Rhubarb advice please

[Liz 89]

i know rhubard is used more as a fruit but it is technically a veg right? anyway, me and my boyfriend have been offered a ''cutting'' of someones rhibarb, and want to take the offer. but, i'm quite impatient with things and i've heard that with new rhubarb plants you shouldn't harvest for 2 years....is that true? and if so, is there any way of getting around that? like, only harvesting a little or something? because i don't like putting loads of effort into growing something that i'm not going to be able to use for a few years. sounds bad i know, but to be honest i haven't got the time or money to be tending to un-useful plants. any advice would be good.
MY FIRST POST!! thanks in advance xx

[SarzWix]

You could harvest a very little from it, if it seemed to be doing well. But the reason for not harvesting is because you'd be taking away the leaves which it needs to get light & grow stronger; eventually it's big enough to throw up so many stalks that it can cope with you nicking half of them If you took the stalks (& therefore leaves) before it was big enough, then it might remain a spindly little thing all it's life!

[kwa50]

I feel the same with rhubarb....

I heard also that you have to wait 2 years before you harvest rhubarb (and horseradish - I think).

My rhubarb is new this year and it looking very very good if I say so myself, but bearing in mind the space it takes up I hope that next year when I harvest the reward of eating freshly dug up rhubarb is worth the wait.

One question though..... my rhubarb is in a big pot - about 20 inches in total is this big enough or should I transfer it into an even bigger pot.

kwa50
CraftChallenge.co.uk - Home

[gojiberry]

Firstly once rhubard is planted it takes hardly any tending other than keep weed free and a bit of manure or fertiliser once a year. It is possible to harvest a small amount of rhubarb next year but don't over do it as SW says you need to let the plant build up its size and strength. I have 3 new crowns all in 14in buckets which will be planted into final position in Sept. A 20in pot will be plenty big enough. You don't dig up rhubarb when you harvest it, you just pulloff the sticks at ground level leaving the plant still in the ground to cary on growing. Rhubarb will continue to crop well for about 5/6 years when it will need lifting, splitting and replanted.


Ian

[Seahorse]

I think it depends how big the 'cutting' is. I've got a couple of small rhubarb crowns (the sort of thing that you see for sale in garden centres) that are very spindly after a year. However, I was also given a huge 'chunk' of plant by a friend and that has thrown up loads of stalks both in it's first year and now even more so in it's second.

[kwa50]

Does freshly grown rhubarb taste good.....

I havent harvested any rhubarb yet, but when I buy it in the shops (even the farm shop) it seems very woody and green and very stringy. Is own grown rhubarb the same....

kwa50
CraftChallenge.co.uk - Home

[MaureenHall]

Home grown rhubarb is much better than shop bought. It hasn't been hanging around for days before you get it, and with home grown, you can choose exactly which sticks to pull - I always put any tough or woody ones straight into the compost bin

[Flummery]

If you are an impatient person yo will NEVER have home-grown rhubarb. You really need to give it a year to settle in. Might as well start now!

[janeyo]

Well I nicked some off my nan in spring... and have KILLED both bits. How is this possible? I thought it was one of those unkillable plants!

janeyo

[SueA]

Maybe the bits you got didn't have a growing 'bud' on them Janeyo, you need a bit of the crown that has a definite 'bump' on it which will develop. I also managed to kill off a rhubarb crown once though, it was a shop bought one, the sort that comes in a packet for about £1.99, I planted it in the veg. patch but it got a bit waterlogged & the crown rotted away. The one I have now is Timperley Early, again it was bought from a garden centre as a little root in a pack & I planted it in a large tub. I left it alone the first year, pulled just a few pieces off it last year & this year have had quite a good crop so it's worth waiting for. I just mulch around it with fresh homemade compost & give it a feed by sprinkling some organic feed granules around it a couple of times a year & it's O.K.

[sweetcorn]

Is it true you shouldn't cut rhubarb, but pull it instead? If that's true, why pull instead of cut?

[Flummery]

Yes, you pull it, then it comes free from the crown with a little sort of tag at the end. you need to cut this off before cooking because it doesn't soften in cooking. The reason is that the short bits of stem cut off near the crown can cause it to rot.