Rhubarb - How Long before Picking?

Queenriderbrekke

Last year I gave my hubby 9 Rhubarb corms for his birthday (He loves Rhubarb crumble).

Only one grew but it is now a healthy plant. (Another 9 corms sent as replacements in Nov 2012 of which I gave 3 to my sister and have had 4 grow so far)

Can I pull stalks on the first plant this May Please? Or is it best to wait another year (It said 2nd year but I aren't sure if it means wait 2 years or in it's 2nd year):)

tanith

Its really better to leave it the first year so it gets well established. love rhubarb and I should be able to pick my own this year..

Queenriderbrekke

So do you think this still counts as the 1st year for the one planted in May 2012 or does it count as a 2nd year and it can be lightly picked possibly?

tanith

Hmmm! I see what you mean but mine was planted late in the Autumn 2011 so I see 2012 as its first year so now 2013 I will lightly pick ..
Its really up to you if you want to pick but I do think it will do better if you leave it this year maybe just pick just enough to make one crumble wouldn't do that much harm.

arbroath_lass

There's some advice here : http://www.wikihow.com/Harvest-Rhubarb

Hope that helps a bit.

Queenriderbrekke

Thank you, it had lots of stalks last year that eventually shrivelled to nothing by themselves as this wiki suggests, as his birthday is the 4th I have decided I am going to just pull about 2 stalks and make a very small individual crumble for him on his birthday!

mrbadexample

I'd gauge it by how big it is. How many stalks does it have? How thick are they?

You could probably get away with enough for a full-sized crumble - it's a year old so entering the second year. If it looks big enough, take about a third of the stems, no more, then leave it. Next year you should be able to take plenty.

Or you could pop round and nick a bit of mine.

forgotmyname

As above i would gauge it on how thick the stalks are.

If they are less than 1" thick i wouldnt touch them this year.

I put some on the allotment and the plants were huge. No issues picking some.

But i always left more than half on each plant. Way more than the 4 they recommend you leave.

mrbadexample

forgotmyname wrote: »

But i always left more than half on each plant. Way more than the 4 they recommend you leave.

I work on always leaving at least one third of a well-established plant. Having said that, my rhubarb's so big that if I took two thirds of it I'd have more rhubarb than I'd know what to do with.

Queenriderbrekke

I took 2 stalks and made just him a mini crumble in the end on his birthday, apparently it was very nice!

It is busy making some stalks to make up for it so I don't appear to have killed it, thank you for all the advice x