How To Grow Fresh Winter Rhubarb

How To Grow Fresh Winter Rhubarb AG WORLD 25-6-21 Did you know you can have fresh rhubarb all winter long by digging up some roots and moving them to your basement? We read about the idea in Rural Delivery, a popular farm magazine published in Nova Scotia (get a sample copy at www.countrymagazines.com or call 902 354-5411). The magazine recently ran a couple stories on the practice, which is designed for people in northern areas with hard winters. Joe Connors of Scoudouc, New Brunswick, was itching to try the idea. He dug up a large root and placed it in the garage. It is necessary to freeze it hard for three weeks in order to "fool" it into thinking it has passed through a winter, and then you move it down to the basement. He planted it in garden soil in a large plastic tub and watered the rhubarb every third day with warm water. He also hung a 100 watt light bulb, with a reflector shield, above the tub. In a couple weeks, sprouts began to poke out of the soil. He expected only a handful or so of stalks but he ended up with at least 110. The stalks were normal length but they were only about 1/3 the size of regular mature stalks. Connors notes that the leaves took a long time coming out, opening up fully only just before harvest. The stalks were all mainly red. Joe and his wife, Muriel, cut up the rhubarb to make sauce. They say the sauce was "especially sweet and very red". Once spring came, they transplanted the roots back to the outdoor rhubarb patch.

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