Comfrey Bocking 14 and 4

[canadamike]

In the thread about high John the Conqueror, zephyr recommends a company because the guy knows about bocking 14. I am planning on a lot of comfrey for next year, my friends have a bed to share, but it is not 14.

Richter's Herbs are, to me, the best herbs company in the world. It was founded in Canada by Austrian immigrants and now sells around the globe. They are now offering Bocking 4, saying it has the highest protein content.

While researching the net on Bocking 4, I found a comment from a gardener who grows both. He says his chickens like 4 but not 14. To those of you who like to feed them comfrey, I tought it would be interesting.

And if Richter's sells it, I tend to say that is because it is the best. They know about 14.

This place is just amazing. In a former incarnation ( job), I used to drop by every time I was in the Toronto area. It is a calm place, ver zen, like a sanctuary for plants. The people working there are sooooo nice and so devoted, so willing to share their love and passion.

Just check them out . They ship around the world. Culinary, medicinal, religious, ayurvedic, they have them all. This is Ali Baba's cavern.

www.richters.com/

[biorag]

Hi Michel !
Thank you for the link !
Comfrey (?) is for "consoude" in French ?

I grow the "Bocking 14" in you're interested in.

[grungy]

If this is the same herb commonly known as boneset, a word of caution - it has been noted to have several carcinogens, especially in the older leaves of the plant.

[jason]

Does anyone grow 'true' comfrey? I planted what I think is one of the russian bocking varieties this spring. Hasn't flowered much so maybe that will help with id.

Boneset and comfrey are definitely different grungy. Boneset is also called white joe pyes weed I think. Where did you read about its toxicity? I'm planning on growing a bit and haven't heard anything about that..

[jason]

Ah.. nevermind.

I guess comfrey and Eupatorium perfoliatum are known as boneset. Comfrey has hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), which is probably what grungy was talking about.

[zephyrbird6a]

Well, bocking 14, 4 and true comfrey are similar in chemical nature, different in propogation. Bocking 14 doesn't set viable seed, and true comfrey does. I have no experience with propogating 4, so I'm not sure.

Yeah, three different comfreys, all useful. 4 does have the highest protein content, and 4 and 14 are used for livestock feeding. True comfrey is ususally identified as slightly lighter green, and after blossoming the inflorescenses contain fat shiny black seeds that fall readily to the ground.

For magickal or herbal uses, I prefer true comfrey. Call me a snooty booty, but I prefer comfrey that can reproduce. snarf! Maybe I'm just a holdover from practice in the 70s. ;D

For those folks interested, here's some quick info on comfrey:

www.ghorganics.com/page34.html

[bunkie]

i'm getting confused here. we have a few clumps of comfrey that we got from friends when we first moved here 20 plus years ago. the description for the Common Comfrey's flowers are like ours, but ours is definitely not invasive. they stay in their own clumps, spreading very little, wherever we plant them. our goats, ducks, chickens all eat it.

what are the flowers like on the Russian Comfrey?

the Red Comfrey sounds fascinating with the red flowers. wonder if the hummers would like it?

[zephyrbird6a]

Well the bockings and the true have those beautiful curly inflorescences. It's hard to tell the difference between them by the flowers alone. If your comfrey isn't spreading, it's probably a bocking. If you find baby comfreys all around the main plant(s), it's probably a "true" comfrey. Here's a page with pics of the true and the bocking. If you look closely, you can see the slight differences in veining, leaf size, color (although the two were taken in different lights), and structure of the inflorescence:

www.horizonherbs.com/search.asp?mode=results

The bocking cultivars are also more vigorous than true comfrey. They get bigger and they're tougher. Used extensively for livestock fodder, they are also very useful in the compost and mulching areas. I am trying to establish a patch myself for use in mulching roses, but seed is harder to get going than the roots. I had them germinate this year, but we'll see if the babies got big enough to survive the winter.

Are you spreading them around by dividing roots, bunkie?

I thought that red comfrey sounded cool, too. I've never grown it or even seen it for sale, but I bet it's a cool version.

[canadamike]

zephyr, bockin 14 is sterile, I don't know for 4.

One solution for establishing a patch quicly would be to root some cuttings.

Rooting hormones would help of course, but also cloning gel.

I have decided to buy a couple of cheap cloning machines this winter and establish whatever I want faster. Some tubers I have grown from Tom Wagner's seeds are worth it. I'll soon have an interesting bed of them with a machine.

I also have valuable strawberry plants that I want to reproduce fast.

With it, I'll be able to pump out full beds in no time.

I think we crazy gardenes are making a mistake by letting the pot growers buy all these lil' beauties. We should use them a lot more. few things so cheap can transform a garden so fast and replicate usefull plants so effectively in no time.

[bunkie]

yes zephr, i multiply them by dividing up the roots. i've noticed the baby plants come up in the spring, and if the main plant gets too dry, new babies emerge throughout the hot days of summer and in cool of fall.

i don't see pictures of Comfreys on the link you posted? our comfrey does get bigger throughout the year and the leaves do get tougher.

michel, these plants clone really well. one just has to stick a piece of one in dirt and they root! what's this 'cloning' machine you're talking about?

[zephyrbird6a]

Oh sorry, bunkie, it didn't work for me when I went there. Let me try it this way:

Bocking 14:



"True" comfrey:



Cross my fingers! Hope that worked!
Hey it did!

Try transplanting the babies bunkie - are they separate from the main root, or coming off it?

[zephyrbird6a]

CanadaMike - cloning machines? That sounds too cool for cornflakes. I'm really interested in that.

[canadamike]

Here is a link. 2 weks ago there was a special at 2 for 199$.

stores.cafr.ebay.ca/JULIAS-JADE-GARDEN

This is the machine I was looking into. I'll wait for the return of the special ;D

Even then, it is still cheap...