Rhubarb

  For the first time in 30 years of trying, i seem to have found a critter safe spot to grow rhubarb. Now  -   i need to know the rules. Does it just want to grow and become established the first year ? Should some stalks be cut ? The plants have been in the ground for three weeks and are over a foot high with three or four stalks each.    (they shipped as bare root, dead looking clumps)

Thanks for any good advice on helping them thrive.

Dorothy

Reply to
Blues Ma
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I wouldn't cut any the first year. If you get long stout stalks with very large leaves, it might be OK, but I'd let it alone till next year. Do cut off any flower stalks that form, if any do.

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

Thanks so much. D  

   
Reply to
Blues Ma

Critters don't eat rhubarb. We have a commercial crop of it (well, it seems like it -- 60 hills or so) that aren't fenced. Our cattle, horses, moose, coyotes and wolves don't eat it. What critters are you worried about?

The secret to happy rhubarb is to dump lots of manure or compost on it every fall. Probably every spring, too. But it grows so well up here in Alaska that we ignore it, hoping that it'll die back some, and it doesn't.

You aren't supposed to pull any stems for the first year. Ha. Unless your rhubarb is having trouble, I'd pull a few. Do you need recipes? I found one for a rhubarb sauce on arugula salad the other day that sounds pretty good.

Jan, 59o N. Latitude

Reply to
Jan Flora

Haha, same as ours was in Montana... plant it, abuse it, harvest it :)

Anyone know of a good variety that will do okay in desert heat? Given a choice, I like the thick red kind best (no idea of names).

~REZ~

Reply to
Rez

Groundhogs  -  woodchucks to us  -  eat it right down until you can see their teeth marks in the soil.    Chipmunks munch on it to if they have a chance before the big guys find it.

Hope to see the day i have just six thriving clumps.

That would be great. Thanks Jan

   
Reply to
Blues Ma

Here's a good rhubarb article:

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your desert gets good and cold in the winter (high desert), you could probably grow rhubarb. It seems to favor having a "real" winter.

Jan

Reply to
Jan Flora

I was reading the web site about Rhubarb this evening. This one:

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the one someone posted just hours ago. I lost track of which thread it was under so I'm starting a new one.

Question: What do some of you think is the best Rhubarb variety? I like the looks of the ones with solid red stalks. Are they as edible as the older, more green, varieties? If the very red ones are tender for eating (cooking) which is your favorite one?

Steve in the Adirondacks ... where it's still early enough to consider planting rhubarb this spring.

Reply to
Steve

OK, on my system, it didn't start a new thread after all. It is back under the original thread. Now I can see that Jan posted that web site earlier today.

Steve

Steve wrote:

Reply to
Steve

Valentine and Canada Red are both hardy and tasty.    

Reply to
Blues Ma

Thank you. :-)

Reply to
Steve

We routinely get hard freezes, with a couple months of 20-25F every night and up to 50-60F days, but it can reach -10F here, and sometimes there'll be several weeks where it doesn't break freezing. There are apple and cherry orchards just a few miles west of me (temps about the same, but they have better soil with more constant moisture), so we must get enough cold for them.

On the far end, summer tops out at 117F.

In Montana, rhubarb always seemed to like the east side of the house best, where it got only morning sun. So I expect I'd want to give it partial shade here, so it doesn't get, um, pre-cooked.

~REZ~

Reply to
Rez

I rented a house once in Illinois that had a row of rhubarb planted underneath a row of Concord grapes on a wire fence type support (four cane Kniffen pruning). Worked great. The rhubarb got lots of sun in spring, and was shaded in summer. It lasted at least a month or two longer than usual.

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

After posting that I went off and read more and seems the plant originated in Siberia, so no wonder it likes cold and shade!

Anyway, I have just the spot for it, but I'll have to move the tall gladioli first (put them there to keep them out of the wind). Which means it won't happen this year as the glads are not even to the blooming stage yet.

~REZ~

Reply to
Rez

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