Horseradish questions

ampersand

Several silly horseradish questions.

I'm about to plant one bought yesterday.
How much space should I allow? Will it increase like a rhubarb crown?
How long before usable?

At this point, does it mean the whole plant is destroyed? - assuming it has to be dug up and grated/chopped/whatever, for the pungent working part.

Thankyou in advance.

sammyroser

Horseradish is grown from root cuttings so although you dig up the root any left over pieces in the ground will produce more. It's a very prolific plant and can get out of control easily so lots of people grow it in containers.

This site has lots of information.

http://www.gardeningblog.net/how-to-grow/horseradish/

Itismehonest

I haven't grown it for years but I used to plant mine in lengths of plastic downpipe buried in the ground. It helped to contain it & also kept it growing fairly straight.

ampersand

Thankyou so much, both of you.
Crikey, sammyroser - It's just as well I asked! I'll definitely pop it in a pot, given it sounds to have lemon balm tendencies so far as growth, spread, indestructibility go.

This one came from CUBG, so is bound to be super willing.

stumpycat

I planted a wee horseradish plant in a ceramic pot with no base (frost damage) and sunk it in the ground. It's a great big plant now - and I'm trying to find an implement to get in and chop bits of the roots off. Bit of a design flaw...

ampersand

Mmm stumpycat - have made similar in 'spot the deliberate mistake' moments.