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- How I grew rhubarb in Florida
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- Hi everyone! We're getting ready to leave Florida soon, so I thought I would go ahead and post this while I still remember exactly what I did. I've posted on local garden groups about this, but thought posting here would help others find the info.
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- Firstly, you need to change his you think about growing rhubarb. It's best to grow it as an annual here. Our summers will, if not kill the plant entirely, weaken them so thoroughly that you'll never get anything. You need to stick with a more vigorous type, and grow from seeds, not crowns. I used Victoria seeds. You will start the seeds indoors in August. In at least 4 inch pots as the seedlings are big. You can start earlier if you have a good setup and plenty of space. You will plant out just as soon as the nights start cooling down in late September-mid October. Space them around 24 inches apart in rich soil in full sun. Plan on first harvest around January. Take no more than 1/3rd of the plant per harvest. You'll get several more harvests. Keep in mind these plants will be smaller than northern grown perennial plants, so plant more. Once June rolls around the heat will cause the plants so decline. I've tried saving the roots by putting them in the fridge and freezer. Both survived to be replanted in the fall, but yields were not as good as starting from seed.
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- My soil wasn't the greatest and I still got a pretty good yeild. Enough to can a few batches of strawberry rhubarb pie filling. And that was with 4-5 plants. With more plants and better soil I feel that you could very easily grow all the rhubarb you would need. The best part is it's growing season lines up with our strawberries growing season. You'll never get as solid a red stem as up north, nor will the plants be large perennials. But you can certainly get a good harvest.
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