You may need to gently untangle the tendrils of the rhizome if the root ball seems very compacted. Next, set the root ball in the hole, and backfill with soil.
All you need to do is make sure the root ball is covered. Give the plant a thorough soaking and set your container in a location that gets at least six hours of sun per day, preferably more.
Keep the soil moist, but not soggy. For crowns planted in the fall, reduce watering over the winter months, and increase again when you see the first signs of life in springtime. Then keep the soil evenly moist but not waterlogged through the growing season. If you have planted your crowns in the spring, get ready to watch them grow.
This will allow your plant to establish the strong root system it needs to produce truly delicious stalks starting one year after planting. To divide them, you have to dig up the root and cut it in half or into three pieces, depending on how large it is. It is best to divide in spring, when the plant is first starting to wake up from its winter dormancy, or in the fall, just before it goes dormant.
See our full guide to dividing perennials for detailed instructions on how to do this. Depending on the division time that you choose, the root balls rhizomes will be yellowish, chunky, tuberous things that may or may not have stalks and leaves attached. Plant each division in a hole about eight to ten inches deep, leaf side up. Cover all but the top inch of the root ball with soil, and leave any remaining stalks and leaves uncovered.
For spring-planted divisions, keep them moist throughout the rest of the spring and summer, and watch those mature stalks pop up. Yes, you can harvest them! Spring-planted divisions will grow quickly and will be ready for harvest as soon as the stalks are inches long. A dormant bare root ball is essentially the same thing as a division. This is what the plant is called when you purchase it from a nursery, and it will generally include just one pale, dormant bud.
Set the bare root inside, leaving the bud, exposed. Whatever you do, make sure to find the bud. They may be able to help you find the bud, or send a replacement. Water your newly planted root ball thoroughly, find it a sunny, warm location, and keep the soil moist. With springtime planting, leaves should emerge within two or three weeks.
Rhubarb planted from small bare roots needs time to establish a strong and healthy root system, giving you a better second-season yield and a hearty third-season yield, as well as high yields in the years to follow.
Since these plants are very long-lived, they can keep producing for decades. Since Alaska — along with other northern states from Washington to Maine — are excellent locations for growing rhubarb, I decided to start my own from seed in late January. To speed up germination, soaking the seeds in tepid water for at least two hours before sowing is recommended, to loosen the casing around the seeds. I chose to start my seeds in neat little starter trays, which you can find on Amazon. Seed Starting Trays.
To sow, make a one-inch-deep hole about the size of your fingertip, and drop one seed into each cell. After three weeks, I transplanted my baby seedlings into my eight-inch-wide, seven-inch-deep pots, prepared as described above with potting soil and a little granular fertilizer. In spring, when all risk of frost has passed and the seedlings are four to six inches tall, your plants will be ready for hardening off and moving outdoors in a larger container.
To harden them off, place the pots in a partly sunny area protected from wind, rain, and excessive sunshine, starting with two hours of outdoor exposure a day. Over the space of a week, gradually increase their outdoor playtime to eight hours, and then they will be ready to grow outdoors full-time. And voila! Your pie plant is on its way to becoming a one-year-old crown. Once established, rhubarb is easy to care for. Always keep in mind that it grows best in a sunny spot with evenly moist soil.
When growing it in containers, remember that the soil can dry out more quickly than it would in the garden. Keep an eye out for dehydration, especially during periods of hot weather. Mulching with shredded bark, wood chips, or compost can help the soil to retain moisture, just be sure not to let the mulch touch the crowns — keep it about an inch away from the stems of your plants.
In the late fall, after harvest, the plant will die back and go dormant for the winter. Come spring, when you see the first signs of new growth, fertilize with a balanced NPK granular fertilizer.
Note that this may not be necessary if you are mulching with compost , as it will gradually break down and provide extra nutrients to the soil. With a trowel or hand rake , scrape at the outside of the root until you can reach down and pull it out with two hands. Take a flat spade in two hands and hit the root with it, slicing the tuberous yellow chunk straight down the middle, or use a garden knife.
Depending on how large the root is, and how many buds it has, you may want to slice it again crosswise so that you have four chunks instead of two. Each division should have buds.
Replant the chunks with the stalk bud sides up, douse them with water, and watch them pop up and sprout new stalks in the spring. You can grow just about any cultivar in a container, but some varieties are smaller than others, making them better suited to growing in a smaller space. Here are a couple of the more popular cultivars suitable for your container garden. Plus, you can harvest it from spring all the way until late summer. Find packs of or 1, seeds from Outsidepride via Amazon.
This one is well suited to container growing because it reaches just three feet wide by three feet tall at maturity. Find packets of 50 seeds from Everwilde Farms via Amazon , like I did. If you want to get a head start on the growing season, you can also buy live plants or bare roots to start your crop, available at Burpee. But keep an eye out for fungal leaf rot, which can happen if the leaves stay damp or damply hug other surrounding leaves for too long.
During the first year, you need to resist the temptation to harvest the stems, in order to allow your rhubarb plants to become properly established. But your patience will pay off because, from the second year onwards, your rhubarb can be harvested from April to June, when the leaves have fully unfurled and the stems are 30cm long. To harvest, pull each rhubarb stalk from the base of the stem and twist it away from the crown. Don't worry if you find that you have more rhubarb than you can use; rhubarb freezes really well.
Pickling and preserving is also a great way to extend the shelflife of your rhubarb. A word of warning: only the stems of rhubarb are edible. The leaves contain oxalic acid, which is toxic if eaten. Simply trim the leaves away from the stems and add them to your compost heap.
Crown rot can be a problem when growing rhubarb. The best thing to do is act quickly and cut away any affected areas of the plant. You may find that slugs, snails and other garden critters feed on your tasty rhubarb. Keep an eye on your plants and deal with any pests quickly.
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How to Grow Rhubarb The ultimate guide to growing rhubarb in the UK Image: Shutterstock What could be better than rounding off your Sunday lunch with a piping hot bowl of rhubarb crumble? Which variety to choose Different varieties have different flavours, strengths, and qualities. Image: Shutterstock There are lots of different varieties of rhubarb to choose from.
Leave it unforced for a deeper, red-coloured stem. Once established, it will produce a heavy crop, year after year. It was voted best-flavoured rhubarb in the RHS Wisley trials. Should you grow rhubarb from seed? A rhubarb crown is a good option for beginners and green thumbs alike.
When to plant rhubarb Rhubarb crowns are best planted in autumn or spring. Image: Shutterstock Rhubarb crowns and budded pieces are best planted in autumn or spring, while the soil is warm and moist. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Grow Rhubarb In Containers. Short On Space? Grow Rhubarb In Containers Making your rhubarb garden mobile by planting in containers. Hobby Farms publishes the info you need to know to run a small-scale, sustainable farm.
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