Is Your Rhubarb Flowering?

Credit: Carolyn Herriot

Flowering is generally related to the age of the plant, the older the plant the more often it flowers.

However, some cultivars such as ‘Glaskin’s Perpetual’ and ‘Victoria’ are prone to flowering. Allowing plants to flower and set seed reduces fruit productivity, so unless you are saving seeds, remove flowering heads back to their base as they appear. This directs the plant’s energy back to fruit production. Rhubarb is green or red-stalked; the latter are sweeter, but less productive. However green-stalked varieties are better suited to forcing. Grow some of each! ‘Victoria’ and ‘Sutton’s’ are well known green-stalked varieties, ‘Valentine’, ‘Canada Red’ and ‘Cherry Red’ are good red-stalked types. To force rhubarb simply cover in February with the biggest terra cotta pot you own! Harvest tender blanched rhubarb earlier by forcing. Harvest stalks when between one and two feet long, before they become tough. To harvest: pull stalks off the crown with a twisting motion, rather than cutting them off. By mid-summer stop harvesting, rhubarb builds up oxalic acid as it matures. Leaving some foliage on the plant will also feed the roots back for next year’s harvest. To freeze; chop stalks into 5 cm (2 in.) lengths, spread on a cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze overnight. Place individual ready-for-use chunks in a freezer bag, and date. For best production divide crowns every three years. This is best done in the fall, to help the plant re-establish by spring. TIP: A sharp axe does an admirable job here! Replant chunks of divided root three feet apart using plenty of manure or compost because rhubarb is a gutsy feeder! I feed mine twice a year, late winter and fall, with a good dollop of horse manure. Good news weight watchers! Rhubarb is one of the lowest calorie foods, providing only ten calories per four ounces. The sweetener is the problem. TIP: Try cooking rhubarb with a good handful of sweet cicely leaves as a sugar substitute. It is also a good source of vitamin A and vitamin C and contains potassium, calcium and thiamin (B1). Click here to go back to the Victory Garden Program. Use the comment form below to ask Carolyn your questions and leave your feedback.