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  • From: "Marlin Burkholder" <glenecofarm AT planetcomm.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Rhubarb
  • Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:51:33 -0400

Pam,
I am not sure what you mean by "the first bud".  Numerous leaves and stems appear in the beginning of the season.  Whenever I see a flower bud I try to cut it or break it near the ground. 
My greener and hardier variety of rhubarb grows buds/flowers, but the other varieties rarely do.
Christine B.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 11:47 AM
Subject: [Market-farming] Rhubarb

Someone just gave me a tip about preventing rhubarb from flowering, in order to get higher yields, and I wanted to see if anyone had tried this. The suggestion is to take a sharp hoe and slice off the first bud that emerges in spring (which is right now for us). The idea is that this is the flower stem, and removing it early on will let the plants energy go into producing leaf stems.

Has anyone tried it? Did it work?

The tip comes from a grower in BC, Canada, which is a very different latitude and climate from central Virginia where I am now growing rhubarb. Theoretically, it's too hot here to grow it, but we do have some success. Compared to when I grew rhubarb in northern England, near the rhubarb capital of the world, it is much less successful. Here we get thin stems, and attempts at flowering all season (April and May). We just harvest twice a week and cut the flower stems out at the same time. If a single swipe with a hoe this week can solve the flowering problem, that would be great.

If I don't hear from anyone else who's tried it, I'll probably do a few and see what heppens.

Pam Twin Oaks, central Virginia zone 7


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