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permies in Rome, Italy?

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posted 11 years ago

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We recently moved to Italy in just outside Rome and are anxious to connect with the Permie Community here and also desperately need to find a source for Comfrey for our garden. Can anyone point us in the right direction? Thanks so much.

William James

gardener

Posts: 1060

Location: Northern Italy

posted 11 years ago

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Hello in Rome, italy...

I'm up in Milan. You can connect to the italian permie community via the Academia.

http://www.permacultura.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=39

Anna is good about posting things to the list.

As for comfrey, I order seed from the US. It's not the russian comfrey, but Symphytum officinale. You can probably get it on ebay via the UK as well.
www.horizonherbs.com

If you buy it now, put it in the fridge in february, you should be okay for comfrey in the spring. They're easy to cold stratify.

You may find people in the Rome area that might have comfrey, for sure, even the russian kind. Send a message to the Academia.

William

Our Microgreens: http://www.microortaggi.it

Jose Reymondez

Posts: 138

Location: Galicia, Spain Zone 9

posted 11 years ago

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Martin Crawford has medicinal and bocking 14 comfey root cuttings in the UK.

http://www.agroforestry.co.uk/plantorders.html

A little closer than the States.

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William James

gardener

Posts: 1060

Location: Northern Italy

posted 11 years ago

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I just bought Comfrey seeds from a seller on ebay.co.uk and it was super cheap.

I may be wrong on this, but I think root cuttings are minimum 30 pounds shipping outside of the UK because they come with a plant passport. Root cutting of S. officinale is 6 pounds plus the 30 pounds shipping. You could get a lot of comfrey seed for 42 euros.

If you just need comfrey, get seed. If you already have comfrey but want a specific kind of comfrey, buy the root cutting or network your way to someone else's root cutting.
W

Our Microgreens: http://www.microortaggi.it

Jose Reymondez

Posts: 138

Location: Galicia, Spain Zone 9

posted 11 years ago

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William, you're right, shipping is expensive. Since I've ordered trees from Martin, I just threw in comfrey with the order.

I've tried sowing comfrey from seed and it didn't work out, do they need stratifying?

I live in a very backwards part of Spain, we're the guys who produced Franco. Old ladies here feed their sheep and chickens and pigs the store-bought "McDonalds" feed and think their livestock is as good as organic because its "homemade."

The main "permaculture guy" in the area gave me some dwarf comfrey and another guy was selling normal medicinal comfrey, but only as a potted plant. Haven't met anyone with Bocking 14. Anyway, comfrey from root cutting is so easy, I'd rather do that than plant it from seed.

William James

gardener

Posts: 1060

Location: Northern Italy

posted 11 years ago

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I've started comfrey from seed twice with good results.

Yes, you need to stratify for a few weeks. I found that 30 days in the fridge with a plastic bag and some moist potting soil works just fine. You plant them out on a wide potting soil bed and when they com up you put them into pots.

I've never heard of Bocking 14, why is it so special?

W

Our Microgreens: http://www.microortaggi.it

Jose Reymondez

Posts: 138

Location: Galicia, Spain Zone 9

posted 11 years ago

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They mention it quite a bit on these forums. Check out relevant thread https://permies.com/t/15975/plants/Comfrey-Bocking-Clarification

Basically it grows faster for "chop and drop" and I think its a better compost activator. Also, it doesn't set seed so it won't get invasive in case you don't want it to spread on its own.

I still have some seeds left, Im gonna stick them in the fridge!

Morgan Carey

Posts: 33

posted 11 years ago

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Thanks for your replies, I hadn't checked this post in awhile and was happy to see your replies.

Lorenzo Costa

steward

Posts: 809

Location: Italy, Siena, Gaiole in Chianti zone 9

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posted 11 years ago

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Hi, il ive in Italy to, near Siena. For the comfrey, if you look for the symphytum officinalis you don't have to go buying it in the UK but can find it in many vivai in Italy. for any other plant that you are interested in i think you should visit this site and then the actual place: http://www.ilgiardinodelleerbe.it/
another: http://tuttosemi.com/
fantastic sites to visit
you can find the comfrey here:
http://vivaionaiadi.blogspot.it/p/conacreis.html
i brought 40 roots of comfrey, symphytum x uplandicum, bocking 14 from uk because it is not invasive, it is seed sterile, and you can't find it in Italy for sale. when it will be established in my land i will look forward to exchange. but this will not happen before a year it has to root weel before dividing it. anyway i come to rome once every two months so if you need in future anything or want to meet to have an exchange of views feel free to contact me.

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