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If I buy Rhubarb crowns now, will I get a harvest this year?

Best to give them a year to establish good roots.  If you pull any this year it will weaken the plant & take longer to recover.  If you can wait a year it will be worth it many times over in the future.

Thanks Froglets

Three years ago I sown Rhubarb seed this year I shall put sticks for the first rime. You have to give time for the plants to establish.

I put in some crowns 14 months ago. I got a reasonable crop last year, though the sticks were thin. I left them well alone and resisted all temptation to let them get more established for this year.

The crowns I grew from seed last year are sprouting already,
do I need to protect them from frost?

Can anyone recommend good rhubarb cultivars?

Quote from: dtw on January 20, 2008, 20:18:45
The crowns I grew from seed last year are sprouting already,
do I need to protect them from frost?

No. Just bed around them with loads of manure. They love it. I top the manure up around my rhubarb each year, put some more on last week. Some people put straw around them, I did this at the beginning of winter but don't have any there now.

I bought a single crown last year to plant in the back garden and didn't use any of it as recommended in the first year. Out of interest, now we've got an allotment if I dig it up and move it to the plot will that mean starting again in the sense of not eating it for a year?

If it does I may as well leave it there for a year to get some crops and buy another to bed in on the plot this year....

I am going to get some Rhubarb today but what else should I do to help it? Do I just bung it in the ground (For want of a better word) and let it get on with itself or do I need to cover it with Manure etc etc etc?

Cheers

Nick

There is some good info on the National Vegetable Society's website (reproduced below):

Rhubarb Rhubarb Rhubarb
Richard Bailey, Wallington, Surrey

Rhubarb, although always cooked and eaten as if it were a fruit, is usually grown in the vegetable garden - and rates as a vegetable on the show bench.

There can be few gardens without a clump or two of rhubarb, often tucked away in a corner and seldom giving of its best. Yet it is a crop that amply repays a little care and attention.

Establishing the Rhubarb Bed
A new rhubarb bed is best raised from divisions planted out in November, although it can be set out as late as March. Old crowns should be split, using a spade, into wedge shaped pieces with two or three buds on the outer edge, the inner part can usually be pared away with a knife (although old crowns are often hollow). Many growers, especially older ones, say that you should always leave the crowns on the surface to expose them to a hard frost before splitting them.

Rhubarb is not fussy as to soil but should be planted in slightly raised beds if the soil is very heavy. It does, however, need an open site as it will not tolerate shade. Prepare the soil carefully by digging to two spits (spade depths), the roots go deep, and work in plenty of farm yard manure or compost as you go. In choosing a site remember that the leaves are heavy and reach at least 2 feet (60 cm) all round the crown. Set the divisions 21/2-3 ft (75-90 cm) apart with the buds at or just below the surface.

All the books tell you not to gather any sticks in the first year of a new rhubarb bed. In my experience crowns planted before Christmas, in well prepared soil, never suffer if a few sticks are taken in July or August of their first year. However, the first good crop will not come until the second or third year.

Growing Rhubarb
iOnce you have established your plants the first basic principle of rhubarb growing is that plants should be kept dry in winter and moist in summer. A covering of leaves applied in October and removed in February will help in winter and a mulch of compost, leaf mould or farm yard manure applied in April will keep moisture in the soil during the summer. Always make sure, however, that the soil is thoroughly moist before applying this summer mulch. If in doubt water well in dry seasons.

The second basic principle is to remember that rhubarb is essentially a leaf crop (no leaves, no stems) and that leaf crops need nitrogen. If you use farm yard manure for your summer mulch additional nitrogen will probably not be needed but a light dressing of nitrogenous fertiliser in March seldom goes amiss. Most of the rhubarb I see on the showbench, or on allotments, shows signs of chronic starvation

An established bed needs little attention beyond feeding and watering. The heavy foliage smothers most weeds. The only serious diseases are viruses which make the plant yellow and weakly - these are incurable and affected plants should be destroyed. Slugs can be a problem - they seldom make serious attacks on the rhubarb itself, but use the rhubarb bed as a hotel from which to decimate other crops. You must, however, remove flower spikes as they appear and clear away dead leaves throughout summer and autumn.

A well planted rhubarb bed will yield a satisfactory crop for ten or twelve years until the crowns get too many small buds. They should then be lifted, divided and replanted - leaving some crowns untouched to ensure continuity of supply.

Forcing Rhubarb
Rhubarb can be forced by lifting crowns in November and potting them up to be grown in the cellar or beneath the greenhouse staging. Or more simply by putting a bucket over the crowns in January. I find this too fiddly and rely on growing the cultivar Timperley Early' that gives me usable sticks in mid February without any need to force it.

Generally speaking rhubarb is best harvested for a period of four months from the time you take the first sticks. Three months if you have forced crowns.

Rhubarb Cultivars
Cultivars to grow include: 'Champagne' and Timperley Early' for early crops; 'Cawood Delight', 'Holstein Blood Red', The Sutton' and 'Victoria' for later harvesting.

http://www.nvsuk.org.uk/growing_show_vegetables_1/growing-rhubarb.php

I've just ordered Champagne & Victoria from Blackmoor Nurseries.
Having read the foregoing, will resist temptation to harvest in year one.

Quote from: Cuke on January 21, 2008, 09:20:23
I bought a single crown last year , now we've got an allotment if I dig it up and move it to the plot will that mean starting again in the sense of not eating it for a year?

If it does I may as well leave it there for a year to get some crops and buy another to bed in on the plot this year....

Yes you will have to wait another year.

Quote from: Nick65 on January 21, 2008, 09:21:20
I am going to get some Rhubarb today but what else should I do to help it? Do I just bung it in the ground (For want of a better word) and let it get on with itself or do I need to cover it with Manure etc etc etc?

Quote from: Barnowl on January 17, 2008, 14:33:51
If I buy Rhubarb crowns now, will I get a harvest this year?

You need to wait. Patience child, patience.

Everything you need to know about growing rhubarb from the national experts at the RHS:   
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles1105/rhubarb.asp