Questions about Rhubarb

[tsuyako]

Hi all. I bought a Victoria Rhubarb plant from my local nursery a few months back and the plant is just taking off . My question is, though, can I harvest from it in the first year? I know you can't if you start it from seeds but I didn't know if you could from transplants. I read somewhere that Victoria Rhubarb can be harvested from in the first year.

Also, when it does come to harvest/prune the plant in the fall, how should I go about it? Just cut off all the stalks from the base? And how do you tell when it's ready? When it turns all red?

Wow that's alot of question! Thanks in advance.

[Texas Kenny]

In Texas we can grow Rhubarb as a annual from seed. I was sucessful in harvesting in May 2011 from Victoria seed sowed in August 2010. It's still alive in spite of a month of over 100 degrees. The stalks never turned the pretty red like Northern grown Rhubarb but taste the same.

[Texas Kenny]

May I add something. My wife pulled some nice fat stalks to test a new recipe in mid July. It was tough and slightly bitter. Rhubarb don't like it as hot as it gets and as long as it stays hot in Texas

[Jackie-T]

You can take a very small harvest, you want the plant to settle in well and retain energy to make it through the winter. Some individual plants are redder than others. I have a few that ar almost totaly green. I let the plant die down and only take the dead leaves off come spring. I figure that is what would happen in nature the leaves acting as a blanket to protect the crown. I also have fownd tha stems to not taste so well during hot weather or maybe come spring I am so desparate for fresh green food that the stems taste just fine. for harvesting the stalks I kind of twist and pull,but be carefull you don't pull up the plant.

[LuvsToPlant]

Originally Posted by tsuyako

Hi all. I bought a Victoria Rhubarb plant from my local nursery a few months back and the plant is just taking off . My question is, though, can I harvest from it in the first year? I know you can't if you start it from seeds but I didn't know if you could from transplants. I read somewhere that Victoria Rhubarb can be harvested from in the first year.

Also, when it does come to harvest/prune the plant in the fall, how should I go about it? Just cut off all the stalks from the base? And how do you tell when it's ready? When it turns all red?

Wow that's alot of question! Thanks in advance.

Here at the nursery we plant ours up in the early spring for sales in late spring summer.

We always suggest nOt to harvest the first year in order for the roots to develop well and only a light harvest the second year....
From then on ... harvest only half the plant.

Harvest by running your thumb down the stem and breaking off just above the crown.
Cutting will cause rotting inviting insects and disease.

When the plant sends up a flower stalk...break off before it flowers to provide more energy to the plant.

Rhubarb only need 5 hours a day...so in hot areas and hot summers plant
where it will recieve afternoon shade.