is a proven, beneficial ingredient for treating skin and hair conditions. Allantoin is a hormone-like substance found in the roots, stems, and leaves of Comfrey and is a major ingredient in better skin and hair care products — available without prescription. However the USDA has done some research with this plant and it did produce some liver damage in rats during the testing phase and has been cautioned against human consumption. In the future I am hoping for testing will be done to better understand the results.

Now back to the positives, it works great for weed suppression as the broad leaves are able to shade out any un-wanted plant material. However I have been cautioned many times to only plant this plant where you want it as it establishes itself, it can be very difficult to relocate or eradicate if ever you needed to. It can also act as a filter if you were to use it downhill to prevent unwanted leaching into the soil, as in example downhill from a animal paddock or an all-natural composting latrine.

I have been using this plant grouping to produce biomass that gets chopped up and fermented to use as a fertilizer. So far in the 2021 growing season I have been able to cut back the clump as many as four times to produce amazing materials to ferment and to stimulate my composting efforts. Roughly every 30 days this plant clump has been able to be cutback after 1 year of establishment.

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Process to ferment the comfrey to make a “comfrey” tea.

5 Gallon bucket with water, preferred rain water or non-chlorinated water

10-15 large Comfrey leaves chopped into smaller pieces ( to allow for faster decomposition)

60 ml kelp or 30 ml fish emulsions

1 cup humic acid – granular (to allow for plant nutrient uptake at the soil level)

Allow 14-21 days to settle and ferment, and apply with a diluted 1:4 ratio of water and comfrey tea for plants.

This plant is great but is there really a market for it? I would say that in the past few years as I have been researching and acquiring rootstock I have seen an increased demand as well as market price for well established crowns. In the past I have used Coe’s Comfrey and have had great success with the root cuttings at 10 pieces for 25.00…that is 2.50 each and could be a great revenue stream for those interested in some passive income streams.