Rhubarb Planting Conditions

Rhubarb can be eaten raw or cooked

Purchasing rhubarb from a market can make your taste buds tingle with anticipation, especially when you know how it's going to taste with strawberries in a homemade pie, or stewed and topped with whipped cream. You can grow rhubarb in your own garden for an annual supply of the sour stalks if your yard has the proper conditions for growing the plant.

Description

Rhubarb leaves are large and rounded

Rhubarb is a cool-season perennial, which produces edible fleshy stems and buds that will continue producing for over 15 years under the proper conditions. The plants bush out more each year and can reach 4 feet wide and 3 to 4 feet high. The dark pink stems can grow from 1 to 3 feet high and be 2 or more inches in diameter. The leaves are dark green with rounded edges and can extend 1 to 1 1/2 feet across. The stalks, although bitter to the taste, are edible raw or cooked.

Planting Conditions

Rhubarb plants must be planted far apart

Each plant should be planted in indirect sunlight or partial shade, with the ideal locations being the northern States and Canada where the temperatures are cooler. The roots need to be planted with the tops of the crowns about an inch below the surface of fertile, well-drained--yet moist--soil that's high in organic matter and slighly acidic. Space rhubarb 3 to 4 feet apart and in rows 5 to 6 feet apart.

Fertilizer with high nitrogen, 34-0-0, should be used beginning the second year, pouring 1/4 cup in a 36-inch circle around the base of each plant, with the process being repeated every spring. As well, beginning with the second year and onwards, two inches of well-rotted manure can be dug into the soil around the base of the plants. The plants should not be harvested for at least two years, giving the first year to allow the roots to use the food from the leaves to get strong, and the second year only for a light pruning.

Effects of Planting in the Wrong Conditions

Rhubarb requires frequent watering the first year

If the rhubarb plants get too much heat from being planted in the sun, growth will become suppressed and the plants will go dormant, producing few leaves and stemss as they struggle to stay alive. If the soil dries out, especially in the first two years while the plants are developing, they will quickly die. Planting them too close together will cause growth to be stunted, resulting in little to no crop, and will increase the possibility of spreading disease. Over fertilizing will burn the roots and harvesting within the first two years will prevent the plant from developing and could kill it completely.

Uses

Rhubarb leaves become great organic matter in the composter

Rhubarb leaves are high in oxalic acid salts making them suitable organic matter to add to a composter, but too toxic for either animal or human consumption. The stems can be cooked or baked as a complement to other foods or can be used alone as in rhubarb cobbler. They can be eaten raw but in moderation since too much can produce the same results as a laxative.

Relieving Crowded Planting Conditions

Rhubarb roots can be easily cut into several pieces for replanting

After a few years the plants will often become too crowded and require thinning out. In the early spring the roots can be dug up and cut into sections with each containing a portion of the crown and the root system. These can be planted following the same planting rules.

References

• University of Saskatchewan Extension: The GardenLine-Rhubarb

Resources

• Canadian Gardening: Raising Rhubarb