Topic: Rhubarb from seed

[BarriedaleNick]

So rhubarb isn't really a thing here in Portugal and it may not be suited to the climate but I have germinated some seed and have four baby plants.
Anyone grown from seed before?  I am guessing it will be several years before I get a crop?

[pumkinlover]

Will it cope with the heat and presumably drier conditions?
I suspect it will be a while before you are eating rhubarb crumble!

[gray1720]

This refers to growing rhubarb in the USA and refers very early on (I've literally just glanced at the first few pages) to a variety from Australia, so I doubt the temperature is likely to be a problem. However dryness might.

https://archive.org/details/winterrhubarbcul00blan/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater

Vaguely stumbling round the intertubes suggests two years to first crop from seed, and they may not be true to the parent, but I'm sure you guessed that already.

[BarriedaleNick]

We have a well so irrigation isn't an issue and the land is fertile.  It does get very hot though so I'll need to keep them watered - I have a nice shady spot though..

I bought seed so they should be ok - the site says

"Rhubarb Victoria is one of the easiest Rhubarbs to raise from seed and can usually start to be harvested one year after sowing. It produces sweet, juicy, medium sized green stalks and greenish-red coloured leaves."

So maybe it wont be too long before that crumble!

[Obelixx]

I planted 3 small Victoria rhubarb crowns a couple of years ago in shade but it's too dry there so we've had max 2 crumbles for 2 each year since.  This spring I'm moving it to a square raised bed behind the hen house which doesn't get the sun till 2pm but, more crucially means I can fill up the bed with rotted manure and water it from the 2 butts while they have water and then from the feed to the seep hose in the fruit bed.

We'll need a protective net to keep the chooks off when they're out wandering and that will mean I can shade it in heatwaves.

I grew it in full sun in Belgium - 12 big plants - but there was enough rain in summer to mean we had enough to feed us, the neighbours and a lot of our friends and make chutney too.

[murphy99]

i tried to grow rhubarb in almeria spain much to dry failed miserably

[Deb P]

I grew Victoria rhubarb from seed two years ago, it germinated easily and I ended up with 12 plants in litre pots. I planted six and gave the rest away, Five survived the winter and I let them grow without cropping last year. Waiting to get the first crop this year!

[saddad]

Hi Deb., was just about to ring you, not seen you about for a while...
Don't get me started about Rhubarb from seed when after two years we had got them to planting out stage and somebody walked off with them...

[Digeroo]

I have grown rhubarb from seed and it does ok,  but personally I think that Timperley Early is preferable.   I would plant more seeds than you think you will ever need.  I only seem to have landed up in the end with one or two good plants. 
Seed sown plants tends to be greener than I like and have a tendency to set flowers. 
If you have quite a few plants you can crop some sooner, it kills the plants but does not matter, you simply leave the best plants alone.

[Obelixx]

The only variety I can find here, as seeds or plants, is Victoria.   I moved our surviving plant yesterday into a 1.2m square raised bed which I topped up first with 50 litres of lovely poo.   The chooks were straight in after the worms.  I split the crown in two and they managed to peck off one of the teeny leaves before I'd finished planting so they are now well planted, watered in and under a cold frame to protect them.  I doubt we'll get more than a stalk or two to eat this year but it will, I hope, taste great and anything is better than the ropey, stringy, dried out stalks I've seen in the SMs and markets here.

The stuff I grew in Belgium started as 2 Timperley Early and 2 Champagne.   It grew and grew like topsy and we ended up with a dozen or more clumps, half of which we forced each year and the other we let grow naturally.    We also let some produce flower stalks as our florist friends loved them for their more modern bouquets.