Also receive the Almanac Daily newsletter including gardening tips, weather, astronomical events, and more.
Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Rhubarb
Cooking Notes
Check out our list of best rhubarb recipes to put your fresh rhubarb to good use! Plus, learn how to make a rhubarb tonic.
ADVERTISEMENT
Replanting into larger planters, I have had them in for 10+ years. But have read not to use peat soil.
i have two rhubarb plants,, first time,, i understand not to eat until 2nd growth?. do i just cut stalks etc off and wait for next stalks please?
Yes, it's advised to wait it until the second season before harvesting.
I read in your article that "The leaves of the rhubarb plant are toxic", so can I put them on the compost?
Thank you for your help.
Hi, Agnes. Though the leaves contain oxalic acid, they are safe to put in the compost pile. The acid breaks down as the leaves decompose and the poison is not absorbed by the other compost pile components.
Do I remove the flowering part from my rhubarb
Hello,
Yes, the article says that you should remove the stalk that comes up with a tight white head (is the flowering stalk). I cut mine at the base with a sharp knife. Keep an eye; each plant may grow more than one throughout the growing season.
Hi, I would like to transplant my rhubarb plants. I believe they are 2 and 3 years old. They are starting to come up out of the ground right now. What is the best way to do this and can the stalks still be picked this year? Thank you,
Karen
Hi Karen,
If the soil is workable, you will want to dig up your rhubarb plants as soon as possible because transplanting/dividing in the spring should be done just as new growth emerges.
While you typically don’t divide rhubarb until your plants are 4 or 5 years old, if your plants are large enough to divide, this could be a good time to do that considering you will already be digging them up.
A good idea is to have the hole for your rhubarb plants already dug before removing from your current location as you want to replant rhubarb as soon as possible. Your plants may exhibit signs of shock from the move, but rhubarb is resilient and should bounce back. If that’s the case, you should be able to harvest them this year but you will just have to wait and see how they respond to the move.
Hope this helps!
Even though it’s late February, we’ve been having almost April weather in the mid to upper 60s days and 30-40 at night. My rhubarb is coming into the 2nd year now and I’m hoping I’ll be able to harvest this year. I mulched well last fall and have already applied some 10-10-10 fertilizer a couple weeks ago. Should I be starting to water the plants again yet. We haven’t had much snow or rain yet for several weeks.