Harvesting Rhubarb

Posts

• Dovefromabove Posts: 88,147

  August 2021

  I didn’t watch George so can’t comment … but it doesn’t sound to me like a practice that would be useful for long term garden growing,  but might lend itself to commercial growers who have to maximise cropping and have a rapid turnaround of plants. 

  
  

  The way I see it is that the plant needs the longest time possible for the leaves to be allowed to remain on the plant, photosynthesise the sunlight etc and transfer the energy back to the crown to provide nutrition for the next year’s leaves.
  
   That’s why, to my mind, the second half of the summer is the time to leave off harvesting and let the plant replenish itself.  

  
  

  Picking in July and August just doesn’t fit with that. 

  
  

  
  Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• Dave115 Posts: 25

  August 2021

  Thanks for all the comments. I think there may be a middle way here. There are enough  stems to enable me to pick a good number and still leave plenty on the plants
  to help regenerate for next year. If the stems are woody I will leave them be.

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• bertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697

  August 2021 edited August 2021

  @Dovefromabove says 5 months of picking. I agree. But this year has been so mad that our rhubarb has only had 3 months of picking.

  Yes we will stop now but July this year? No chance as we were only just getting some return.

  The plants are looking very good with huge leaves and stems so they can still capture the light and send food down to the crowns.

  Our soft fruit, currants, gooseberries, blueberries and logan berries finished some weeks ago.

  We are starting to pick some apples but the pears are still some weeks to go. So the rhubarb has helped.
  

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