Growing rhubarb in a pot - no garden.

marmiterulesok

Mojisola wrote: »

You could also go for one plant in a big pot and treat as if it was in the ground - harvesting some in the Spring and letting it grow on year after year but you'll need a much bigger pot. I was thinking that two pots would spread the weight over the balcony.

I'll see what the biggest size of pot available is.

Mojisola

If you're starting now with two young plants, leave them both to grow on without taking any stems to build up the root.

In the same pot?
No - in two separate pots. You can have them on different parts of the balcony and spread the weight.

Next Spring, harvest everything you can off one plant but, again, leave the other to grow on.

Once they've grown back in the spring,cut all the rhubarb stems off of one,and don't touch the other one?
Yes, harvest from one plant and let the other plant grow to put energy into the root - that way you'll have a heavier crop next year.

After you've exhausted the plant you're harvesting, divide the root up, replant the best piece in new muck/compost and let it grow on.

The one I'm harvesting is the first one?
Yes.

marmiterulesok

Thanks.It makes more sense now.

Would you recommend digging up the rhubarb plants that I put in last year and trying to bring them on here in pots,or would it be too traumatic for the plant?There's two of them.

Mojisola

marmiterulesok wrote: »

Would you recommend digging up the rhubarb plants that I put in last year and trying to bring them on here in pots,or would it be too traumatic for the plant?There's two of them.

I'd dig them up.

marmiterulesok

Mojisola wrote: »

I'd dig them up.

Just what I was hoping to hear. :T

I should probably get everything ready first,the pots,the compost and manure etc.

Thanks again.

I'll post back again later on with an update.

A._Badger

I can add some experience here.

Almost all the pundits will tell you that it can't be done, due to rhubarb's need for root depth. However, Oldroyd, the rhubarb experts, have suggested it can be done, and recommend Timperley Early as the most suitable variety.

As an experiment, I decided to try this and chose a potato growing bag - an ideal choice for size and weight reasons. As rhubarb is a gross feeder, I chose John Innes No 3 as the growing medium, though you may want to try a JI/peat-based blend on account of the far greater weight of JI.

I am now in year two, having managed to refrain from picking any stalks in the first year. So far, so good and I am around two weeks away from being able to pick a very nice crop of rhubarb.

However, I have already had to remove a flower bud this past weekend and have perhaps two or three more forming, which will also need to be removed.

There are several possible reasons why my specimen may be flowering. The first is root constriction - in other words, stress., The second is the difficulty of providing sufficient water - also stress. The third is paradoxical. The RHS suggests that excess Nitrogen can induce flowering, which is, of course, quite contrary to the usual effect of High N feeds - and high N feeds are what are recommended for rhubarb.

My advice would be to try a potato growing bag with the sturdiest compost you can accommodate, use Timperley Early, water it copiously and, with all due respect to the RHS, use a high Nitrogen liquid fertiliser, as recommended on the packet. Chempak produces a high N powder/liquid feed, or you could try Miracle Gro, which has a huge dose of Nitrogen as well as plenty of potentially useful trace elements.

Perhaps we can compare notes next year?

marmiterulesok

Hi A Badger,I've only just seen your post.Oh,I do love a challenge.
I don't live in the UK,so don't have access to some of the items you mentionned.
When I bought the 2 rhubarb plants last year,I asked for the sweetest variety,but don't know what it was called.
The potato growing bags sound intriguing,but I don't have massive space on my balcony,which is 3m x 1.35 m.
Presumably using these grow bags would take up more room than a pot.I'm not actually sure that you can get them here,but I'll look into it.
I'll let you know what I decide to do.

ps I don't think I've ever seen flowers on established rhubarb plants.

Mojisola

marmiterulesok wrote: »

I don't think I've ever seen flowers on established rhubarb plants.

Some varieties are more prone to flowering; others will flower if under stress.

It's important to cut off the flower stalk as soon as it appears because it takes a lot of energy from the plant and will reduce the crop.

When we grew commercially, we walked the field regularly to check for flowering stalks.

The flowers are rather beautiful - if you had more plants than you needed for a crop, it would be worth letting a few flowering stems grow just to see them.

13Kent

Sorry to jump on this thread, but we've just moved into a house with a quite a big area of ground at the bottom of the garden that used to be a chicken run. We are complete novices to gardening, but would like to grow some fruit and veg here, We've started by digging over small areas just to get us going and not to bite off more than we can chew as it were. There are various pots of things that have been left around the garden. One is a sort of green bag which has what looks like a small rhubarb plant in it. What is the best thing to do with it please?

marmiterulesok

I went back to my old garden and have returned with one rhubarb plant,which is looking well.The other wasn't visible and I couldn't quite remember where I'd planted it.
There is one massive root and one or two smaller ones.I'm wondering if I can separate them,then plant them in separate pots.I'll try that tomorrow,hopefully.

Mojisola wrote: »

Some varieties are more prone to flowering; others will flower if under stress.

It's important to cut off the flower stalk as soon as it appears because it takes a lot of energy from the plant and will reduce the crop.

When we grew commercially, we walked the field regularly to check for flowering stalks.

The flowers are rather beautiful - if you had more plants than you needed for a crop, it would be worth letting a few flowering stems grow just to see them.

That's very interesting,thanks.
Wow,you used to grow it commercially.It is 'easy' to grow on that scale?

As soon as you mentioned about flowers using a lot of energy,I realized that I knew this already.

13Kent wrote: »

Sorry to jump on this thread, but we've just moved into a house with a quite a big area of ground at the bottom of the garden that used to be a chicken run. We are complete novices to gardening, but would like to grow some fruit and veg here, We've started by digging over small areas just to get us going and not to bite off more than we can chew as it were. There are various pots of things that have been left around the garden. One is a sort of green bag which has what looks like a small rhubarb plant in it. What is the best thing to do with it please?

Clear a bit more space,add some good quality compost and dig it in?
I know that rhubarb likes the sun.