Pruning Comfrey

My Comfrey plants have grown excessively tall and unbalanced, causing them to lean over and cast shade on the neighboring plants. Therefore, it’s time to trim them back for the benefit of those surrounding them and to create more growth of Comfrey. Since the flowers are fading and have finished blooming, I don’t believe I’m depriving the bees of any resources. Pruning will actually encourage more blossoms to appear for them in the near future.

I cut each stem down to up to 6 inches above the soil level when I notice new leaves starting to emerge. If there are no signs of fresh growth, I will reduce it to just 1 inch above the ground. After I pruned my plants, I found plenty of young shoots, indicating that it was the right moment to trim them.

I plan to reserve the smaller, younger leaves at the top of the plant for infusing into oil, which I can use later in lotions or salves. Meanwhile, I might use some of the larger leaves as mulch around my trees, as they will enrich the soil with nutrients.

The first image below is when the plant was fully bloomed and looking great.  The second is after it was trimmed down, and the final image shows where I trimmed one of the stems just above new growth.