How to Go About Propagating Root Cuttings

When planting comfrey in your organic garden, you could simply place a complete comfrey crown into your prepared area and it should thrive in its first season. If the crown is planted in the ground whole it will quickly start sprouting leaves – very quickly! That said, if you want an early start with healthy young plants, the best way to go about it is to propagate your own by taking new root cuttings.

Taking root cuttings from the Comfrey crown.

Taking new root cuttings from the crown is easy. The crowns we provide still have green stalks on them. Follow this process:

With the left-over large root crown – either plant out whole, or cut into additional root sections. Bear in mind that root sections take a lot longer to grow than the pieces taken from the top section of the crown. Personally, we only use the stalked tops for cuttings and the ‘left-over’ section is planted out whole.

 Planting the comfrey cuttings into pots

Your prepared comfrey cuttings should be planted into 7cm pots of all-purpose compost. Position the sections vertically, with the stalked part just below the soil surface. At this time, it’s important that the soil is kept moist, as comfrey plants hate drying out. That said, don’t over water them either, as the leaves may start to grow a yellowy/green and won’t look their best. You can expect to see healthy little plants beginning to grow from your cuttings after about 2 to 3 weeks in the height of the growing season.

In terms of best propagating time; any time throughout the growing season is just fine, although January and February root cuttings should be protected by an unheated polytunnel. Further cuttings can be established outside the polytunnel throughout the entire growing season. In warmer weather, young plants are best kept in partial shade to stop the sun drying them out.

Pretty much the only threat to your planting success is drying out, as it causes the comfrey to become distressed. That said, if you take all of the things mentioned into account, your chances of success are near enough 100%!

Cultivated comfrey – Your Best Source for Quality Comfrey Plants

You might be wondering why you should buy your comfrey plants or crowns from Cultivated Comfrey. Well, we have been growing and using comfrey for years and it’s simply something we wouldn’t be without. The difference it makes to our organic gardening efforts is huge – with higher yields of fruit and veg enjoyed every time it’s used.