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Rhubarb: planting and care in the open field is a topic of interest to many gardeners. A perennial plant from the Buckwheat family brings juicy and quite tasty petioles that can be eaten. In order to successfully grow rhubarb on your own plot, you need to know how to plant a plant and care for it.
Popular varieties and types of rhubarb
There are many varieties of rhubarb with photos and descriptions suitable for growing in the garden. Among the most popular varieties, several can be listed.
Victoria
Victoria is an early ripe variety, the petioles of which can be removed as early as 36 days after germination. The variety was entered into the State Register in 2004, has cherry at the base and green skin along the entire length, brings petioles weighing up to 80 g with a yield of about 4,8 kg per meter of plantings.
Malachite
Malachite is an early ripe variety of 2008 with petiole ripening on the 39th day after germination, it has green leaves in a vertical rosette, the skin and flesh of the petiole are green. The petiole weighs about 200 g, the yield can be up to 12 kg per meter of land.
Beauty
Beauty is a mid-season variety with a petiole ripening period of 42 days, has petioles with red skin and pink flesh with an average weight of up to 150 g. The yield of the variety is up to 3,5 kg per meter of plantings. Rhubarb of this variety appeared in the State Register in 2006.
Altai dawns
Altaiskie Zori is a very early variety registered in 2001, the petioles of which can be cut already 23 days after germination. The skin of the petioles is red, and the flesh is green, the average weight of one petiole is 120 g, and up to 4,2 kg can be harvested per meter of plantings.
candied fruit
Candied – a variety entered into the State Register in 2006, produces petioles with red skin and pink flesh on the 25th day after emergence. The average weight of petioles is 200 g, about 3,5 kg can be harvested from a meter of a garden.
The choice of rhubarb variety depends solely on the preferences of the gardener; if desired, several plant varieties can be planted on the site at once. The breeding algorithm and the rules for caring for the crop are approximately the same, regardless of the variety, the varieties of rhubarb differ only in the timing of cutting the ripe petioles.
How Rhubarb Reproduces
There are 2 ways to propagate garden crops – by seeds and by dividing an adult plant into parts. Each method has its own advantages.
- Seeds are used in cases where the planting of rhubarb in the garden is planned for the first time, or the gardener wants to grow a new variety that is still unknown to him.
- The division of the bush is practiced if there is already an adult rhubarb on the site, and it is necessary to increase the number of bushes of the same variety. It is convenient to grow rhubarb from a bush because the new plant brings the first crop already in the year of planting or the next season.
The choice of planting method depends on the experience of the gardener and on climatic and soil conditions, it is impossible to say unequivocally which method of crop propagation is better.
How to grow rhubarb from seeds
Gardeners have to grow rhubarb from seeds when they first meet the plant or when planting in an area of an unfamiliar variety. Although the main disadvantage of the method remains that the harvest will have to wait longer than when dividing the bush, planting seeds also has its advantages.
First of all, this is a very simple process that even a novice gardener can handle. In addition, seeds can be grown immediately in 2 ways, in a container for seedlings or immediately in open ground. Rhubarb has good frost resistance, so it tolerates planting directly into the soil well.
Growing seedlings of rhubarb
Most often, gardeners resort to the classic agricultural technique of growing rhubarb – planting seeds in containers for seedlings. Growing a crop using this method is very simple, but here you need to know the basic rules.
When to plant rhubarb seedlings
You can plant rhubarb seeds from late February to early April. Mid-March is considered the optimal time, since the shoots of the culture appear quite quickly, with early planting, you may encounter the fact that the rhubarb will not have enough daylight.
Preparation of containers and soil
The germination of seeds and the health of seedlings largely depend on the quality of the soil and the choice of containers.
- You can grow rhubarb in peat pots and seedling boxes, in containers made of wood and plastic, in special glass micro-greenhouses made of durable glass.
- Each of the options has its own advantages, for example, a micro-greenhouse will provide the necessary temperature conditions, and a peat pot will serve as an additional fertilizer for seedlings.
It is worth choosing a container based on your own preferences. But in any case, the container for seedlings should be roomy enough so that you can plant a large number of seeds with an indent between them.
Particular attention must be paid to soil preparation. You need to grow a plant in nutritious and loose soil, usually soddy soil and humus are mixed with the addition of potash fertilizers and superphosphate for planting seeds.
How to plant rhubarb seeds
Planting rhubarb seedlings in the spring provides for advance preparation of seed material.
- 4 days before the planned planting, the seeds are placed in a shallow container, poured with cool water and left to swell for 8-10 hours.
- After that, for 1 hour, the seeds are placed in a weak solution of potassium permanganate, this is necessary to disinfect the planting material.
- After an hour, the seeds are spread on a dense layer of wet gauze or cloth and left for another 3 days. During this time, they should peck slightly, which will make it easier for the seeds to germinate in the prepared soil.
The seeds that have hatched are sown in pre-prepared soil – in small pots or a spacious container. In the latter case, between the seeds when planting, you need to leave 1-1,5 cm of free space. The seed depth is small, about 2-3 cm, immediately after planting, the soil is watered and subsequently constantly kept moist.
Care of seedlings
Rhubarb sprouts appear quite quickly – just 2-3 weeks after planting. Immediately after the first leaves appear from the ground, the container with seedlings must be rearranged on a lighted windowsill or in another bright, but not hot place.
Plant care consists of regular watering, loosening and fertilizing. It is necessary to water the seedlings as the soil dries up – the soil should always be slightly moist. Once a week, it is recommended to loosen the soil for better oxygen saturation, and every 2 weeks, seedlings should be supplied with universal complex fertilizers.
Transplant into the ground
Theoretically, it is possible to plant rhubarb in open ground from a container already in spring or early summer, after the seedlings have become a little stronger. However, more often transplantation is carried out 100 days after sowing the seed, in August or early September. In this case, the seedlings take root better in the open air, and there is enough time before the cold weather for the seedlings to take root properly. Another option is to transplant rhubarb in the spring the following year after the seedlings appear.
In any case, before planting seedlings in open ground, the so-called hardening is carried out. During the week, a box or pots with seedlings are taken out into the air, first for a short time, just for a couple of hours, and then for the whole day.
The process of seed transplantation itself looks very simple – in a well-lit area, beds suitable for growing rhubarb in terms of soil composition are prepared in advance, and the seedlings are carefully transferred to the ground. In order not to damage the roots of seedlings, it is recommended to save the old soil from the container as much as possible. Immediately after transplantation, the seedlings should be well watered and grown according to the usual rules of care before the onset of cold weather.
How to grow rhubarb outdoors
Some gardeners don’t see the point in planting rhubarb in home containers. Garden culture is characterized by high frost resistance and great endurance, therefore, if desired, you can plant rhubarb seeds directly into the soil under the open sky.
When to Sow Rhubarb: Spring or Fall
It is recommended to plant seeds in open ground in the spring. In the middle lane and southern regions, this can be done from the end of April, in Siberia it is recommended to wait until the final heat is established in the middle or end of May. The optimum temperature for planting and further growing rhubarb is 16-20 ° C above zero, so the time for work must be chosen according to the weather.
Planting rhubarb in the fall is also quite acceptable. If dry seeds are sown in mid-October, then during the autumn and winter, the planting material will naturally have time to harden and soak and sprout next spring. But in practice, spring planting is more common, since it coincides in time with most garden work.
Where to plant rhubarb
The main planting requirements for rhubarb are sufficient sunlight and moist, but well-drained, medium acidity soil. Therefore, you need to plant and grow a plant in a well-lit area or in the natural shade of fruit trees, and the pH level of the soil should be at least 4,5.
Since it is possible to grow a perennial crop in one place for up to 15 years in a row, it is advisable to select a site taking this factor into account.
Preparation of beds
If the natural soil on the site does not meet the requirements of rhubarb for cultivation, then the beds must be specially prepared before planting. A couple of months before sowing seeds, the soil is dug up and 3 buckets of humus per 1 sq. m. of land. Also, complex mineral fertilizers can be added to the soil, they will contribute to the rapid growth of seedlings.
Immediately before planting rhubarb, grooves up to 1,5 cm deep are arranged in the beds, the distance between which is at least 20 cm. It is in these grooves that the seeds will fall, and the gaps are needed so that the rhubarb seedlings are not located too close to each other.
How to plant rhubarb seeds in spring
Planting rhubarb seeds in spring in prepared beds is also acceptable in dry form. But for faster growth, it is recommended to germinate them first, in which case they will sprout not in 10-12 days, but in just 5-6 days.
Germination of seeds is not particularly difficult:
- for 2 days, seeds for planting in the ground are soaked in clean water;
- then the planting material is wrapped in moistened gauze and put in a refrigerator for 10 days with a temperature of 0 to 5 ° C above zero;
- after the time has elapsed, the gauze with seeds is removed and transferred to a warm place with a temperature of about 25 ° C, where they wait for the appearance of small seedlings.
The germinated seeds are laid out along the prepared grooves in the beds, the gap between individual seeds should be 5 cm. Then the seeds are covered with soil, and then they wait for the first shoots. After the rhubarb sprouts give the first 2-3 leaves, the seedlings can be thinned out a little so that the distance between individual sprouts is about 20 cm.
How to propagate rhubarb by dividing the bush
Reproduction of rhubarb by division is carried out if there is already an adult bush of the desired variety on the site. The procedure is quite simple, but in the process you need to follow certain rules.
- A good time to plant rhubarb as a bush is from April to May before bud growth begins, or from September to October.
- As a planting material, rhubarb bushes 4-5 years old with strong thick petioles, a sufficient amount of green mass and no peduncles are best suited.
- Planting holes for rhizomes should be up to 50 cm wide and deep, as the plant is quite large.
Separation of rhizomes from the mother bush is carried out with a sharp shovel. It is necessary to release a part of the mother bush from the ground, cut off a part of the root with 2-3 growth buds on it and a developed root system, and on the same day transfer the seedling to the prepared hole.
At the bottom of the planting pit, it is necessary to pour a bucket of manure, then put a mixture of peat and fertile soil, taken in equal proportions, with a layer of 5-7 cm. The rhubarb seedling is lowered in the center of the pit and covered to the top with the remains of peat and earth, gradually mixing 500 g of wood ash into the soil. Growth buds can be left above the ground or deepened by 3 cm, but in any case, after planting, the seedling must be watered and mulched peat.
How to grow rhubarb the right way
Growing rhubarb and caring for it in the open field is not particularly difficult, if you follow the basic rules.
- Rhubarb loves moist soil, but does not tolerate waterlogging. Therefore, it is necessary to water the plant in accordance with weather conditions, the soil must be constantly wet, but without stagnant moisture.
- For good growth, planting rhubarb should be fed with complex fertilizers, ash, mullein and bird droppings. Mature plants need top dressing three times a season – in early spring before the leaves appear, after harvest and in late July or early August. As a rule, mixtures with nitrogen content are applied in spring for rapid growth, and potash and phosphorus fertilizers are applied in summer and closer to autumn. Once every 3 years, it is recommended to treat the beds with a plant with fresh manure.
- During the summer, rhubarb beds should be periodically weeded to prevent weed growth. In order for the soil to receive a sufficient amount of oxygen, after each watering or rain, the beds are carefully loosened.
An important nuance of caring for rhubarb is the regular removal of peduncles. This is necessary to obtain stable and voluminous yields, for which gardeners begin to grow perennial crops.
Diseases and pests
The perennial plant is highly resistant to diseases and pests. However, powdery mildew, root rot or ascochitosis can sometimes affect rhubarb, and rhubarb bug and buckwheat fleas are especially dangerous for the crop.
The best disease prevention is to follow all the rules for growing rhubarb. To prevent diseases and eliminate insects, it is recommended to treat the plant once a season with fungicides and insecticidal preparations. But this should be done only after harvesting, so that the rhubarb stalks do not absorb toxic substances.
Rhubarb Care in the Fall
In the autumn, growing rhubarb should be especially careful, as the plant begins to prepare for winter.
- It is necessary to water the perennial only in case of dry weather, so as not to overmoisten the soil before the cold weather.
- In early September, it is recommended to apply superphosphate and potash fertilizers under rhubarb bushes.
It is still possible to cut leaves from a bush, however, in a volume of not more than 1/3 of the total green mass. In the fall, rhubarb should focus on preparing for winter rather than recovering from pruning.
Do I need to cut rhubarb for the winter
Trimming green rhubarb leaves in the autumn is not recommended, so as not to injure the plant. However, with the onset of cold weather, the green above-ground mass of the plant will die off naturally, and then it will need to be completely removed.
How to prepare rhubarb for winter
Rhubarb tolerates harsh winters well. But in order to avoid freezing, it must be insulated – covered with straw or fallen leaves with a layer of 7-10 cm. With the advent of spring and the establishment of heat, the mulch will need to be removed so that the plant can give new leaves, and it can be grown again.
Conclusion
Rhubarb: planting and care in the open field is an interesting activity for gardeners who want to grow a beautiful, tasty and healthy edible plant on their site. Rhubarb can be planted and grown in a variety of ways, and this makes it even more convenient for cultivation.
