Rhubarb (forum)

Wayne starts with ...
I need advise on growing the above Guys.
Some weeks back I ran across a couple of crowns and a punnet of seedlings which I couldn't resist.
I planted the crowns out in to a bed and separated the seedlings. I ended up with eleven plants which I have potted.
All were doing fine until a fungus set in but, after much tender care I'm now on top of that problem.
What I had to do was to remove a few stems from the crown because they were to far gone.
I was going to cut the stems from the plant but thinking that it has a crown I decided to snap the stems off, is this the correct method. If I just cut the stems away would the plant not think that they were still there and not replace them with new shoots. Both plants are now sending out new shoots so perhaps I did right.
When do I harvest? When the stem turns red and not before. So the leaves are poisonous, is the stem poisonous until it turns red?
As you can gather, I don't know much about growing Rhubarb, but we sure like Rhubarb Pie.
Thanks for your help.

Time: 22nd August 2010 4:39pm

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Original Post was last edited: 22nd August 2010 6:05pm

About the Author Wayne
Mackay QLD
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Nick says...
Hi Wayne, I'm not an expert on this subject but I have found the plant to be easy to grow. Firstly I have mine right next to a large peach tree so it gets shade in summer and sun in winter. It is one of those plants that I keep neglecting yet keeps growing back. I know this isn't much but when harvesting always leave the bud and only take off 2 thirds of a plant at once. Also I find that if most of the stem is red it should be okay to cook and eat.
Good luck

Time: 22nd August 2010 8:05pm

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About the Author Nick T
Altona, VIC
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amanda says...
Hi Wayne - Mum says u sort of pull the the stems out (starting from the outside) and they come away and look a bit like celery stalks at the bottom? Hope that makes sense.
She's a rhubarb devotee (I now grow a plant just for her actually!)
We love rhubarb and apple crumble (and I have a very, very nice recipe if u ever interested..)

Time: 22nd August 2010 8:16pm

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About the Author amanda19
Geraldton. WA
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Wayne says...
Thank you very much for the advise guys and yes please for your recipe Amanda. I did read that they like a cooler climate than ours is so I'm half expecting them to die away in summer.

I'M thinking about shade cloth

Time: 23rd August 2010 9:47am

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About the Author Wayne
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amanda says...
Ok Wayne - recipe after coffee's :) My plant is on the south side of my water tanks and gets no direct sun at all - it's very happy there. It does seem to love lots of manure/rich soil.
It's the first one I have grown - so I don't know much more about them.

Time: 23rd August 2010 10:16am

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About the Author amanda19
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amanda says...
Hi Wayne: yummy rhubarb n apple crumble (adapted from a Maggie Beer recipe)

0.5kg rhubarb chop into 4cm pieces
0.5kg granny smith apple (peeled and chopped)
(u can omit the apple and use 1kg rhubarb too)
1/2 cup caster sugar (or 1/4 cup honey)
finely grated rind of 1 orange, and the juice of 2.
125grm plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup dark-brown sugar
100grm rolled oats
140grm chilled unsalted butter, chopped

Preheat oven to 180 oC
Spread rhubarb & apple in a baking dish, sprinkle with caster sugar/or honey, pour on OJ and bake 20mins until tender. Add extra OJ if there are no juices left in the dish.

Combine flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, OJ rind and oats - then rub the butter into the flour using your finger tips.

MY Variation: to the crumble mix (above) I add 1/2 cup shredded coconut and 1/2 cup of crushed macadamia nuts (pretty rough measurements - up to a cup fine)
You don't need to add these - but it makes it really special IMO. Could use a different nut also eg walnut, almond.

Put crumble on top of rhubarb/apple and bake 25mins.
Serve with cream, ice cream - whatever!

Enjoy :)





Time: 23rd August 2010 4:11pm

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About the Author amanda19
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Wayne says...
Yummy, thanks Amanda

Time: 25th August 2010 6:05am

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About the Author Wayne
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epiphany says...
I grow 5 rhubarb plants - I'm a huge fan of it :) It's very versatile, either as a dessert (I like it best stewed with a little bit of sugar & served with ice cream...the cold leftovers are great on breakfast the next day) or as an accompaniment to meat & it makes great preserves.

As Amanda mentioned, you harvest by pulling the stems off...it'll form a heel at the bottom. NEVER cut the stems as it allows disease to get in to the plant.

Rhubarb are gross feeders, so give them lots of manure & other goodies & they'll reward you with lots of growth. Everyone says not to harvest the first year but I found a couple of mine got so huge the first year, I *had* to harvest just to keep the size down - but that's the variety rather than how I was treating it.

They will grow in shade but do much better in full sun. They prefer free draining soil. Some varieties have green stems or green-red stems, so don't rely on colour as a guide to pick. Really...rhubarb isn't 'ripe'...you just harvest the stems as required (big or small - they're all edible!). You'll know when a stem is too far gone to harvest though as it will sort of shrivel & fall off. And if/when it flowers, just cut the flower off.

They also die down in winter where it's cold. You can force rhubarb at the end of winter but I've never bothered. Every couple of years, you'll need to dig the crown up & divide it to keep the stems big (if the crown is too big, the leaves get crowded & the stems are smaller as a result).

As an aside, I find the snails or the chooks sometimes have a bit of a pig out & the leaves look very tatty but on the whole, they leave the stems alone, so I never worry about it too much - the stems are the bits you want. You can compost the leaves but never eat them & certainly don't try eating the roots either (just in case there are still some people out there who aren't aware they're poisonous). Good luck!

Time: 26th August 2010 9:22am

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Original Post was last edited: 26th August 2010 9:24am

About the Author epiphany2
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Wayne says...
Thank you very much for that information epiphany. You say that it dies away in your winter so I'm guessing that would be the time for us up here to get a crop. I wonder what it will do over summer.

Thanks again for that

Time: 26th August 2010 4:29pm

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amanda says...
Hey Wayne - mine doesn't die over winter here (in fact it grows better!?) - but it will be different for me than you, I guess.
I will be interested to know if powdery mildew will be a problem for u in the Wet. I don't know that it is prone to it at all - just a gut feeling.
I can't even even grow Comfrey in full sun here :-(

Time: 26th August 2010 8:58pm

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About the Author amanda19
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epiphany says...
They're supposed to die down in winter...of my five, only a couple have died down this winter. The ones that didn't had *huge* leaves/stalks so this may have protected them. Actually, come to think about it, the same sort of thing used to happen with my old plants too - one would die down & the other wouldn't (& the one that wouldn't was bigger). *shrug*

As long as you keep the water up to them, I would think they'd (hopefully) be ok during summer. They're surprisingly hardy.

Time: 27th August 2010 8:56am

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About the Author epiphany2
Melbourne
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