Comfrey
Symphytum officinale
Ground coverPlacenta
Fast biomassProduction
Your on-site fertiliser factory: a deep-rooted chop-and-drop plant that mines minerals and regrows endlessly for mulch. Confine it — it spreads aggressively from root pieces.
Tolerances & traits
- Strata
- Ground cover
- Lifecycle
- Placenta
- Soil preference
- Loam, Clay
- Soil pH range
- 5.5 – 7.5
- Min. temperature
- -30°C
- Min. rainfall
- 500 mm/year
- Wind tolerance
- High
- Frost tolerance
- High
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Irrigation needed
- Medium
How to manage it
Dynamic accumulator for chop-and-drop fertility; cut leaves hard several times a season and use as mulch or liquid feed.
Watch out for
NOT a nitrogen fixer despite old myths. Spreads aggressively from root fragments — plant in a dedicated fertility patch, not loose among crops. Contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids; avoid feeding leaves to livestock or using internally.
Design your line to see how your land fits Comfrey.
Start designing your line →Related species