Do you want your rhubarb to keep producing fantastic crops year on year for your crumbles, cakes and gin? Find out about dividing rhubarb.
Dividing rhubarb
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Dividing Rhubarb

Rhubarb is an old fashioned thing to grow. You don’t often see it in many gardens or allotments but it is getting more trendy – not just for rhubarb crumble but for rhubarb gin. As gin is becoming more popular again so is the rhubarb variety – so you could end up making your own. In this article, we are going to talk about the importance of dividing rhubarb when to divide rhubarb and why it needs doing.


Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

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Why dividing rhubarb is important

When you have had your rhubarb in the ground for a while you can get some great crops from it. Rhubarb is actually classed as a vegetable but as it is sweet it can go in pies, crumbles, cakes, gin plus lots more.

As the rhubarb root gets old you can get less of a crop each year. Every five – 7 years it could be could to dig up your rhubarb crown and divide it by slicing it in half with a spade.

Rhubarb requires very little looking after. One thing that it requires is plenty of water to help it produce those amazing stalks.

When should I divide rhubarb?

The best time to divide rhubarb is just in the early Spring once the ground is not hard. Do it just before all the new rhubarb shoots start appearing from the crown.

How do I divide Rhubab crowns?

The best way to divide rhubarb crowns is carefully get a spade and dig round the crown and lift the whole of the rhubarb crown out of the ground and any roots which may break off. Slice the crown into sections with at least 2 -3 buds per section. Make sure you get some roots on each segment.

You now need to replant the rhubarb straight away before the plant dries out as you don’t want to kill off the crown that you dug up. Leave adequate distance between plants as they will grow into big clumps.

The best area to plant your rhubarb is an area that has full sun on it as the rhubarb plants will love this to make it grow big and healthy.

Do not pick from the rhubarb crowns in the first year. Let them root in and get established. In the following spring you need to add a layer of manure around the plants but do not put the manure on the crowns as the heat and manure can rot the crown killing them off.

If you see any stalks in the rhubarb which are trying to flower or produce seeds cut them off as the rhubarb is starting to think its at the end of the season. This will make the rhubarb plant think that it has not finished and start producing lots of lovely rhubarb again.


We hope you have found these tips useful. You can find out where to purchase rhubarb crowns here if you need any. Find out how to grow rhubarb in pots here. If you want to know about how to force rhubarb you can find out our tips here.

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