Comments on: Getting Ready to Force Rhubarb

By: The Lost Arts Of War

The Lost Arts Of War — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:01:55 +0000

The Lost Arts Of War…

…an interestin post over at . . ….

By: Welsh Allotmenteer

Welsh Allotmenteer — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:20:08 +0000

Just a word of caution with your lovely rhubarb forcer. I treated myself to a ‘frost proof’ forcer last Autumn and the recent frosty and snowy weather has destroyed it …. it is full of cracks and spalls and is only any good for crocks now; so maybe a wrap of bubblewrap in the coldest weather, and perhaps sit it on a couple of battens to keep it out of contact with the frozen ground.

Hope this helps, good luck.

By: John

John — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:22:17 +0000

I recently saw the rhubarb enforcer 3 years ago at a trades show. It was in a remodelled modern format but worked exactly the same as the old fashioned version. I have had one for many years and find in the North East we cant get rhubarb to grow well without one of these. Great post.

By: Sun Yi

Sun Yi — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 14:14:18 +0000

I have never really thought about planting and maintaining my little garden, but I should consider it.I love your blog and have subscribed to your RSS.

Thanks for sharing

By: Forced Rhubarb » The Door Garden

Forced Rhubarb » The Door Garden — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:20:17 +0000

[...] will. Apparently forcing rhubarb is a widespread practice in England – I ran across it on a UK gardening blog that I subscribe to. I’m afraid that the English are much more sophisticated gardeners than [...]

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:47:32 +0000

We do this every year - it’s great. When you get some pathetically skinny, pale pink stems, just snap them off and dip them straight into sugar for a sweet, crunchy treat. Like a natural sherbert dib dab. Delicious! (vanilla sugar works even better) :)

By: Mal's allotment

Mal's allotment — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:53:50 +0000

For a comparison of forced vs non forced have a look at this from last March:

http://malsallotment.blogspot.com/2009/03/something-stirring.html

By: Dawn/LittleGreenFingers

Dawn/LittleGreenFingers — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:03:29 +0000

Sadly, I only really want to force rhubarb because I like the look of terracotta rhubard forcers. My shallowness has reached new depths…

By: Mal's allotment

Mal's allotment — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:30:42 +0000

Last year I did this with a metal pot that was rather too small. It was fine until the rhubarb ran out of space. I don’t force to keep the stems pink, preferring the stronger flavour of the red stalks. I do it to get an earlier crop. There are photos of the unforced crowns alongside the forced on my blog archive for last spring.

http://malsallotment.blogspot.com/2009/03/something-stirring.html

Considering we have had sub zero temperatures and lying snow since 17th December in Edinburgh I would be very surprised if my rhubarb was anything but dormant!

By: allotment-diary.co.uk

allotment-diary.co.uk — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 22:58:37 +0000

The trouble with forcing Rhubarb is that all the energy used in producing the blanched stems is being taken from the roots without them being able to replenish their energy as there are no leaves to photosynthesize.
You can do it,but don’t do it every year otherwise your plant will just give up the ghost.