A few of my crowns on the allotment are starting to sprout.
Looking in the seed catalogue, it makes ref to 'forcing' - not sure what
this means. Any help appreciated.

Pete

The message
from "Cumberpach" contains these words:

A few of my crowns on the allotment are starting to sprout.
Looking in the seed catalogue, it makes ref to 'forcing' - not sure what
this means. Any help appreciated.

Putting a bottomless bucket, old sewer pipe etc (often insulated) over
the crown to force the shoots up towards the light, resulting in pink
(usually) tender sticks a lot earlier than free-grown ones.

Tends to exhaust the crown, so they are usually dug up and discarded.

My advice would be don't - until you divide the crowns, then you can
plant any excess for forcing in the following spring, followed by
heaving them on the compost heap.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

In article , Cumberpach
writes
A few of my crowns on the allotment are starting to sprout.
Looking in the seed catalogue, it makes ref to 'forcing' - not sure what
this means. Any help appreciated.

Forcing rhubarb generally means taking rhizome sections from dormant
plants around Nov/Dec. and potting them up. They are taken inside and
kept in the dark at about 10C/50F. They produce pale long stems very
early. Forced roots are discarded after cropping.

Many gardeners are commenting that outdoor rhubarb has already begun to
show new shoots, our own are doing it. That is not forcing in the
accepted sense, but it may mean that the plants will be more prone to
bolting this year.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Cumberpach" contains these words:

A few of my crowns on the allotment are starting to sprout.
Looking in the seed catalogue, it makes ref to 'forcing' - not sure what
this means. Any help appreciated.

Putting a bottomless bucket, old sewer pipe etc (often insulated) over
the crown to force the shoots up towards the light, resulting in pink
(usually) tender sticks a lot earlier than free-grown ones.

Tends to exhaust the crown, so they are usually dug up and discarded.

My advice would be don't - until you divide the crowns, then you can
plant any excess for forcing in the following spring, followed by
heaving them on the compost heap.

I have 8 good sized crowns - dunno how old they are. Enough to try 2 outside
and 2 inside as per Alan Gould. Thanks to you both.

Pete

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Cumberpach" contains these words:

A few of my crowns on the allotment are starting to sprout.
Looking in the seed catalogue, it makes ref to 'forcing' - not sure what
this means. Any help appreciated.

Putting a bottomless bucket, old sewer pipe etc (often insulated) over
the crown to force the shoots up towards the light, resulting in pink
(usually) tender sticks a lot earlier than free-grown ones.

Tends to exhaust the crown, so they are usually dug up and discarded.

My advice would be don't - until you divide the crowns, then you can
plant any excess for forcing in the following spring, followed by
heaving them on the compost heap.

I have 8 good sized crowns - dunno how old they are. Enough to try 2 outside
and 2 inside as per Alan Gould. Thanks to you both.

Pete

The message
from "Cumberpach" contains these words:

I have 8 good sized crowns - dunno how old they are. Enough to try 2 outside
and 2 inside as per Alan Gould. Thanks to you both.

The usual way of dealing with a 'good-sized' crown is to separate off
the new young crownlets on the outside and plant those, discarding the
old middle bit.

With eight crowns you should be able to plant a jungle of rhubarb. I'd
wait until it dies down at the end of the season now it's sprouting.

The tried recipe is to dig a trench - four feet deep is recommended, but
the deepest I'v managed is three feet.

Raid jumble sales and buy up bags of old leather shoes and old woollies
afterwards. Get bones from the butcher - he'll usually give them to you
- and put the bones and the shoes in the bottom of the trench and cover
with soil and water it down, then put more soil, compost, rotted manure,
woollies and bonemeal or hoof and horn until the trench is filled in
(and you will have a raised bed because of the extras you have bunged
in).

Plant rhubarb about three feet apart AND DO NOT PULL A SINGLE STICK in
the first year.

If your rhubarb isn't established, and the right-shaped tuits can't be
found to molish a proper trench before the middle of February, plant and
keep say, two crowns without pulling from them and use those for
splitting and planting for next year.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Cumberpach" contains these words:

A few of my crowns on the allotment are starting to sprout.
Looking in the seed catalogue, it makes ref to 'forcing' - not sure what
this means. Any help appreciated.

Putting a bottomless bucket, old sewer pipe etc (often insulated) over
the crown to force the shoots up towards the light, resulting in pink
(usually) tender sticks a lot earlier than free-grown ones.

Tends to exhaust the crown, so they are usually dug up and discarded.

The easiest way is to "rotate" using three crowns. Force only one crown per
year (and only well established crowns). This will give you succulent early
rhubarb followed by yields from the two unforced crowns.
We use a sliced-off 100 litre container which has an old immersion heater
jacket tied round.
It works well.

"Alan Gould" wrote in message
...
: In article , Cumberpach
: writes
: A few of my crowns on the allotment are starting to sprout.
: Looking in the seed catalogue, it makes ref to 'forcing' - not sure what
: this means. Any help appreciated.
:
: Forcing rhubarb generally means taking rhizome sections from dormant
: plants around Nov/Dec. and potting them up. They are taken inside and
: kept in the dark at about 10C/50F. They produce pale long stems very
: early. Forced roots are discarded after cropping.
:
: Many gardeners are commenting that outdoor rhubarb has already begun to
: show new shoots, our own are doing it. That is not forcing in the
: accepted sense, but it may mean that the plants will be more prone to
: bolting this year.
: --
: Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

How late can rhubarb be planted and what varieties would urglers recommend?
I have room for only one crown.

K

The message
from "K" contains these words:

How late can rhubarb be planted and what varieties would urglers recommend?
I have room for only one crown.

I would say that by February you're pushing it.

Varieties? No idea what's available and I couldn't name you one. I do
know that most of the rhubarb I've grown was allegedly a 'Champagne' of
some ilk.

Rhubarb takes well to being grown in pots., and the best pots for the
job are those 20 gallon-ish drums with a wide mouth.

You can get drums (but not always wide-mouthed ones) from fire stations.
They come with a harmless foaming agent in.)

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

"Cumberpach" wrote in message
...
A few of my crowns on the allotment are starting to sprout.
Looking in the seed catalogue, it makes ref to 'forcing' - not sure what
this means. Any help appreciated.

Pete

Everything (really !) you'll ever need to know about rhubarb :~)
http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/

Jenny

"JennyC" wrote in message
...

"Cumberpach" wrote in message
...
A few of my crowns on the allotment are starting to sprout.
Looking in the seed catalogue, it makes ref to 'forcing' - not sure what
this means. Any help appreciated.

Pete

Everything (really !) you'll ever need to know about rhubarb :~)
http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/

Yes, quite a lot of info, I didn't realise there was poison in the leaves.

Pete

"JennyC" wrote in message
...

"Cumberpach" wrote in message
...
A few of my crowns on the allotment are starting to sprout.
Looking in the seed catalogue, it makes ref to 'forcing' - not sure what
this means. Any help appreciated.

Pete

Everything (really !) you'll ever need to know about rhubarb :~)
http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/

Yes, quite a lot of info, I didn't realise there was poison in the leaves.

Pete

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Cumberpach" contains these words:

snip
Raid jumble sales and buy up bags of old leather shoes and old woollies
afterwards. Get bones from the butcher - he'll usually give them

They sound hungry - the previous allotmenteer (?) planted them parallel to a
15 foot wide mature compost heap.

Pete

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Cumberpach" contains these words:

snip
Raid jumble sales and buy up bags of old leather shoes and old woollies
afterwards. Get bones from the butcher - he'll usually give them

They sound hungry - the previous allotmenteer (?) planted them parallel to a
15 foot wide mature compost heap.

Pete

The message
from "Cumberpach" contains these words:

Yes, quite a lot of info, I didn't realise there was poison in the leaves.

Oxalic acid. Boil the leaves ant the resulting juice is very good for
killing greenfly, and for getting iron stains out of wood.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)