I planted out 3 crowns of rhubarb last year, and like a good girl I didn't cut any stems- thought I was tempted! I got given another 3 crowns last autumn ( a friend's father has a huge patch of the stuff) and am experimenting with forcing it. I put them in a dumpy bag of leaf mould until I saw signs of growth. I have a dalek type compost bin in which I keep old pottig compost I beefed the contents up a bit with cluck muck and home made compost, and plonked them in that. They're growing away quite happily in the gloom, and I hope to be able to cut a few early tender spears in the next week or so. the garden ones are showing signs of growth too, but are weeks behind the others. I'll compost the forced crowns when they've done their bit - but noting the problems that other posters have had with slugs, I'll pop out now and sprinkle in some pellets.
I planted a whole packet of rhubarb seeds in different places in the garden. The only success is 3 that have grown in a l ltr pot. They have produced stems and leaves over the summer. Can you please advise whether to plant in the open garden or keep in pots. Many thanks
Any type of 'forcing' will weaken a crown. The only reason to do it is to get an earlier crop at the expense of using up the stored energy in the crown. I was originally done in areas where they grew thousands of crowns so they could use a proportion for forcing each year (to extend the season - ie for making money!) which, when exhausted, would be replanted and left to grow for a few years to build-up the crown again while being cropped normally. Unless you have several rhubarb plants growing I think forcing is a waste of time for the home gardener.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Are we talking about 'proper' forcing, i.e. digging up the crown and exposing the root to frost, then taking it into a warm darkened shed to produce pink rhubarb?
or
are we talking about placing a forcing pot or chimney/bucket over a crown of rhubarb growing in the garden to blanch the rhubarb which is produced only a short while earlier than normal?
I do the second every year with a mature crown, but I don't pull any rhubarb after the end of May/early June - this way the crown builds up again before the winter and is not damaged.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Is there such a thing as a metal galvanised forcer. I have just cleared out my mother in laws garden and found a cylindrical metal corrugated about 2ft tall with a circumferance of 18inchs.
Posts
I planted a whole packet of rhubarb seeds in different places in the garden. The only success is 3 that have grown in a l ltr pot. They have produced stems and leaves over the summer. Can you please advise whether to plant in the open garden or keep in pots. Many thanks
does this apply to a transplanted mature crown? I was recently given such a plant by a neighbour.
Thank you.
Any type of 'forcing' will weaken a crown. The only reason to do it is to get an earlier crop at the expense of using up the stored energy in the crown. I was originally done in areas where they grew thousands of crowns so they could use a proportion for forcing each year (to extend the season - ie for making money!) which, when exhausted, would be replanted and left to grow for a few years to build-up the crown again while being cropped normally. Unless you have several rhubarb plants growing I think forcing is a waste of time for the home gardener.
Are we talking about 'proper' forcing, i.e. digging up the crown and exposing the root to frost, then taking it into a warm darkened shed to produce pink rhubarb?
or
are we talking about placing a forcing pot or chimney/bucket over a crown of rhubarb growing in the garden to blanch the rhubarb which is produced only a short while earlier than normal?
I do the second every year with a mature crown, but I don't pull any rhubarb after the end of May/early June - this way the crown builds up again before the winter and is not damaged.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I was assuming the former Dove. I think what you do is quite a common method of keeping it tender and, as you say, getting a slightly earlier crop.
I agree Bob, but this implies differently http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/fruit-and-vegetables/how-to-force-rhubarb/276.html
whereas this site gives information on what you and I would call Rhubarb Forcing http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/forcing.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Is there such a thing as a metal galvanised forcer. I have just cleared out my mother in laws garden and found a cylindrical metal corrugated about 2ft tall with a circumferance of 18inchs.