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Forcing Rhubarb

PollyRPollyR Posts: 64
in Plants

Hi!

Can I force my rhubarb plants 2 years in a row?

The plants have been in for 3 years now, I picked them minimally for the first year, I forced them last year and they were quite prolific until autumn, so I was wondering whether to cover them now, or leave them for a year?

What would you do?

Thanks

Posts

  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923

    I would only force a rhubarb every four to five years,

    they need to recover their strength after the stress of forcing,

    you might find it won't harvest very well this year anyway, but if you try and force it you might kill it.

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 82,788

    I cover my Timperley Early every year to 'encourage' it, but this is not true forcing, and I find that if I never remove more than one third of the stalks at a time, and cease pulling any by the beginning of July, and mulch, feed and water it well, then doing it every year has had no harmful effect.

    As Treehugger says, proper forcing shouldn't take place every year. 

    Last edited: 10 January 2017 16:35:41

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  • PollyRPollyR Posts: 64

    Thanks Treehugger and Dovefromabove. I'll just leave it alone this year and see how it goes.

    Thanks for your advice :)

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