By: Gene Rodriguez, III
Knowing when to harvest rhubarb will help to keep your plants healthy and your crop tasty and plentiful. Rhubarb is a perennial vegetable that will produce tangy stalks for years if the plant is treated correctly.
When To Harvest Rhubarb Like A Pro
Your rhubarb plants will be happy and healthy if you treat them right. A major part of managing rhubarb is correctly harvesting your crop. Here's how to get started:
- It's springtime! Rhubarb is best harvested in late spring to early summer. Mature rhubarb stalks are about 18 inches high, have a nice red blush and full, healthy leaves.
- Don't be greedy. When you harvest, take no more than half of the stalks from each plant. Leave the thinner stalks (with leaves attached) to nourish the plant for next year.
- Be patient, weed hopper. Although it's possible to harvest rhubarb in the first year it is planted, waiting until the following year will allow the plant to develop a strong root system. Your patience will be rewarded with a healthier, more productive plant.
- Snap on, snap off. To harvest your rhubarb stalks, snap them off at the base like you would a stalk of celery. Using a blade to cut off stalks creates the risk of damaging buds that are still forming near the base of the plants. Also, make sure to remove all the leafy blades from the stalks, as they are poisonous.
- Gone to seed. Your rhubarb plants will produce seed stalks that will inhibit the growth of harvestable stalks. Remove seed stalks as soon as they appear.
- Multiply by dividing. After several years, you may notice that your rhubarb plant looks crowded or produces just a few think stalks. If this is the case, you'll need to divide your plant. In the early spring, dig up the root ball of your plant and divide it into sections that each contain at least three buds. Replant these new divisions as you would a new plant.
