Comfrey Bocking 4 and 14: Clarification Please?

Doing some quick research on which comfrey varieties are good for what purposes, but finding some conflicting information. Need some clarification.

From what I've read,

Bocking 4 = Good animal fodder, more for medicinal use, low in PAs, tends to run a little more wild
Bocking 14 = Higher production, the best for compost use, slightly higher in PAs thus not as recommended for medicinal use, stays put more than Bocking 4

Symphytum officinale = approximately 1/3 production of either Bocking varieties, seeds freely, can naturalize in ideal circumstances, might have lower PAs and better for medicinal uses

Me = confused, because different websites keep switching Bocking 4 and 14 like they're interchangeable.

Bumping this thread, as I'm on the same quest
Did you find anything out, maikeru sumi-e?

Unfortunately, I believe many of the claims and data are dependent on which variety each vendor sells.

From what I have gathered, any of the Bocking varieties will outproduce the S. officinale in terms of plant mass.
There are reports that Bocking 14 will be shunned by various animals (but that could also be based on what else is available to eat).

For a strictly medicinal use, the true comfrey S. officinal seems to be more in favor.
For fodder, the B-4 seems most popular.
For compost/tea production, the B-14 seems the most productive.

For 'ease of use', true comfrey will reseed itself...requires no root division. It will spread itself with no intervention.
That could be a problem if you don't want to spend time controlling it, and it is heavily planted.
I believe, that mixed in with hundreds of other species, it should not get out of hand.

I guess each of us needs to determine which species best fits our own requirements for end use, as well as upkeep/propagation.
There is no one "best", as it depends on your overall intended use of the final product, and how you want to spend your time.

I know this is sort of a late reply....but if you haven't read the book: "Comfrey, Fodder, Food & Remedy" by Lawrence D. Hills, do so now...because in the book, he covers all of the different varieties of Comfrey from Bocking 1 to 21 and how they all came to be. Good book.

Steve Garza wrote:I know this is sort of a late reply....but if you haven't read the book: "Comfrey, Fodder, Food & Remedy" by Lawrence D. Hills, do so now...because in the book, he covers all of the different varieties of Comfrey from Bocking 1 to 21 and how they all came to be. Good book.

Let me add to that the book by the same author "Comfrey - Past, Present and Future".

As a side question....technically aren't all the varieties Symphytum officinale? When we specify a bocking variety vs. Symphytum officinale is really just to distinguish a particular cultivar against the wild natural variety?

The Bocking varieties are hybrids. They do not produce viable seed.
Since the Bocking varieties produce no viable seed, they must be propagated by cuttings/division.
If you wish to propagate by seed, you need to get seeds from Symphytum o.

Ben Bishop wrote:As a side question....technically aren't all the varieties Symphytum officinale? When we specify a bocking variety vs. Symphytum officinale is really just to distinguish a particular cultivar against the wild natural variety?

In addition to what John said let me add, the term "Bocking" refers to a village subdistrict, in Braintree district, Essex in England. The term was applied to comfrey by Lawrence D. Hills who chose it during his research simply because it was the location of his research. He firgured that way Bocking would be universal and used in any language. Where had he said say variety 4, in Spain it would be variedad 4 and in say Italy it would be varietà 4, etc. Where as Bocking would be called Bocking by everyone.

So when they did all the trials noted in Hills' books they were just different pairings of different hybrid and essentially Bocking 4 really kind of does mean Variety 4, I think knowing that makes things in the comfrey world a bit more clear.

The next thing people ask than is what happened to Bocking 1-3 and 4-13 and are there any higher than 14. The basic answer is that 4 and 14 ended up being the two that grew best and worked best as fodder and fertility yields.

OK ... so I have Comfrey from two different sources.  At least one said she'd grown it from seed.  How do I know which variety(s) I have?  If they came from seed, does that mean neither is a Bocking 4 or 14 either one?  They were given to me as cuttings, however.  But I assume that doesn't tell me anything.

Kathleen,
If your comfrey was grown from seed it would not be any named variety including the Bocking selections. It is most likely the straight species known as "common comfrey" (Symphytum officinale).

If one of your comfreys was not originally grown from seed then you could with very careful evaluation and observation determine if it is also common comfrey (which will occasionally produce a small number of seeds) or one of the hybrid "Russian" comfreys which should never produce seeds under normal conditions.

I say the common comfrey only occasionally produces seeds because it mostly attracts bumble bees which actually pierce the side of the flower to access the nectar and in doing so are very inefficient as pollinators.  That means that you won't always find seeds on your common comfrey so don't assume not finding seeds right away means it's a Russian hybrid.  Over the years I've found that the common type does not spread aggressively by seed and in my experience is still most often multiplied (where I am) when soil disturbance fragments the roots.  

So it is spring 2022
Anyone selling comfrey
I live on Hamilton, ON and would prefer pick it up

Yola Ska wrote:So it is spring 2022
Anyone selling comfrey
I live on Hamilton, ON and would prefer pick it up

Seconded from greater Seattle.

Aurora House wrote:

Yola Ska wrote:So it is spring 2022
Anyone selling comfrey
I live on Hamilton, ON and would prefer pick it up

Seconded from greater Seattle.

I have comfrey for sale, but I'm in WI, so you may prefer to have it shipped

Bocking 4, $1 per root, plus priority shipping in whichever box size is appropriate.

Trace Oswald wrote:

Aurora House wrote:

Yola Ska wrote:So it is spring 2022
Anyone selling comfrey
I live on Hamilton, ON and would prefer pick it up

Seconded from greater Seattle.

I have comfrey for sale, but I'm in WI, so you may prefer to have it shipped

Bocking 4, $1 per root, plus priority shipping in whichever box size is appropriate.

Hi trace, how do I contact you to purchase the rooting? What size do you have?

Holly Gardener wrote:

Trace Oswald wrote:

Aurora House wrote:

Yola Ska wrote:So it is spring 2022
Anyone selling comfrey
I live on Hamilton, ON and would prefer pick it up

Seconded from greater Seattle.

I have comfrey for sale, but I'm in WI, so you may prefer to have it shipped

Bocking 4, $1 per root, plus priority shipping in whichever box size is appropriate.

Hi trace, how do I contact you to purchase the rooting? What size do you have?

Holly, you can just send me a PM on here if you like.  The root pieces I sent vary in size, but all are large enough to grow a new plant easily.  Most are about finger size and a couple inches long.  That is larger than you need to grow a plant.  I always tell people, if you would like more plants than the number of roots purchased, you could cut them in half and they will still grow easily.

Prairie Tough Farms ships comfrey from/to Canada (they are in Alberta I think). No personal experience with them but I do receive their newsletter advertising their comfrey every year, and it's a russian hybrid (but they don't mention which Bocking). You need to pre-order and they make bulk shipments a couple of times per summer (they are a small mom-and-pop farm).

In Montreal, Jonah Neumark sells Bocking 14 comfrey, in addition to a lot of other lovely native plants, but I'm not sure if he would ship comfrey roots. I bought mine from him several years ago, and they were very good quality (large root systems, all of them survived and I've been able to multiply my plants several times since then).

Trace Oswald,
Can you provide me with your contact information? I am looking to plant a couple hundred Comfrey plants here on our ranch in the Ozarks.

We would eventually like to have a couple acres of this on our place.

Hi Andrew,

Welcome to Permies.

Andrew Ybarra wrote:Trace Oswald,
Can you provide me with your contact information? I am looking to plant a couple hundred Comfrey plants here on our ranch in the Ozarks.

We would eventually like to have a couple acres of this on our place.

Andrew, you can always send me a PM here.  I'm happy to work out a deal for you on an order that size.

Some people have asked about comfrey recently.  I always have it available during warmer months and I'm happy to help anyone out with some, but please keep in mind I'm in Wisconsin, so the ground is still frozen here.  It may be a month or so before I can dig up roots.

Trace Oswald wrote:

Aurora House wrote:

Yola Ska wrote:So it is spring 2022
Anyone selling comfrey
I live on Hamilton, ON and would prefer pick it up

Seconded from greater Seattle.

I have comfrey for sale, but I'm in WI, so you may prefer to have it shipped

Bocking 4, $1 per root, plus priority shipping in whichever box size is appropriate.

Hello, pardon for kicking this thread alive.

I am looking for Comfrey * *Bock 4* too. Will PM.

Thanks
Haris

* make correction to Bock 4

When I was researching 4 vs 14 each vendor said the one they grew was best. I made my decision based on trace ^^. I saw lots of informative posts from them over my time here. So I went with 4. I got mine from coes comphrey. Seemed like a good deal plus he sells crowns too. The impatient part of me….

I planted about 2-3weeks ago and all but one crown has popped up. No roots yet but they take longer. Came packed very nicely in sawdust with instructions for best planting methods. Took 2days to ship from I think n Carolina to Texas.

Very pleased with the whole transaction.

Joe Hallmark wrote:When I was researching 4 vs 14 each vendor said the one they grew was best. I made my decision based on trace ^^. I saw lots of informative posts from them over my time here. So I went with 4. I got mine from coes comphrey. Seemed like a good deal plus he sells crowns too. The impatient part of me….

I planted about 2-3weeks ago and all but one crown has popped up. No roots yet but they take longer. Came packed very nicely in sawdust with instructions for best planting methods. Took 2days to ship from I think n Carolina to Texas.

Very pleased with the whole transaction.

I just saw this and wanted to give a shout out to Coe's Comfrey.  He is great to do business with, and that is where I got started with my first root cuttings.